It is said that in big cities like New York or London, people are never less than 10 metres away from a rat.

In Muskoka it seems the same could be said for mice.

Wildlife biologist Jan McDonnell at the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) says the reason for more mice this year was an excellent year for food last year. In 2006, there was an abundant crop of seeds from a variety of trees including maples and beechnuts.

“Larger litters and more litters are the result of more food,” explained McDonnell. “A deer mouse carries a litter approximately 22 days and can have four to eight litters a year.

“There can be six to eight pups in a litter. If you do the math, it is possible for two to become 2,500. The literature says deer mice can start breeding at 35 days, but the average is 49 days.”

Mice are a major source of food for other animals, says McDonnell. So this year, there are more foxes, owls, coyotes, martins, fishers and other predators that feed on mice.

This is a periodic occurrence, not related to warmer temperatures or a longer season.

Muskoka pest control companies have had one of their busiest seasons on record.

“Lots of mice,” said Philip Gearing of Muskoka Wildlife Control.

Gearing operates his business with his wife Tamara and they specialize in live trapping when possible and practical. He said he leaves most urban mouse control to his competitors.

Gearing said he does not try to identify species of mice but categorizes them all as field mice when controlling them at a cottage.

“They are definitely up this year,” said Mark Sampson of Muskoka Pest Control. “We have three employees, three trucks, me and a girl in the office,” said Sampson. “In the summer, it was six or seven days a week. Mice are part of the environment up here in Muskoka, but this year has been particularly busy.”

“We do residential and commercial properties. It is not always possible to use rodenticides. We provide our service to restaurants, and poisons can’t be used around food. So there is a need to use mechanical traps or snap traps.”

Muskoka has a variety of mice. Two of the most common are the meadow vole or common field mouse and the deer mouse that is often found in cottages.

“There have been a couple of reported incidents were cottagers have found weasels in their basements,” said McDonnell. “In each case, the problem could be traced to mice.” The weasels arrived because of the mice and found a nice place to live, added McDonnell.

There isn’t much cottagers can do to prevent mice, especially since a mouse is said to be able to go through an opening the size of a dime, said McDonnell. But it is worth trying to mouse-proof your cottage, given the alternatives. “One alternative is to live trap them and release,” said McDonnell. “But this is like trying to control the ocean with a spoon.”

She said she is not an advocate of rodenticides but there are impossible situations, and snap traps may be a more humane choice. She cautioned that poisoning can affect other animals in the food chain.

Gearing said as well as mice there have been more cases of squirrels at the cottage. “We close up the nesting areas and then open a single exit,” he explained. “The process usually takes a couple of days. Larger animals like raccoons, skunks and foxes are also live trapped and relocated.”

Muskoka also has flying squirrels and grey squirrels, which can be black in colour. Squirrels have one litter a year or two from time to time.

Although there are a variety of rodent species in Muskoka, they aren’t all viewed with the same disdain. “Chipmunks are usually considered “non-combatants” for cottagers as they are seen as being cute,” said Gearing.

It seems that some rodents just have better public relations than others.