The mouse is stocking up. Field mice on the grounds of a Swedish country estate

Field mice for many centuries they have been unpleasant “neighbors” of rural residents in many countries. Sweden is no exception. Here, too, the villager is forced to constantly fight these harmful, voracious animals.

From my own experience of living in a village wooden house and from conversations with neighbors, I can say that none of them complained about the presence of these unwanted guests, field mice, in residential buildings.

Where do field mice spend the winter?

With the onset of cold weather, field mice “occupy” outbuildings: barns, woodsheds, garages. So, if in the summer several mousetraps placed by the husband in the woodshed remained empty, then in the winter he had to throw out the caught animals every day.

When going for firewood, he was forced to wear a gauze mask and gloves so as not to become infected with a dangerous infectious disease, murine inflammation (sorkfeber), which could result in serious damage to the liver and kidneys.

If you do not apply for it in a timely manner medical care, even death is possible. So proximity to field mice not only brings material losses, but is also dangerous to human health.

About the danger of infection dangerous virus, which is carried by field mice, the reader can learn some ways to combat these harmful animals by reading the article

Although harmful and dangerous to human health, field mice nevertheless serve important source food for a number of animals and birds that are “beneficial” for humans: owls, foxes, lynxes.

According to reports in the Swedish press, and our own observations, the number of field mice has continued to increase sharply over the past few years.

This spring was no exception. I constantly discover new passages in our garden. Buyers are complaining about a shortage of mousetraps, which quickly disappeared from store shelves!

We continue our fight against field mice

Despite the daily hunting trophies“It was clear that with the help of only a few mousetraps we would not be able to catch all the field mice wintering in our neighborhood. Last summer, these voracious animals already ruined part of the cucumber and zucchini harvest in my garden.

We tried to repeat our experience " gas attack" For some time it seemed to us that the field mice had left our garden, but, unfortunately, late autumn they are back!

Therefore, it was decided this spring to try other methods of combating field mice. Online stores offer various models ultrasonic mole and mouse repellers.

The operating principle of the devices is based on the generation of ultrasonic vibrations, causing a feeling of fear and anxiety in animals. It is stated that for a short time will leave the territory that has become dangerous for them.

The performance of the devices depends on the composition of the soil; the greatest effect is achieved on heavy, clayey soils that transmit sound vibrations of the device well.

On sandy soils efficiency is significantly reduced. In northern Sweden, the soils are mostly clay. I hope the electronic repellers work effectively.

However, it has been noticed that when the device stops working, the rodents return! Ultrasonic mouse and mole repellers are, so to speak, products of scientific and technological progress.

On the other hand, there is a natural remedy for combating field mice - the herbaceous plant blackroot. Since ancient times, the roots and leaves of this plant have been used in the preparation of various medicinal decoctions and ointments.

It turned out that rodents cannot stand the smell of this plant. It is recommended to dry the Blackroot and scatter it along the mouse passages.

In addition, its seeds are also effectively used to control mice. The seeds have hooks that cling to the skins of animals, irritate and scare them away.

This “ecological” way of dealing with field mice looks very tempting. I think I should try it out.

How animals prepare for winter. Part 2.

How animals prepare for winter. Part 2:squirrel, badger, beavers, fox, wolf, mouse. Speech exercises and finger theater about how animals prepare for winter.

How animals prepare for winter: part 2

Stories in pictures on the topic “How animals prepare for winter”

Today we continue the topic of how animals prepare for winter. we discussed with you:

Experiments for children“Why is a hare gray in summer and white in winter?”, “Which fur coat is warmer?”
How hare getting ready for winter?
How bear getting ready for winter?
How hedgehog getting ready for winter?
Presentation for looking at pictures of children.
Poems, stories, assignments for children.

How squirrel getting ready for winter?
How beaver getting ready for winter?
How badger getting ready for winter?
How mouse getting ready for winter?
How fox and wolf getting ready for winter?
4 speech exercises for children.
Games are dramatizations.
How to make it quickly and easily finger theater for performances forest conversations and dialogues?
Poems, pictures, stories for children about animals

Wish have an interesting trip into the world of animals and new discoveries!

Squirrel

Almost all children know how a squirrel prepares food for the winter, because all cartoons show how it hangs mushrooms on tree branches and dries them on stumps. She also collects nuts, acorns, and cones. Where does the squirrel hide them? Under stumps, under tree roots, in hollows, in moss.

Squirrels also prepare their homes for winter. A squirrel's house is called a "hollow". But if there is no hollow, then the squirrel builds a nest for itself. This is a ball of twigs and pieces of bark with one entrance. Inside the nest the squirrel puts moss and bird feathers to make it warmer. She plugs the cracks with moss and grass. The squirrel builds its nest very high in the tree so that no one can climb into it.

The squirrel's winter coat is silvery, similar to snow. And in the summer - red. You already read in the first part of our conversation about autumn how to conduct a simple and interesting experiment for kids, showing the child why a squirrel changes its red coat to a silver one. Did your child enjoy guessing?

Belkina drying room. V. Bianchi

The squirrel took one of its round nests in the trees for storage. She has hazelnuts and cones stacked there.

In addition, the squirrel collected mushrooms - boletus and birch mushrooms. She planted them on broken pine branches and dried them for future use. In winter, it will wander through the branches and feed on dried mushrooms.

G. Skrebitsky

Here you are walking in late autumn through the forest among bare, leafless trees. Look, something is darkening on the branches of one of them; It looks like dried leaves.
No, these are not leaves, but dried mushrooms.
Who brought them up the tree? This is the job of a busy squirrel. At the end of summer and autumn, she collects mushrooms - prepares her food for the winter.

During the fall, the mushrooms on the branches will wither and dry up, and they will remain hanging there until one day. winter days the squirrel will not find them and will not eat them.
In addition to mushrooms, the squirrel prepares other food for the winter. She stuffs nuts and acorns into hollows and wood cracks. All this will be useful to her during the winter lack of food.
By winter, squirrels not only store food: they take care of insulating their homes. With the onset of autumn, the busy animals plug the cracks in their nests with withered grass and moss. Every hole is plugged. Well, now everything is ready, we can welcome winter.

Squirrels, chipmunks, hamsters and many other animals store food for winter.

Beaver

Beavers.A. L. Barto
I've been walking since the morning,
I ask everyone:
- What kind of fur does a beaver have?
What kind of fur, tell me?

Is it true that beavers
Erecting mound fortresses
And do they hide beavers there?

And what they say is true,
Why do they have carpets there?
From fragrant herbs and bark?

I asked my mother about the beaver,
But it's time for her to go to work.

I see a janitor in the distance
He sweeps the yard.

Could you tell me:
Where does the beaver live? -
And the janitor told me: - Don’t stand in the dust,
Let's put the conversation aside.

Without looking up from the game,
Playing dominoes
The neighbor laughs: - Where are the beavers?!
I haven't seen them for a long time.

Tell me, would you be so kind as to
Tell me, where do beavers live?

Task for children: Do you know where beavers live? How would you answer this boy's questions?

The beaver is an amazing animal! He is even called the “King of Rodents”! The beaver has a spatula tail, sharp teeth. A beaver can even chew through a tree with its teeth! Beavers can swim, and they have a special coat - it doesn’t get wet in the water! Beavers take care of their coat and groom it carefully. They scratch it with their front paws, teeth and claws of their hind paws. But other beavers help them comb their backs, because they can’t reach their backs themselves! Just like you, your mom probably helps you rub your back with a washcloth when you wash!

The beaver's house is called a "hut". Beavers build a house from branches and twigs. The beaver's house is very strong, because all the branches are held together with clay and silt. You can only enter the hut underwater.

Beavers live in families. In the fall they have a lot to do - they need to prepare the dam for winter, repair it, prepare a lot of branches and stack them near their house - “hut”. This is their “food” for the winter. They store “food” underwater near their home. And they will need a lot of food in winter! After all, beavers do not sleep in winter, and they need to eat! In winter, beavers swim underwater and eat the roots of aquatic plants and their autumn food supplies - stored branches.

Badger

Under a birch tree on the mountain... Timofey Belozerov
Under a birch tree on the mountain
A badger sleeps in its hole.
And the badger's hole
Deep, deep.

The badger is warm and dry,
Caress your ear all day long
The noise of birch branches
Yes, the sniffling of children:

They sleep soundly on the bedding
Boys with mustaches
And they sniffle from satiety
Wet noses...

A branch or twig creaks -
The badger will open his eye slightly.
He will lead with a sensitive ear,
He smiles and falls asleep:

After all, the badger has a hole
Deep...

The badger is also preparing his home for winter. The badger's home is a hole. In the fall, the badger repairs the house, brings dry grass, moss, leaves and prepares a warm and soft bed for the winter. Just as we have a mattress and pillow on our bed to make it soft and comfortable to sleep, so the badger wants to make his bed soft and comfortable.

The badger also stores food for the winter, dries it and hides it in a hole. It stores acorns, seeds, and plant roots.

By winter, the badger falls asleep in its hole.

Badgers. I. Sokolov-Mikitov
Once upon a time there were a lot of badgers in our Russian forests. They usually settled in remote places, near swamps, rivers, and streams. For their burrows, badgers chose high, dry, sandy places that were not flooded. spring waters. Badgers dug deep holes. Above their holes grew tall trees. There were several exits and entrances from the holes. Badgers are very neat and intelligent animals. In winter, they, like hedgehogs and bears, hibernate and emerge from their holes only in the spring.

I remember when I was a child, my father took me to see residential badger holes. In the evening we hid behind tree trunks, and we were able to see how old short-legged badgers went out to hunt, how small badgers played and romped near their holes.

In the forest in the mornings, I had to meet badgers more than once. I watched how a badger carefully made its way near the tree trunks, sniffing the ground, looking for insects, mice, lizards, worms and other meat and plant food. Badgers are not afraid poisonous snakes, catch them and eat them. Badgers do not go far from the hole. They graze and hunt near their underground dwellings, not relying on their short legs. The badger walks quietly on the ground, and it is not always possible to hear his steps.

The badger is a harmless and very useful animal. Unfortunately, there are almost no badgers in our forests now. It is rare that inhabited badger holes remain in the deep forest. The badger is a smart forest animal. He doesn't harm anyone. It is difficult for a badger to get used to captivity, and in zoos during the day badgers usually sleep in their dark kennels.

It is very interesting, having found holes, to follow the life of their inhabitants.

I have never hunted the peace-loving badgers, but sometimes I have found their forest homes. It was rare to see live badgers. It used to be that you were walking from a capercaillie current, and the sun rose over the forest. You stop to sit down on a tree stump and listen and look carefully. You will see a badger carefully making its way near the tree trunks and sniffing every inch of the ground. A badger's paws look like small, strong shovels. In case of danger, a badger can quickly bury itself in the ground. When badgers dig their holes, they scoop out the earth with their front legs and push it out with their back legs. They dig holes quickly, like machines.

If you find live badger holes in the forest, do not touch them, do not destroy them, or kill useful and good-natured animals. The badger has become a very rare animal in our forests. It is not difficult to completely destroy this beast.

Mouse

The mouse prepared its pantry for the winter and filled it with grain. Sometimes mice make their own pantry right in the field and carry grains into it every night. The mouse hole has several entrances, and it contains a "bedroom" and several "storage rooms". In winter, the mouse sleeps only in cold weather, and on other days she needs to eat, that’s why she stores so much food! Here's how Vitaly Bianchi writes about it:

Getting ready for winter. V. Bianchi.
The frost is not great, but it doesn’t tell you to yawn: when it hits, it immediately freezes the earth and water with ice. Where will you get food for yourself then? Where will you hide?
In the forest, everyone prepares for winter in their own way.

Those who are supposed to fly away from hunger and cold on wings. Those who remained are in a hurry to fill their pantries, preparing food supplies for future use. Short-tailed field mice carry it around especially diligently. Many of them have dug winter holes for themselves right in the stacks and under the stacks of grain and steal grain every night.
Five or six paths lead to the hole, each path leading to its own entrance. Underground there is a bedroom and several storage rooms.

In winter, voles go to sleep only in the most severe frosts. That's why they stock up on large amounts of bread. In some holes, four to five kilograms of selected grain have already been collected.
Small rodents rob grain fields. We must protect the harvest from them.

Fox and wolf

By the fall the fox has already raised her cubs, so she does not sit in the hole. But if danger threatens, the fox runs to its house and hides. The fox has a hole at the edge of the forest on a hill so that the fox can see the forest from all sides. The fox is very smart, she never runs straight to the hole, first she makes a loop to confuse her tracks, and then hides in the hole.

The fox is a predator; it does not sleep in winter and does not store for the winter, just like the wolf.

But both the fox and the wolf are preparing their fur coat for winter. Their fur, like that of all animals, grows and becomes very warm and fluffy so that it is not cold in winter.

Speech exercises on the topic “How do animals prepare for winter?” Playing with words

Game “Where is whose house?” Guess how to continue

Lives in a den...
Can live in a hole...
Lives in a hut...
Lives in a hollow...
Lives under a bush...

If the baby makes a mistake, then you can play a game called “Help the kids find a house.” The little animals got lost and lost their homes. Where are their mothers waiting for them? Where should I take the baby squirrel? Where's the bunny? Where is mama bear waiting for her baby? Where is daddy beaver waiting for the baby beaver? Where should the little badger go? Where's the hedgehog? In the game, the baby will quickly remember who lives where. You can use toys or pictures to play.

"Continue the sentence"

IN winter forest you will never meet...
In the winter forest you can find...
In the fall they change their fur coats...
In autumn the hedgehog...

“Name the animals affectionately.”

Squirrel - squirrel,
fox - ... (chanterelle),
bear - (bear, bear),
hare - ... (bunny, bunny, bunny),
hedgehog - ... (hedgehog).

Game “Let's build a bridge. The longest sentence about autumn"

Take the chips. Any small objects can act as chips: pencils, cones, buttons, shells, pebbles, blocks of building material or designer parts. You can cut out squares from thick colored cardboard. One chip is one word. You lay out one chip and say one word. For example, "hedgehog". The child lays out the second chip and says the second word, adding it to the first: “Runs.” "The hedgehog is running." You place the third chip and say the third word. You can name two words if a preposition is used: “Through the forest. A hedgehog is running through the forest." But every word is one trick! Ask the child: “What word is this? This is the word "by". And this word is “forest”. Together we did it: through the forest.” Next, the child adds his word. For example, "Autumn". The result is the following sentence: “A hedgehog is running through the autumn forest” and you have 5 chips laid out. Continue to expand this offer as much as you can. For example, your final result might look like this: “A spiky, cheerful hedgehog runs through the golden autumn forest and carries dry leaves on its back.” The rule is that one word is used only once in a sentence, so that it doesn’t turn out to be “butter oil” :)

I usually use a game version of this exercise. The children and I “build a bridge” from one bank of the river to the other using our chips.

On old wallpaper we draw two banks across which we need to build a bridge. You can draw “shores” with chalk on the linoleum or lay out strings.
We discuss why this bridge is needed. For example, a kid got lost, he needs to go home, but he cannot swim across the river. If we build a bridge of words, he will cross it. But we need a long bridge, so we need a lot of words!
We build a bridge from words, that is, we make a sentence. And at the same time we get acquainted with the term “sentence”, learn to select beautiful figurative expressions and build complex sentences in your speech!
When the bridge is ready, our hero runs happily across it to his mother.
It is possible to build sentences - bridges with any words and in any game situation: the car needs to drive to the other side, Aibolit needs to go to the sick bear, etc. You can build not a bridge, but a road.

Dialogues are dramatizations on the topic “How animals prepare for winter.” Forest conversation

How to conduct a dialogue between animals in the autumn forest - dramatization with a child

The animals gathered in a forest clearing and began to tell each other about their affairs. “I will spend the winter in a hollow,” said the squirrel. - “And for the winter I stored food for myself - dried mushrooms, collected nuts and acorns.”

“And I will sleep in the den,” the bear said in a deep voice. “Now I need to eat a lot of food so that I can sleep peacefully all winter.” In winter I don't need food. I prepared a den for myself. I will sleep in it in winter.”

Act out this conversation with your child and continue it on behalf of different animals. You can introduce other characters - birds and insects. Let the birds tell you how they are going to fly away to distant lands, and the insects tell you how they hide in cracks and under the bark from the cold and frost. Each character talks from himself, about his autumn affairs, about how he prepared for winter.

For dialogues, you can use toys - a bunny, a fox, a bear, a mouse, a squirrel. You can cut out silhouettes of animals or use pictures. By playing animal dialogue, the child consolidates acquired knowledge about the natural world in an interesting and exciting way. And what is also important is that the child learns to apply the acquired knowledge in life! This is much better and more effective than “tormenting” a child with questions: “How did the hare prepare for winter? Remember, how did the badger prepare for winter? Remember..." The child will remember, and after a few days... he will forget! But he will never forget the information that the child used in the game! After all, he lived and felt it, it was interesting and emotional, it was so bright and exciting! Play and develop your baby in the game! And success will be guaranteed!

Children love to act out such animal dialogues using finger theater. You don’t have to buy or sew or knit a finger theater. You can quickly make it from scrap materials available in every home.

How easy it is to make a finger theater on the topic “How animals prepare for winter”

Draw the animals yourself or print out ready-made pictures and stick each one onto a thin strip of thick cardboard. The width of the strip is approximately 1cm. Length 7-8 cm. You can color the pictures, or you can leave them as they are – black and white. Coloring pictures with colored pencils is very useful for a child. It develops fine motor skills, so you can involve your baby in this matter. After all, preparing toys for your future game is always interesting for a child!
Take a strip of cardboard 3-4 cm wide and about 8-10 cm long. Glue it into a “ring” onto the child’s finger using tape. The exact size of the part depends on the size of the child’s finger - the “ring” should be put on and taken off freely, but should not fall off the finger.
Insert the finished strip of cardboard with an image of an animal glued to it inside the “ring” and put it on your finger. You can change characters by inserting them into the “ring” and taking them out. It turns out to be a finger theater.
In this finger theater, one child can either play the role of one animal or play several roles. Each animal talks about how it prepared for winter.
To conduct a dialogue-game, the baby will need your help. Take on one of the roles, ask questions, suggest new stories and topics for discussion!

Plots for the game - dramatizations with children on the topic

"How animals prepare for winter"

As a basis for such dramatization by children of the dialogue between animals, you can take a folk song.

Shadow-shadow-shadow,
There is a fence above the city,
The animals sat on the fence,
We boasted all day.

For older children 5-7 years old, you can take Nikolai Sladkov’s story as a basis for dramatizing the dialogue of animals. Let the raven ask the animals questions, and they answer him. At first, the mother can take on the role of a raven and ask the animals questions about how they are preparing for winter. Then switch roles. Each time, change the composition of the animals answering Raven's question.

A fairy tale for children about autumn by Nikolai Sladkov

- Forest dwellers! - the wise Raven shouted one morning. — Autumn is at the threshold of the forest, is everyone ready for its arrival?
Like an echo, voices came from the forest:
- Ready, ready, ready...
- But we’ll check it now! - Raven croaked. - First of all, autumn will let the cold into the forest - what will you do?

The animals responded:
- We, squirrels, hares, foxes, will change into winter coats!
- We, badgers, raccoons, will hide in warm holes!
- We, hedgehogs, the bats Let's fall into a deep sleep!

The birds responded:
- We, the migratory ones, will fly away to warmer lands!
- We, sedentary people, will put on down padded jackets!

“Secondly,” the Raven shouts, “autumn will begin to rip off the leaves from the trees!”
- Let him rip it off! - the birds responded. - The berries will be more visible!
- Let him rip it off! - the animals responded. - It will be quieter in the forest!
“The third thing,” the Raven continues, “autumn will click the last insects with frost!”

The birds responded:
- And we, blackbirds, will fall on the mountain ash!
- And we, woodpeckers, will begin to peel the cones!
- And we, goldfinches, will get to the weeds!

The animals responded:
- And we will sleep more peacefully without mosquito flies!
“The fourth thing,” the Raven buzzes, “autumn will become boring!” He will catch up with dark clouds, let down tedious rains, and incite dreary winds. The day will be shortened, the sun will be hidden in your bosom!
- Let him pester himself! - the birds and animals responded in unison. - You won’t keep us bored! What do we care about rain and wind when we are in fur coats and down padded jackets! Let's be well-fed - we won't get bored!

The wise Raven wanted to ask something else, but he waved his wing and took off.
He flies, and beneath him is a forest, multi-colored, motley - autumn.
Autumn has already crossed the threshold. But it didn’t scare anyone at all.

You can also use for dramatization a fairy tale about how animals prepare for winter by G. A. Skrebitsky “Everyone in his own way” (riddles, tasks for children, folk traditions, video)

Funny, smart animals and at the same time malicious “biters” of everything and everyone. They are often unfairly confused with their closest sisters - house mice. However, residents of free fields bring no less concern and harm to agriculture and households. Animals that are loved by cats and not loved by women and farmers are part of natural diversity.

The world is big enough for all species, we just need to coexist intelligently. Let's learn more about the field mouse, its habits, possible dangers and methods of control.

Description of the field mouse

The field mouse has many varieties. Among its close relatives are:

ordinary - the most common type;
red - an inhabitant of the predominantly hot steppes of Asia;
forest, preferring forest-steppe zones of the Eurasian and North American continents;
underground - a resident of city communications and local areas.

Despite their diversity, they all belong to the genus of voles, the family of hamsters, the order of rodents and the class of mammals.

Appearance of a field mouse

All species of voles have an elongated, pointed muzzle, dark beady eyes (black or deep brown), pointed ears and a long tail, leaving about ¾ of the body length. This is a miniature rodent with a maximum length of 13 cm, more often up to 10 cm, not counting the tail. Vole weight is about 15 g. On the high cheekbones, the mice have wing-shaped plates, which makes it seem as if they have dimples on their cheeks. The paws are small, with a foot about 1.5 - 2 cm. The claws are short, dulled from constant digging.

The animal's fur on its back is brownish-ochre in color. It is not soft, but somewhat rough, short, and in older individuals it even turns into “soft needles,” like those of hedgehogs. Distinctive feature voles - a dark stripe along the spine. The fur on the belly is light gray.

This is interesting! The intensity of the color is related to the age of the mouse. More respectable individuals are lighter than their younger counterparts; among the hairs there are even gray ones.

The male vole is practically no different in appearance from the female. In order not to confuse the field mouse with its relative the brownie, pay attention to their differences.

House mouse	Harvest mouse
Small, up to 10 cm	Slightly larger, up to 13 cm
The back is gray-black, dark	The back is brown with a stripe in the middle
The abdomen is almost white	Abdomen light gray
Short muzzle	Pointed muzzle
Ears are large and rounded	Ears are small and triangular
Tail up to 60% of body	Tail up to 70% of body

Field mice may well live in the house and in the garden, and domestic mice can live in the wild.

Lifestyle of a vole

Field mice are somewhat reminiscent of mini-moles in their lifestyle: they dig holes close to the surface of the earth and move along them. When digging, mice throw the earth away from them, so the mound turns out to be flat on one side, and the “entrance” into it is not from the top, like a mole’s, but from the side. In winter they move under snow cover.

Important! Voles do not have a period of winter suspended animation; even in cold weather they need to actively move and look for food. In this case, the mice use the supplies stored in the nest-storage rooms from the summer.

They live in burrows or suitable shelters: under branches, stacks of straw, in barns, etc. If a mouse builds a hole for itself, it makes it extensive and branched. At a depth of 5 to 35 cm there is a labyrinth from 4 to 25 m long with several storage rooms and a sleeping nest, as well as several emergency exits, one of which leads to a source of drinking water.

During the daytime, field mice prefer to hide underground and sleep, and during the day they become active. They crawl to the surface and look for food, gnawing almost everything they encounter along the way: plant roots, flower bulbs, tubers, and the bark at the bottom of trees. In search of suitable feeding, they can make real migrations.

Mice run quickly, moving with a “jumping” gait. They know how to swim, but prefer to avoid it. They often settle in colonies, often numerous: 1 or several female relatives and several generations of their offspring.

How long does a vole live?

Average lifespan of a vole mouse in the wild natural environment 1-2 years, as they have a lot natural enemies and dangers. If everything goes particularly well in the life of a mouse, it can live up to 7-12 years.

Range, habitats

This rodent can be found almost all over the world, except for the hottest corners:

on European continent, including in Finland and Denmark;
in Siberia and the Urals;
in North American forest-steppe zones(to the latitudes of Guatemala);
they are found in Asia - China, Mongolia, Taiwan;
from the south their range is limited to Libya ( North Africa) and northern India;

Despite the name, voles rarely settle directly in fields. For them it is preferable a large number of grasses, so they choose meadows, forest edges, clearings, as well as places near human habitation: cellars, greenhouses, sheds, convenient shelters in the garden and vegetable garden. Voles can even climb into a house and settle under the roof, under wall sheathing, in ventilation, or in a layer of insulation.

This is interesting! If the area is damp and swampy, a smart rodent will not build a hole, but will build a ball-nest of grass, which will be located on a high branch of a bush.

During floods, periods of prolonged rainfall, and winter thaws, the animals' burrows are filled with water, and many mice die.

Field mouse diet

The vole is a herbivorous rodent. Since she belongs to the hamster family, her teeth grow throughout her life, so her instinct is to constantly grind them down. This explains why mice are almost constantly gnawing on something. During the day, an adult vole should eat an amount of food equal to its own weight.

The mouse eats almost everything it can find from vegetation:

herbs and their seeds;
berries;
nuts, including cones;
grain;
tubers, roots, bulbs, root vegetables;
buds and flowers of various bushes;
tender bark of young trees.

Winter supplies in the pantries of field mice can reach a mass of 3 kg.

Reproduction and offspring

With the onset of spring warmth and until the autumn cold, voles actively reproduce. Pregnancy in a mouse lasts 21-23 days. During a season, a female is capable of giving up to 8 litters, more often 3-4, each of which brings 5-6 cubs. This means that if initially 5 pairs of voles settled on the site, by the end of the warm season the number of mice can reach 8-9 thousand.

Mice are born completely helpless, their eyes are blind. But their development is extremely fast:

vision appears on days 12-14;
after 20 days they can already survive without their mother;
after 3 months and even earlier they are able to bear offspring themselves.

This is interesting! There are cases where female voles become pregnant on the 13th day of their life and bear viable offspring at 33 days of age.

Natural enemies

This fertility is due to the fact that in nature mice have many enemies that limit their population. The most important hunters of voles are birds of prey: owls, hawks, falcons, etc. One owl can eat more than 1000 mice in a year. For some animals - weasels, polecats - mice are the main, almost exclusive food. A ferret will catch and eat 10-12 mice per day.

The weasel is also dangerous for rodents because it has a flexible and narrow body, with which it is easy for it to penetrate nests and eat the cubs located there. A hedgehog, a snake and, of course, a cat will happily feast on a vole.

Population and species status

Voles are extremely diverse. Scientists have found that there are more than 60 species and subspecies. It is difficult to distinguish them externally; only the gene analysis method is suitable for identification.

This is interesting! The mice themselves perfectly distinguish their relatives from another population and never mate with them. How they reveal interspecific differences has not yet been clarified.

The genome of the vole mouse is scientific mystery: genetic material located without visible logic, and most of the information is concentrated in the sex chromosomes. The number of chromosomes is from 17 to 64, and in males and females they are either the same or different, that is, there is no sex dependence. In one litter, all pups are genetic clones.

Another unique property populations of field mice - “self-transplantation” of genes into the nucleus from other cell organs (mitochondria). Scientists are still struggling in vain with gene transplantation in humans, while it has been working in voles for thousands of years. Scientists' only explanation is a sharp evolutionary jump in the population of field mice over the last million years.

Since mice are prolific animals, their numbers vary greatly depending on the year and season.. We noticed that growth spurts and “demographic pitfalls” in voles alternate after about 3-5 years. The maximum recorded number of animals in the population was approximately 2000 mice per 1 hectare of area, and the smallest was 100 individuals per hectare. In addition to mice, the family of rodents includes lemmings and muskrats.

Vole mouse and man

People have long considered this small, nimble animal to be their enemy. Choosing a place to live close to human dwellings, storage facilities and arable land, voles cause damage to stocks and plantings, and they are also carriers of many infectious diseases.

Thunderstorm of gardens, fields and vegetable gardens

In the years when reproduction is most active, the damage that the vole causes to plants is greatly noticeable:

gnaws underground parts, causing the death of the plant on the root;
spoils root crops and melons;
sharpens grain and seed reserves;
gnaws the bark of young bushes and trees.

Voles eat farm produce not only on the ground, but also in storage facilities, elevators, stacks and stacks, and cellars.

Important! It is not difficult to understand that a family of voles has settled on your site: the colony will be identified by the so-called “runways” - traces left on the surface from digging underground burrow paths.

Dangerous carrier

The vole mouse can be a carrier of extremely serious diseases, many of whose pathogens can cause fatal outcome. Cute and funny animals, especially in large numbers, can cause:

leptospirosis;
tularemia;
erysipelas infections;
toxoplasmosis;
salmonellosis, etc.

They became notorious due to the fact that they are practically the only natural carrier of plague in the Transcaucasian region.

How to deal with a vole

Due to the danger to Agriculture, as well as for human health and life, one should strive to limit the number of voles. For this purpose, two directions of struggle are used:

passive-preventive – scaring away mice from places of residence of people and agricultural objects;
active – measures aimed at the direct destruction of rodents.

Repelling field mice

As part of repelling, it is effective to plant and lay out plants whose smell mice do not like. Among them are garlic, black root, calendula, mint, wormwood, tansy and other strong-smelling herbs and fruits. You can use not the plants themselves, but essential oils, laying out pieces of cotton wool soaked in them near the intended place of mice settlement. Sometimes kerosene and ammonia are used for the same purpose. Mice avoid spilled ash.

Another humane repellent option is ultrasonic or vibration devices, which create uncomfortable conditions for mice in the action area. They can be purchased in stores. A “home” version of such a repeller is a tilted bottle dug into the ground, which will hum and vibrate in windy weather. Tin cans on poles around the perimeter of the site and even “wind music” (ringing sticks or bells) hanging on the trees will act in a similar way. A colony of mice is unlikely to settle on a property or in a house that is “patrolled” by the mouse’s natural enemy – the cat.

Destruction of voles

“In war” all means are good. When the harvest and plantings are threatened irreparable harm, extreme measures may be justified. Arsenal of folk and industrial methods offers the following options for means of fighting voles to the death:

"Gypsum thrombus" - mix salted wheat flour with lime or gypsum. A rodent that eats such bait will die from a blood clot in the stomach.
Poisonous baits - In specialized stores you can buy ready-made poisons for rodents in the form of wax tablets or granules. When laying them out, you cannot take them with your bare hands, otherwise smart mice will not touch them. Some types of poisons have a delayed effect, and poisoned rodents have time to infect their fellows.

Important! This method should not be used if a cat or dog can eat dead mice - this can be fatal to the life of the pet.

Physical destroyers- all kinds of mousetraps. Not effective if the mouse population is large.
Traps - farmers come up with various options, from a can placed on a coin, which the mouse drops when it gets under it, to a bottle with a small amount sunflower oil. Ready-made traps are also sold. Another option is a board with a special glue applied to it, to which the mouse will stick securely.

According to the latest data, it is not traditional cheese that is more attractive as bait for voles, but nuts, chocolate, a piece of meat, and bread with sunflower oil. Another unpleasant point associated with all punitive methods is that you will have to regularly clean up and dispose of dead mice.

Why you can’t completely destroy voles

Like any species on our planet, voles occupy their place in an ecological niche. By eating grass seeds, they limit the growth of the grass cover, which prevents young trees from breaking through to the light, thereby preserving forests. In addition, their role in the food chain is very important for the population birds of prey and many fur-bearing animals. In those years when few mice are born, the number of foxes, owls and other animals that feed on voles decreases. Some species of voles are rare and endangered and are protected:

Evronian;
Muyskaya;
Balukhistan;
Mexican;
Japanese red;
Taiwanese;
Central Kashmir.

Prevention measures

To reduce the likelihood of voles settling on your property, you can:

get a cat or dog;
do not drive away the natural enemies of mice, especially owls;
do not allow the site to be cluttered with equipment, firewood, faulty furniture, etc.;
constantly loosen the ground, destroying the “grooves” of field mice;
promptly dispose of trimmed branches, leaves, weeds and other garden debris.

To combat voles, it is necessary to use an integrated approach that combines prevention, creating an environment that is uncomfortable for rodents, and physical destruction.

The harsh winter spares no one, all that remains is to adapt. I’m running for warm blankets and hot coffee, and the animals are preparing shelters, hibernating or preparing supplies.

Animals that store supplies for the winter

Thanks to the ability to prepare in advance, winter cold is not scary for many forest inhabitants, such as:

Chipmunk.
Badger.
Bear.
Ferret.
Marten.

Chipmunks hibernate, but before that they prepare supplies for themselves (right in the nest), up to several buckets of nuts and various seeds. Periodically they wake up and feast on the preparations. But it's not that simple. Sometimes they have to suffer from hunger because bears destroy chipmunk nests. Only deeply dug shelters remain intact. And if the supplies are lucky enough to remain intact, then even in the spring, when there is still no abundance of food, the chipmunk will not starve.

Badgers also do not tolerate winter well. They prepare the mink in advance and make substantial supplies in the form of roots and fruits of plants, acorns, berries and seeds various plants.

The bear also cannot do without supplies. He makes them at the base of trees or in his den. Supplies include nuts, dried berries, beetle larvae, ants, bulbs and even fish. An unprepared bear steals from rodents. And if he is very hungry, he can eat the owner of the supplies (for example, a chipmunk).

The variety of stocks is surprising

Ferrets eat frogs in winter. First, they track down the sleeping places of their prey, then they bite the cervical nerve so that the frog remains alive and fresh, and they store them in whole buckets in their holes.

Pine marten also begins to prepare for the cold in the spring. Bird eggs are salvation for her. She does not destroy the nests, but periodically visits for a couple of eggs, and the bird continues to lay eggs as if nothing had happened. Sometimes the bird itself can become food for an agile animal. The marten stores most often under the roots of trees and always remembers exactly where the food is buried, even after several months.

Hard-working animals often store reserves that are tens of times their body weight.

Winter is a difficult period for many representatives of the animal kingdom on our planet. The starting point for them is autumn. Animals prepare for winter precisely with the onset of this time of year. Each zoological species prepares in its own way: some animals switch to “winter” fur, others manage to stock up on “food”, and still others, having gained enough fat over the summer, are forgotten in winter sleep. But what kind of animals meet the winter in full “combat readiness”? How do they do this? In this article, you will learn from several examples which animals prepare for winter and how they do it.

How do hamsters prepare for winter?

Winter time in the northern regions is perhaps the most stressful and important time in the life of small rodents. To avoid starvation and cold death, many small animals stock up on significant supplies of food. For example, living in the steppes Western Siberia and Europe, prepares for winter in the following way: during the fall, the rodent gains several kilograms (!) of selected grains and root crops. He does this diligently and docilely: the hamster spends his days transporting crops from the fields to his “bins,” dragging the grains in his cheek pouches.

How do voles meet winter?

Many voles also greet winter interestingly. These cute mice begin to harvest grass in the spring, putting it in small piles under certain shelters (for example, under stones). In summer, voles bring rosehip flowers, leaves, cones and pine needles there. The active activity of these creatures ends in the fall, when the first snow covers the mountain meadows. Scientists have calculated the seasonal supply of these animals: one family of voles stores from 5 to 10 kg of food!

Real sleepyheads!

How else do animals prepare for winter? Some careless animals fully justify their name by going into hibernation for the winter. Mother Nature has decreed it in such a way that these sloths don’t even bother themselves with worries about Really, why? After all, you can just go into hibernation! Who are these little lazy creatures? Yes, it's Sony! Small rodents similar to squirrels. They live mainly in European forests, for which they are nicknamed forest dormouses.

Before the onset of cold weather, forest dormouse begin to noticeably gain weight. They get fatter until they weigh a couple of times more than usual and look like a small fur bag. These creatures sleep in spherical nests, made by them specifically for wintering. At least they are active in some way! Zoologists are touched by the sight of a sleeping forest dormouse: the rodent curls up into a very tight ball, pressing its nose and small paws to its abdomen. At the same time, the fluffy tail, in a semi-ring, covers almost the entire body of the animal.

Wild animals are preparing for winter. Brown bear

Close to forest dormouse the clubfooted ones also left. In particular, the owner of the Russian taiga is the brown bear. Bears are those who do not arrange any storerooms for themselves, preferring to hibernate for the winter. Speaking in metaphorical terms, clubfooted heavyweights are their own “storerooms”, because all summer and all autumn they try to eat large reserves of subcutaneous fat in their bodies. Moreover, fat is an excellent “insulation” in winter time of the year!

Clubfoots begin to get fat when the berries ripen in the forest. While animals prepare for winter in one way or another, bears diligently feed on plant rhizomes, berries, nuts, etc. A favorite delicacy brown bear is honey. For the sake of its sweet and alluring taste, the beast is ready to endure the stings of angry wild bees for hours. But the bear’s “menu,” of course, is not limited to plant foods. Do not forget that this animal is a real predator, therefore, along with berries and nuts, these animals feed on young deer, hares, foxes, wolves and fish. It doesn't cost a bear anything to kill an adult moose!

But dial subcutaneous fat- this is only half the battle. Before the onset of prolonged cold weather, the clubfoot must have time to find a secluded place for its future den. Bears do this with enviable care. As soon as the place is found, the animal begins “construction”: it digs a hole in the ground, insulating it with branches, moss, pine needles and other available materials. If the search for a place for a den in a particular forest is unsuccessful, the bear may covet someone else’s shelter. Some of them even drive the current guest out of there and lie there themselves. This is how it is - a bear's preparation for winter!

Quiet in the forest: beavers, hedgehogs and badgers are sleeping

Speaking about how animals prepare for winter (pictures of some representatives of the fauna world are presented in the article), we cannot fail to mention badgers, beavers and, of course, hedgehogs. For example, beavers have been preparing a lot of twigs since the summer, carrying them underwater to their lodges. There they put “building materials” in piles.

Badgers decided to follow the example of clubfoot: they also store subcutaneous fat for winter. In addition, it is easier for them (than for bears) to build a shelter for the winter, and, it should be noted, they cope with their task quite skillfully. Zoologists say that some of these animals can prepare for winter in just one day! It is curious that sometimes a badger “invites” its neighbor, a raccoon, into its shelter. Both animals get along well in the hole, while winter evenings together.

Hedgehogs are insectivores that prefer to spend the winter hibernating. To do this, they look for secluded burrows located at a distance of 1.5 m from the surface of the earth. Hedgehogs, like bears, sleep all winter. Before going into winter sleep, these insectivores feed diligently, accumulating the same subcutaneous fat, which allows them to sleep through the entire season without unnecessary problems. If a hedgehog goes into hibernation skinny, then it simply has no chance of surviving the winter. Despite the name of their order (insectivores), these creatures eat not only insects, but also frogs, snails, lizards, mice, and bird eggs.

What other animals are preparing for winter?

The pictures presented in this article were not chosen at random: they depict the most striking representatives of the animal kingdom who are preparing for winter. This is done not only by large animals, but also by very tiny creatures - insects. Ants, for example, begin to build large anthills before the onset of severe cold weather. Bees use wax to close their entrance more tightly, leaving only tiny holes.

The question of how animals prepare for winter will not be fully answered if we do not mention our smaller feathered brothers. Many birds fly to wintering warmer climes, returning to their “native land” only in the spring (storks, cranes, rooks). They are called migratory. But not all birds do this. There are also those who stay in their native lands for the winter. These are mainly urban birds (sparrows, pigeons, tits).

Hares, wolves and foxes

In the fall, some forest dwellers change their “summer” furs to “winter” ones, i.e., through molting, they shed the old light wool, acquiring new and warm ones. The color of the fur coats of some animals also changes, for example, hares. Their gray coat turns white, allowing them to remain virtually unnoticed against the background of snow. These animals do not make any winter reserves. They also do not hibernate. In winter, hares feed mainly on the bark of young trees.

Wolves and foxes, like hares, do not go into winter sleep, but actively scour the forest in the cold season in search of food, for example the same hares. These animals also shed, but the color of their coat does not change.

So, in this article, using some examples, we talked about how animals prepare for winter. As an example, we took the most prominent and famous representatives of the fauna world.