Mice and potatoes

[PenguinPatter]

We've grown potatoes in pots before but this year we had much bigger pots and hoped for better crop because of this.

Yesterday DH emptied the second pot. We had not had as many with first pot as we'd hoped.

It was looking good then he found a few nibbled on then quite bizarrely an ivy leaf he was half way down the 1.5 meter tub. Then he did a very girly scream as he saw a mouse nest with pups in.

We had mice in them house before and were a pain to get rid of. We have lots of cats in the area spent fortune on cat poo deterrents though not water based ones so cats still drop into the garden. In fact the cute cat I'm rapidly falling in love with which lounges in our front garden had taken to coming into back garden sniffing round this pot with his mate.

We assumed the pot plastic must have been nibbled through as DH said they was no tunnel down and only small drilled drainage holes at the bottom - but no sign of how they had got in. The mother mouse came out when he was trying to move the pot further from the house. It had been on patio section right next to house.

Am I o.k to assume the non nibbled potatoes are o.k ?

How did the mouse get into the pot and that far down? And is this a common thing?

Is growing potatoes or anything in pots likely to encourage mice? Something we'd like to avoid as I currently shout at DH and DC to close one or both back doors they do forget a lot and ink that how the mice got in to start with. So should we move the strawberries and other few things left in pots further away from house or get rid of them?

Should I try the only advice we've not tried regarding cat poo and feed the local cats of which there are loads and loads to see if they will then actually start hunting the mice?

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Mice get through the tiniest holes - I think if you can fit your fingertip in a hole a mouse can get in. Never found them in pots before though and we have loads of mice around so I wouldn't worry about it being a common thing.

And I wouldn't worry about them getting in through an open door either. If they want to come in the house they'll find another way.....

As for cats v. mice - which do you prefer? Personally I'd rather get rid of the mice if they get in the house rather than have hoards of cats hanging around the garden.

[PenguinPatter]

Thank you for replying Blackpuddingbertha. I've calmed down a bit now.

The thought of mice in the house again is just a bit much - we had two toddlers last time and poisons and traps were issues. Now we just have one toddler and two school aged DC so I supposed as time passes it less an issue.

I think any potatoes grown next year we may try in the ground - family who did and pots said this year best yields were from the ground one.


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[RedRubyBlue]

We had mice living in our compost bin and yep DP did a very girlie scream when one jumped out on him. We got a cat and she cleared the problem within a couple of weeks.