‘Companionable Mice’ (2019)

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

Have any of you had mice for pets? Honk if you’re put off by the very idea.

But I’m here to tell you… mice are nice.

Companionable Mice

How something as tiny as a mouse can form an affectionate bond with something as big as a human being is worth pondering.

18 comments on “‘Companionable Mice’ (2019)”

  1. We don’t care much for the mice getting into and destroying things in the house, but they are adorable. We use peppermint-oil-soaked cotton balls to keep them away but if that doesn’t do the trick, we have humane traps, and release them on our land near the outbuildings. We frequently find them getting into the large plastic bin with our birdseed (they chew right through the plastic) and then getting stuck… too fat or lazy to get out once they’ve gorged themselves. My father always calls them “Gus-gus.” (From Cinderella, in case the reference isn’t obvious, back when Disney at least wore a decent facade.)

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  2. I’ve never had mice, but I know that hamsters can be quite nice little creatures. Mice are cute as heck, and seem like they are smart enough to know a friend when they see one; even if the friend is much larger than they are.

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    1. They’re fantastically smart! If mice could live ten years, they’d be running the show. I’m sure they’d be a step up from what we’ve got.

    2. The idea that animals are stupid is, at best, uninformed. Animals do not have the advantages of rich symbolic language as a tool for abstraction, but animals are not stupid. Animals are quite clever, and it seems to me that they usually are quite aware of what is going on around them, and capable of responding both quickly, and correctly, to whatever happens around them.

  3. I’d love to have mice as pets, but their life spans are so short that it would break my heart over and over.

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    4. When we got our cat Henry, I was afraid he’d try to get at our mice. But he didn’t–he was caught up in fascination for our baby fence lizards. He and some of the mice were on mutual sniffing terms.

    5. It’s fascinating to see interaction among species. When all is restored, I expect that animals will all live in peace with one another.

  4. These and your mouse are precious!! She was such a wonderful mother! The ability of intelligence in the tiniest minds, including insects’ is astounding and vastly under-appreciated. Living where we do, despite my attempts to keep averting clean & crumb-free, we still will get the occasional mouse. We have live traps that I check daily. The problem is nearly only when the weather is so cold. When one is caught, I place the trap in a box. With my latext glove, I drive it 2 minutes away to a good release spot with access to water. I offer more food before release. Those pain inflicting and glue traps are evil. I just get tired of bleaching where they’ve been (often the bottom shelf of the lazy susan).When multiple mice are trapped together, they often cuddle. Mice are so sweet.

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    3. The tool room, graveyard shift. You need to find a tool or a part if someone comes and asks for it; but aside from that, you do the crossword puzzle, feed the mouse when he comes out, pet the cat, and every now and then, stretch your legs. That was a nice job!

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