Mice Damage to Look Out For
If mice are a problem, this file should help you get them under control.
Roots of vegetable and flower plants in the garden are fair game for mice and voles. They like tulip bulbs, and will gnaw on tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and other crops. They may also invade coldframes. Mice eat grasses, berries, seeds, nuts and insects. They also gnaw on roots of young trees and shrubs, and they especially like the bark buried under the snow during the winter months.
If you didn’t cut your lawn for the last time and you find tunnels through the grass, you have either mice or voles.
Mice are known to move into mole tunnels and use them to gain access to crop roots. If there are no moles, mice will make their own tunnels. They can also gnaw the ground level bark of young shade or fruit trees, sometimes girdling and killing the trees. Tree-girdling usually occurs between October and April. Mice may overwinter in the mulch placed around strawberries or perennial flowers, where they chew on the roots. Mice are generally active all year round.
Most Obvious Symptoms of a Mice
Check bark damage carefully. If the bark was chewed under the snow, it was probably mice or voles. If the damage occurred above the snow line, it was probably rabbits. Mice and voles may chew at the snow line by walking on the snow, but never above the snow. They will not chew off a branch of a young tree as a rabbit does.