# There is a mouse in the house!



## harasblas (Sep 20, 2009)

My husband decided to paint the living room today. (he is a painter by trade) And when we were moving the couch we found a pile of seed casings and what seems to be mouse poop. The thing is, those are seeds from my hedgehogs cage! And none of the treat or food containers have any holes! So I have come to believe that we have a mouse that has been sneaking into Brillos cage and stealing his treats. His cage was on the floor, but it has plexiglass all around the bottom half... although I don't think that would make a difference because mice can get into anything. 

Anyways my question is, until the mouse is caught. Do you think Brillo will be okay? I don't know how long he has been sharing his cage with this unwanted "roommate". Also, do you think the mouse could carry anything that could potentially cause health problems with Brillo? :?


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## anna m (Dec 19, 2008)

That's a nightmare. Try and get an old fashioned mouse trap. I have read accounts where a mouse can attack a hedgehog. If this happens you will know about it because your hedgehog is likely to scream for help. You must get rid of it.


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## heeyyparis (Jan 5, 2010)

lame! im sorry this is happening :? get a bunch of mouse traps, and before you go to bed put them out surrounding brillo's cage, and that should solve the mousey issue  if youre completely against those mouse traps... i dont know what to tell you


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## ILOVElily (Dec 5, 2009)

This reminds me of the time my ****ateil lade an egg she lays 'em all the time , but they have no baby cuz we got her a boy but he's..not getting into action i guess. but they ( Polly and Topo) are in our porch where there is a screen to the outside so some how a mouse got in and since their cage is open so they are free to wonder the porch, so a mouse came in and was stealling Polly's eggs! Most of the time they would be just broken, and we thought she was doing it herself until my mom saw the mouse eat some of their food and brake the egg ( I'm not sure why) at night so we set up a few traps around the porch and we caught the mouse. 
We used these smallish plastic looking gray ones that were not strong enough to kill the mouse if u don't leave the lil' mouse in there to long. So we caught him and let him go about in the forest ( Ofcourse not near enough from us so he could scurry back)
and that solved the mouse problem! no more broken eggs or mice  
good luck


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Why does your hedgehog have seeds? Nuts and seeds hold no nutritional value for a hedgehog and are dangerous as they can get caught in the roof of their mouth and in their teeth. 

Mice carry disease and parasites so you need to make sure it cannot get near Brillo.


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## harasblas (Sep 20, 2009)

It's part of the 8-1 brand "Ultra Bites for Hedgehogs, Fruit & Veggie treats". We got a bunch of cans of them for christmas.


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## rainbowcookie (Dec 21, 2009)

[attachment=0:1i5dltwx]l_a21beec731178d4f099ce622bb72fcbb.jpg[/attachment:1i5dltwx]*GASP!* NOOOOO!

My little Ambrose DIED from getting a seed from that 8 in 1 Hedgehog treat caught in his mouth. He couldn't eat or drink, and by the time we realized what was going on (after a day) he had scratched up his face and tongue and bled/starved/dehydrated to death. He died in my husbands hands at 2 am the evening after we found him. Our emergency vet was a 45 min. drive away and they told us on the phone they probably couldn't do anything for him. We were hoping he could hold on until the morning and took turns holding him and dripping water into his mouth and on his poor clawed up, swollen tongue. It was AWFUL seeing him suffer and I still cry about it.

Don't let your sweet little hedgie have a horrible accident like this! Research EVERYTHING you offer your hedgehog!

We had left if in his cage with his food. Ambrose was an adventurous eater, but thank God our other hedgehog at the time wasn't! Zeus turned up his nose at that snack. Ambrose died July 23, 2008. I still miss him.

Get that treat away from him! Those people at 8 in 1 have no idea what hedgehogs need as a treat! If I had only researched this product online, I would have seen that this has happened to other hedgehogs many times.


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## harasblas (Sep 20, 2009)

thanks for sharing your story! I had no idea that they were that bad! Brillo doesn't really eat the seeds anyway but I will throw them out right away.


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## ILOVElily (Dec 5, 2009)

I have ultra bites and Pinchita is crazy about the kibble but I dont feead her the seeds.


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## Hazesti (Jan 19, 2010)

If you don't want to kill the mouse, there's a way to catch them that don't require you to buy anything.

Take a deep enough bucket that a mouse couldn't escape from, pile up books next to it up to it's rim. Use a piece of wood or whatever else you can find to make a climbable ramp up to the books Make a plank by putting a ruler on top of the book so half of it is overing over the inside of the bucket.

Then put some peanut butter on the end of the ruler that overing in midair.

When the mouse goes up to follow the smell of the PB, she'll walk the plank, it will tip over, and AVAST! Down the bucket she goes, Yarr!

Then you can just take the bucket, and drive a good distance to release it into the wild. I say drive, because you really want to make it a good distance so she doesn't come back (and you might want to go to someplace that's not near any house).

In the meantime, you should probably put the cage on top of a table or something, to make sure she doesn't go back in.

You should probably check your hedgie thoroughfully for bites too, I think.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Make sure it is a very deep bucket! Mice (especially wild ones) can jump insanely high, and if there is any texture in the bucket it might just climb right out.


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## strawberryfields (Oct 3, 2009)

We caught a mouse with that exact method once! Peanut butter and all. The poor little guy was terrified, but completely unharmed. Cute too.  

Glad you found out about the seeds before anything bad happened! Most commercial hedgehog foods and treats aren't really suited for our pet hedgies. Some are okay, but most are better for the European hedgehogs which don't have nearly the same dietary needs as ours do.


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## harasblas (Sep 20, 2009)

I wanted to update everyone. I got the mouse only about an hour after I set the traps. And I have since found different treats to give Brillo. I also wanted to let you all know I sent an email to the "experts" at 8-in-1. It was not a very nice email and I complained about them calling themselves "experts" when they put harmful ingredients in their hedgehog treats. This was the response email...

__________________________________________

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for your E-Mail regarding our product, Ultra Bites Hedgehog Treats. We were sorry to hear that you're so dissatisfied with our product however, we do a great deal of research on all of our animal foods and treats. We also have a Nutritionist on Staff who reviews all of the formulas before they are released for sale. This particular product is not intended as the pet's main nutritional source but is meant to be given as an occasional treat. The treat consists of approximately 61% pellets, which are high in protein. We have been in business for well over 100 years and surely wouldn't have remained so if we were offering products that were harmful to pets. We're sorry you feel as you do and if I can help with anything further, feel free to contact me.

Donna McTiernan
Consumer Service Supervisor
United Pet Group
1377 Motor Parkway
Islandia, NY 11749
[email protected]
PH# (800) 645-5154 ext. 2831
FAX # (631) 232-1206

__________________________________________

What a joke. Thanks again everyone, this is why I love this forum.


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## rainbowcookie (Dec 21, 2009)

My husband got a similar email when he wrote to them complaining, too. I'm sure it would be just fine to offer as a treat if they took out the seeds, nuts, and sticky dried fruit. It blows my mind that they won't even consider an adjustment like that when they have had hedgehog owners complain.

He also called the 800 number on the container and told them their product killed our hedgehog. Nothing happened. It makes me so grateful that we have this website so we can see what is *actually* appropriate for them to eat!

Oooh! 8 in 1 makes me so mad!!! I'll never buy any of their products again!

Would you buy cereal that was 61% edible? How about if it had seeds husks and rocks in it? SOME animals ingest them with no problem, but not ALL animals! Not human animals or hedgehogs!


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