What Mice Really Eat

A recent article published in the Daily Telegraph by Dr David Holmes, an animal behaviourist at Manchester Metropolitan University, stated that contrary to popular belief, mice have no interest in cheese and that the myth of using cheese as bait originates from cartoons.

Being a well-established local pest control firm, we are often called upon to deal with infestations of mice in commercial, industrial, agricultural and residential situations, and having been intrigued by Dr Holmes' findings, we thought we'd put his theory to the test.

We didn't have to wait long before a new call concerning a mouse infestation came in. Having visited the premises, we laid three individual traps placed approximately six inches apart from one another.

The first trap was based on the theory of "natural" bait, and had a chunk of apple as an attractant. The second trap had a piece of milk chocolate, and the third was baited with cheddar cheese. Despite being close together in a small area, the position of each bait was changed daily.

After our six week trial, the results came back as the following:

Bait	Results
Chocolate	1
Apple	0
Cheese	22

From these tests, we concluded that these particular mice preferred cheese to apple or chocolate. Perhaps those used by Dr Holmes were too well educated at Manchester Metropolitan University to fall for the old cheese and trap combination!

It was clear that our little test proved that it wasn't just Jerry who likes a bit of cheese for his dinner, the mice in and around Cambridgeshire are also partial to a bit of the yellow stuff.

We've also heard reports that peanut butter is a great hit with the rodents, so that will be next on our list when we come to performing the trial again in the new year.

Article provided by SDA Pest Control