Doormice eat fruit in trees
ccess2g
Posts: 4
I have a small orchard of 5 apple trees, 1 quince and 1 cherry tree and am yet to eat a cherry or a ripe apple. Only the quince tree yields a healthy crop each year. One day, the other fruit disappear overnight. The reason for this had remained a mystery until I saw a large dormouse feasting on a branch. I had noticed the mice elsewhere round the house before and this sort is aggressive and persistent. The cats get a few, traps a few more but can anybody suggest a way of stopping them climbing trees to reach the fruit? Thanks in advance.
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Are you absolutely certain that these mammals are Dormice? These are an endangered species and I think that you may have another creature eating your fruit.
This is a dormouse
You can see how small Dormice are when you compare it to the blackberries it is hanging on to.
Good point, thank you. No, mine are grey and look more like a manky grey squirrel with a pointy nose. Judging by the size of the berries, they are also quite a big bigger.
.How big are they? The fact that you describe them as aggressive makes me think 'rats'
Smaller, leaner and fluffier than the rat above. Here is a good likeness.
This picture will give you a better idea of the size of a Dormouse
If I had dormice running riot eating my fruit, I'd be happily shopping in the supermarket for apples and leaving the dormice to fill their boots. Sadly they are increasingly rare
Maybe it's an Edible Dormouse?... they're are bigger and aggressive.
Thank you all. Whatever the perishers may be, the traps are humane and what gets caught gets moved away, advice's welcome on how to stop a cat running after "mice", but the question remains:
Has anybody got a good suggestion to stop rodents climbing fruit trees and cleaning them up of all fruit?
where are you ccess?
In the sticks near Peterborough