Mouse door

[CraftyMtnMom]

I'm not sure where to put this subject. So, I am putting it here.

I was poking around on the internet awhile ago and came across this adorable little 'mouse door'. Someone built it into their home.

http://www.homeintheearth.com/2013/10/06/go-go/mousedoor/

I thought it would be cool to share with everyone.

[Selkie]

Very cute in the picture but surely wouldn't put one in my house.

I just got done chasing a mouse around the kitchen and ultimately trapping it in an upside-down Lego container this afternoon.

Then I had to figure out how to get it out without it escaping again. Ew-w-w-w-w!!!!!

[KathieB]

Then I had to figure out how to get it out without it escaping again. Ew-w-w-w-w!!!!!

So, how'd you do it? Enquiring minds want to know.

[rodentraiser]

I saw one where the person actually did put a round door into the wall like that and then (or maybe beforehand) decorated a little room behind that door. Anyone who cared to could bend down and look through the door and see a little fireplace, chair and I think maybe a little bed too. It was adorable!

[rodentraiser]

Selkie, I don't know what you did with the mouse, but in case you turned it loose, I have to tell you that a mouse can find its way back home from up to a mile away. I read that somewhere and I know for a fact that when I had a mouse in my trailer and caught it and set it loose clear across the ranch I was living on, I ended up recatching it about 3 days later. I could tell it was the same mouse because of the notches in the ears - it must have been fighting at one point or another with another mouse.

By the way, small Hav-a-Hart traps are great for catching the little critters. Just bait them and set them the long way against a wall, because mice usually always run right against the wall when they come out.

[CheckMouse]

Kelly, that sounds like a great idea - with the little door and a "room" inside! I would even add a faux mouse to it, maybe sitting in a chair reading the paper! What fun!

[rodentraiser]

I would so like to do that. Trouble is, I haven't found a landlord yet who will let me drill a hole into the wall!

[morgansmith]

Cute! I've also seen such doors with whole mini rooms behind them. Very magical.

[Selkie]

I saw a stairway once created with secret little peep holes to view small rooms created on the backsides of the stair risers. There were small doors created on the outsides of the stairs so the scenes could be rearranged and cleaned, etc. It was absolutely adorable but I bet it was a ton of work to create. I can't find a picture of it. The way I remember it was that it wasn't every single stair that had it in it.

[chesterfieldzoo]

I actually have several doors that I am going to install. I never thought to have an actual room behind them. And now I am wondering if I could do something with my stairs before I put carpet on them....

[Blondie]

Soooo cute!

[havanaholly]

Mice reproduce quickly enough and in large enough quantities that I have absolutely no problem baiting the plastic spring traps with peanut butter and taking the dead ones out and tossing their little corpses into the woods.

[kat57]

I clicked on the mouse door photo thinking to enlarge it-look what came up instead!:

http://www.homeintheearth.com/2013/10/06/go-go/recycled-bike-part-chandeliers-9/

I need to post it in one of the steampunk topics,I guess!

Okay,I see now,I missed the forward and back arrows earlier,but there are some really cool things to see here.

Great link,Vicki!

Edited April 26, 2014 by kat57

[rodentraiser]

I was raising mice at the time (tame ones, folks!) and I considered the wild ones to be vermin that spread fleas and disease to mine. I just couldn't bring myself to pick up the traps with the dead mice in them. It was rats that really got me up in arms. I've had tame rats and loved them, but the wild ones got into my trailer and attacked my mice. That's when I decided not to keep mice anymore and also to move.

[chesterfieldzoo]

Kelly, that is the same problem I had. I had cute pet mice in my office at work and I brought them home when I moved my office home. It wasn't long before the local mice - who, before had stayed out of the house - decided to make themselves at home inside. After extensive exterminating, renovating and eliminating pets, I don't have them any more, so I will refer to the cute little 'mouse' doors as fairy doors. I am also heartless enough to kill them by any means possible if they so much as come near the house and dump them in the trash.

[chesterfieldzoo]

There is a city by me - Ann Arbor, Michigan - and there are fairy doors all over town. You can go on tours looking for them.

One store kept having an issue with vandalism. The door would get destroyed, so the owners would move it to another spot. After about 5 times of this, they finally moved it out of reach.

You can see all the doors here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dokas/galleries/72157631011849340/

[rackey]

I would so like to do that. Trouble is, I haven't found a landlord yet who will let me drill a hole into the wall!

Oh my; some people are so touchy! A mouse door would add character to a home!

[havanaholly]

You can make a pretty surround and mount your fairy door to the baseboard/ wall with tape, without a room behind it, or with a shadowbox.

[Selkie]

Well to answer the above questions about our mouse escapade - we slid a flattened cereal box under the upside-down Lego box so we could pick it up easily, after stuffing towels around the edge for security during the process, and lets just suffice it to say, we provided a decent funeral.

[mesp2k]

You can make a pretty surround and mount your fairy door to the baseboard/ wall with tape, without a room behind it, or with a shadowbox.

or a porch?

[Selkie]

Very nice Mike. Great idea as always.

[Anna]

Showed the pic to hubby and he just asked where I had intended that... :wub:

Hugs

[chesterfieldzoo]

The whole porch/entry hall with the door isn't a bad idea. You could custom fit it to your floor molding and move it for cleaning or fun around the house. I would love to have one in my family room, but I have tall victorian moldings and cutting them to accommodate a door isn't an option and I like them sitting on the floor and not on the wall above the molding. Great idea Mike! Thanks.

[rodentraiser]

or a porch?

That is actually a very good idea. You might take a small picture of a mouse house and put it on the back wall of this to sort of manke it look like it's inside the wall. I mean, hey, we're masters of illusion here.

I have tall molding around my room as well. Since it's just a mouse house representation, why does it have to be in 1" scale? What about half inch or somewhere in between. This would be the time to haul out all those neat minis that just don't fit into your scale house. Pots and pans too large? Fireplace too small? There ya go! I can't saw into my walls, but I can make a room out of that wall addition!

Oh, and here's something I was thinking about. While not all of us can actually put a mouse hole in our real house, what about incorporating one into your dollhouse? I mean, you don't have to make an actual room behind the hole, but what about a little door in the baseboard of the dollhouse? How cute is that? I have a small added room just off the living room and so there is a corner there where they meet. What I could do, is saw out a portion of the base wall (say, 2" x 2") at the front under the small room where it meets the larger room (my base is hollow), and then add a small mini mouse room under the base. I can use one minilight to electrify it and when the light is off, I can camoflage the opening by painting the base black and then putting removeable lattice work across it. From the inside of the living room, you will be able to see the little door in the wall and from the front of the house on the outside, you can remove the lattice, turn on the light (or leave the lattice there and use a flashlight), and view the mini mouse room.

Am I insane or what?

[KathieB]

Am I insane or what?

For fear of being tarred with the same brush, I'll say "what".