With regard to the Norway Rat and the House Mouse, both of these species were introduced by humans from Europe, so they're not representative of the wild rats and mice we might have in our North American backyards. Also, Norway Rats and House Mice, on the North American continent, are seldom found far from human habitation, so they are hardly "wild." They don't live in the wild because they can't survive there -- they can't compete with our native species.

In contrast, there's a world of wild, beautifully adapted, native rats, mice, and voles out there, often in our backyards, and they could not be more interesting or fun to study and see. Just look at that bright-eyed little rodent I sketched at the left, a White-footed Mouse I saw frolicking in the evening twilight on a table in a hunter's lodge a while back, jumping around like a kangaroo!  I couldn't believe how high it was jumping!

At the right you see the gnawing teeth of another White-footed Mouse found along a trail, apparently abandoned by a fox. In that picture, the nose is at the very top. Notice how the top lip is cleft so that it doesn't get in the way when the mouse is keeping you awake at night gnawing, gnawing, gnawing... At the left you see a front foot of the same mouse. See what fabulous little creatures these are? In southern Mississippi, where these pictures were taken, White-footed Mice inhabit every outhouse, every pile of wood and one would think everyplace in general.

Anyway, to emphasize how diverse the mouse/rat group of mammals is here's a breakdown of the North American critters in the group, found north of Mexico, according to the Peterson Field Guide Mammals of North America, Fourth Edition

Admittedly, most of these won't appear in average backyards. Most are very specialized and only occupy niches in places like deserts and forests.

The Merriam Mouse, for instance, requires mesquite and scattered brush in low elevation desert. The Bushy- tail Wood Rat is restricted to high mountains where it lives among rock slides, pines, and at the edge of cliffs. The California Vole specializes in marshy ground.

From the point of view of our wanting to see and study these animals, the main problem is that they're nocturnal -- they're active during the night, like the White-footed Mouse below caught pilfering candy. However, there's one way we can at least partially get around this handicap: trapping...

This is a touchy subject. On the one hand, even though here we're talking about non-violent live-trapping, any wild animal suddenly discovering itself trapped is going to be traumatized, especially if it's trapped all night and must wait until you can take a look at it and release it. On the other hand, you'll never know or even believe what wonderful little critters these animals are if you don't experience them yourself. Therefore, how do you trap them?

Different traps work for different animals. We've had success with three different kinds of traps:

• The "tipping bottle" trap is a plastic bottle placed at the edge of a table or other elevated surface so that it's barely balanced without falling off. Some cheese, nuts, or other bait is placed in the back of the bottle. When the critter enters the bottle and passes toward the back, the bottle tips off the table. A string on the bottle keeps it dangling so that the opening remains up top, theoretically out of the rodent's reach.

• The "tipping ruler" trap is similar to the above, except that the bait is placed at the end of a flat foot-ruler extending over a table's edge. When the animal passes onto the ruler to get the bait, the ruler and animal together tumble into a tall trash can placed below. The trash can should be waist high, for many rodents jump very well, and the sides should be smooth to prevent climbing out.

• A "one-way door" trap can be made of a plastic bottle or any such container into which a small door can be cut. Hinge the door at the top with thin wire, so that it swings back and forth freely. Then affix something like a glued-on toothpick running across the door's inside face so that rodent can enter by pushing the door into the container, but, when they seek to escape by pushing the door outward, the affixed barrier prevents it. If the animal manages to pull the door inward, it'll escape, but often rodents aren't smart enough to do that.

You'll have to experiment with various baits. Chunks of bread, smelling of the grain that many native mice eat, often serves well, as does peanut butter, smelly cheese, and bits of banana.

If you do catch a wild rodent, remember what a terrifying situation it is for the animal. Don't jar it around too much. Let it go where it was caught, so that its chances of recognizing its old trails improves. It's best not to handle them, for even a tiny mouse can inflict a painful bite with those sharp incisors.

To be prepared for identifying any catch you might make, before setting the trap you should go through your field guide and write down each species whose range covers your home area, and note its habitat, and what each species eats. Being able to automatically reject the species that couldn't possibly be in your area, or wouldn't ever be in your backyard habitat, speeds up the identification process dramatically.

You can check out some books about rats, mice & voles available at Amazon.com by clicking here.