Farmer Catches Mouse In Trap, Realizes It’s Not Alone

A farmer got more than he bargained for after going to check the contents of a mouse trap he had set to deal with a rodent problem.

Luke, who runs a farm in Kentucky with his wife Lindsey, took to Reddit under the handle u/k0rny and revealed the “surprising sight” he encountered when he went to check on the trap.

As temperatures drop, it’s common for homeowners to find themselves welcoming unwanted guests. According to pest control company Orkin, each fall, approximately 21 million homes in the United States will be invaded by mice or other rodents.

“They typically enter homes between October and February looking for food, water and shelter from the cold,” Orkin told Fox Weather.

Luke, who asked that his last name not be used, said Newsweek The couple’s mouse “problem” began “within the last month or two.”

“We live on a small farm and mice found their way into the feed room of our barn,” he said. “We started noticing mouse droppings in the feed room, behind some storage containers and on some shelves.”

The presence of mice in this area of ​​the farm was of considerable concern to Luke as a farmer.

“Mice can cause a lot of damage over time,” he said. “They can also cause harm and spread disease not only to humans but to animals, and we have about a dozen other animals on our farm.”

These concerns are confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which warns that “some diseases can spread from rodents to humans through direct contact with infected rodents.”

“This can happen by breathing contaminated air, touching contaminated materials, and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth,” the CDC said. “They can also be spread by being bitten or scratched by an infected rodent, or by eating food contaminated by an infected rodent.”

The key to controlling any rodent problem is stopping it before the animals take up residence in a home or building like a barn. That’s why Luke’s discovery was probably the best thing he could find in the trap that day.

Luke had set a humane mouse trap and planned to release his unwanted guest back into the wild. However, when he went to check the trap a day after setting it, he was surprised to discover that not only had he caught the mouse, but it wasn’t alone.

As seen in a photo posted to Reddit by the handle u/k0rny, the mouse had given birth while trapped inside the trap and could be seen nursing her new litter of pink baby mice.

“The mouse was caught a few hours before I posted this,” Luke said. “They were immediately taken to a field a few miles away and released.”

Although this mouse and its litter have been moved, it appears Luke’s rodent problem is a recurring one. “This was the third mouse we’ve caught this week if you don’t count the babies,” he said.

Luke said he shared the photo of what greeted him to give others a glimpse of what was a “very rare event.” He also prides himself on using humane traps rather than a trap that could have resulted in the death of the mouse and her babies.

“I’d rather give them a chance to fight in the wild, as far away from other humans as possible, than be the direct cause of their demise,” he said.

Ultimately, this kind of unusual catch was good news in his ongoing efforts to deal with the mouse problem on his farm.

“I was glad we were able to capture the mother mouse before the baby mice were born nearby, which would have only made our infestation worse,” Luke said.