Mice can’t
burp
Those of
a delicate disposition may wish to skip this blog post.
In case
you were wondering, mice can neither burp nor vomit.
The following story may be apocryphal but has some basis in fact.
Someone discovered that she had a mouse in her car and naturally she wanted to evict it. She tried traps humane and inhumane and the mouse escaped. She tried laying a trail of tasty treats out and away from the vehicle, but the mouse showed no interest.
Someone told her of a method which had worked for them in their garden shed. It involved a bowl of Coca-Cola. The mouse drank from the bowl, filled up with gas and was unable to relieve the pressure. It went outside for fresh air and exploded.
It may have been a method that was tried, but there is no data to support the story of an exploding mouse. Mice will drink Coca-Cola (other carbonated drinks are available) and may indeed become uncomfortable with stomach ache, but they will not explode.
Baking soda is sometimes mixed with a tasty bait, like peanut butter, to make a homemade rodenticide. The soda reacts with the hydrochloric acid in the mouse’s second stomach** (the first is used for food storage, rather like a larder!) and creates carbon dioxide which builds up. The pressure created causes internal bleeding or organ failure, and eventually death, after several days. It is an inhumane way to deal with a problem.
However, if it were to be acceptable, maybe Coca-Cola could update its iconic advertisement and song:
Mouse Coke
- it’s the real thing to solve your vermin problem!
I’d like
to teach the mice to drink
A bowl of
Coke for me,
I’d like
to seem them try to burp,
Exploding
messily.
It’s the cruel thing!
**Clarification: Mice don't have two stomachs, but rather one stomach divided into two distinct regions - a fore-stomach, and a glandular region for chemical digestion.
Imagine thinking a mouse might explode!
ReplyDeleteHorrible!
DeleteActually, what I read says this isn't true. I can't imagine exploding mice! Ewwwwwwwww!
ReplyDeletePeople will believe anything.
DeleteI used to drink sugar-free Coca Cola but as I got older, it too filled me up with gas. I was able to relieve the pressure via burping, but it wasn't a pretty sound.
ReplyDeleteI never have liked carbonated drinks.
DeleteNot as messy as when a dead whale was blown up to get rid of its carcass on a beach.
ReplyDeleteUgh, that sounds really horrible.
DeleteI prefer Dr. Pepper. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteMaybe the mice will, too.
DeleteI feel a little sorry for all the mice that were exerimented on to get these findings. Are other animals able to burp? I know dogs and cats can fart and assume others can too.
ReplyDeleteWell, now, Elsie, you've started something . . .
DeleteI do like to see mice at the bottom of the garden, last winter we had them in our garage, we kept dropping sunflower seeds for tgem, hubby evicted them earlier this summer.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is that you rarely, if ever, have just one mouse. They are pretty little things, but destructive.
DeleteThat title drew me in straight away 😂 mice can't burp, or vomit. Who knew it would be a thumbs up for coke. Who cares if it's an urban legend, it's a great tale . I'd hate to have to deal with an exploded mouse though! We catch ours by laying down sticky paper. Caught alive, yuck
ReplyDeleteThat's bad enough
Yes, Coke could go great guns on that legend.
DeleteI've never heard of the sticky paper method of catching mice.
Doesn't sound like a nice way to pop their clogs!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not.
DeleteThere are some dreadfully cruel solutions to pests out there. I've managed to divert a rat run in the garden by dropping a bar of Irish Spring soap behind the honeysuckle. I'm not sure if it's the soap or whether the rats want to stay away from the crazy lady who randomly drops soap.
ReplyDeleteYou might be on to a real money spinner there. I wonder what it is in the soap that deters rats?
DeleteDiet Coke is good for everyone though. Right?1 🤓
ReplyDeleteIf it's your tipple . . . I don't like carbonated drinks of any sort (though I do have tonic with gin occasionally!)
DeleteThese tales get perpetuated as though unquestionably true. But please don’t spoil my impressions of hummingbirds migrating on the back of CanadaGeese or nighthawks milking goats!
ReplyDeleteWe have to have some urban myths to satisfy our atavistic souls.
DeleteOh my gosh the coke slogan cracked me up. That is a really cruel way to try and get rid of a mouse though
ReplyDeleteHuman beings are very cruel, intentionally. Animals are cruel through necessity.
DeleteI really don't want mice in my house but when we have had them I believe in a humane way to trap and kill them.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Lynn. 🐁🐁 I don't think Precious would like mice in your house, either.
DeleteYes I found it cruel as well. We had a mouse nest in the car engine once, but it seemed to survive the journeys we took. The only one we caught was in a humane trap and then taken out into the country to join her country sisters.
ReplyDeleteMice get into the most extraordinary places. I'm glad yours survived to be given its freedom.
DeleteI'd be afraid the mouse would explode inside the car!!
ReplyDeleteShredded mouse - lovely!
DeleteI really admire you ! while everybody worries about climate changes, Trump etc, you analyze Mice stomach ! I know that Coca Cola is good to get rid of the rust on nails, and also sometimes good for our stomachs, but that a mouse will drink a Cola or another soft drink I doubt, they are afraid of the bubbles ! I will ask AI, IA, and KI what they think about exploding mice stomachs ! :)
ReplyDeleteMice like sweet things but no amount will make them explode.
DeleteI'm thinking along the lines of Bob. Only instead of exploding inside the passenger cabin, the mouse would make it into the engine area and be hidden . Then you'd be driving around with the rotten corpse smell. Happy thoughts!
ReplyDeleteThat would be so disgusting . . . 😕
DeleteOh my goodness, first time I’ve heard of this
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
It's a good thing it's an urban myth!
DeleteI do think that I would rather have the mouse than to have it's insides splattered in my car. I've seen plenty of topics on what cola can do which means that I try to stay clear of this sugary liquid..
ReplyDeleteCola-Cola is not for me, either, or any of the other sugary, carbonated drinks.
DeleteWell, this post was full of novel information! I'd have bet the exploding mouse was an invented story. That baking-soda method of pest control sounds awful.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly stretches credulity.
DeleteTotally inhumane
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely - but the stuff of legend.
DeleteWe had a mouse in our van once. My spouse bought a new type of mousetrap I'd never seen before. It didn't work...it simply ate the peanut butter, the trap untriggered....finally we realized I was placing the mousetrap upside-down. It was like a platter for his meals each evening aka the mouse outsmarted me.
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful. Thank you for making me smile!
DeleteWe use snap traps baited with cheese. Almost always a quick kill. I have never heard of the Coke thing. Ew.
ReplyDeleteI know - it's horrible, isn't it?
DeleteI did laugh at the "new" Coke slogan Janice. There was a time here in New Zealand when they used to say you could use it to clean chrome!!!
ReplyDeletepoor mice
ReplyDeleteThat's a sad way to evict a small animal. We had a family of mice living in the maintenance shed years ago when my late husband was maintenance here. He came and got me and showed me that there were 5 tiny baby mice in a box with shop towels. I put out water and cookies for the mama each day and each day the cookies would be gone. Then when the babies got old enough the mouse family moved on to somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteOh dear!
ReplyDeleteGoodness!
ReplyDeleteIf you have a problem with mice in the house or garden surely it is best to use a humane way to trap and kill them.
All the best Jan
What an awful thing to do to an animal. (Add to that glue traps that some people use). We use what some call T-Rex traps (a snap trap) that works almost instantly, bated with peanut butter. But I will also say that your blog title should win some kind of award.
ReplyDeleteWe have rats here. Lots of rats being on the coast. I trap them anyway I can. They destroy cars chewing on engine wires and hoses. I have tried the baking soda method and it seems to work. Since I don't have a garden this year the rats have gone else where.
ReplyDeleteLove your warped sense of humor!
ReplyDelete