What kind of mice horde seeds specifically? The kind of mice that do not really know humans exist. Wild mice native to North America are not from Europe. They are mice that live in grasslands and forests and their primary food source is seeds. They get them from trees which a house mouse would not be able to do anymore. House mice lost that ability a long time ago when they started to rely on us entirely for food, for a nest, and for water when they need it. House mice cannot survive in the wild, only in a human home which is why they are so prone to occupying human homes. While house mice do definitely store food they do not do it with planning or intention. They simply bring food back to the nest eat some of it and often leave the rest to rot in the nest. House mice tend to be very dirty, don’t drink water very often, and do not clean themselves. They defecate where they sleep and are a dangerous source of advanced bacteria.
Mice are a complicated species. There are house mice which are an amalgam of mouse species that unified around ten thousand years ago under the banner of living off of humans. Humans did not pay much mind to mice due to their small size and never thought they could destroy whole food stores they did and the age of mouse extermination began. Back in the day, the only option for dealing with mice was to make a trap. At first, the traps were very simple. A box and a stick with a bit of food. But soon the snap trap was invented and mice became something humans could deal with in large numbers. Sadly evolution allowed them to identify these traps and avoid them. Now it is common to see food eaten from the trap while the trap was never tripped.
It wasn’t until the year 1950 when a hey stack of clover rotted and made a heard fo cattle sick. The fungus that had grown converted a naturally occurring chemical into a chemical that limited the vitamin k production in the cattle resulting in internal bleeding. This product is called Warfarin and is a poison based on the funges. It allows mice to taste test the new material while not feeling sick. When they try it a few more times it takes full effect. Because mice drink water as little as once every three years they have a very low moisture content, when they eat the poison en masse they start bleeding internally and desiccate entirely. They have no smell or bacteria and are safe to die inside the walls of a house. This was a massive change in mouse control and has made the snap trap quite passe.
If you have mice do not try treating it yourself with ancient tools like snap traps and glue traps. Capture traps and the like are time-consuming and often fail to handle an infestation fast enough. So if you have mice then call a professional. They will get rid of your mice fast and clean and with no dead bodies to throw away.
