Mice on the farm
Mice living in the fynbos of Fijnbosch Farme.
We have a lot of mice on the farm. Protea Acaulis,
which occurs in abundance all over the farm, is pollinated by the striped mouse.
We also have a more field-mouse like mouse, that seems to survive by flitting between our
cooking utensils at the campsite or in the cave we sleep in, and picking up crumbs that we
drop. We have counted at least five at a time scootling around at dusk or dawn and making
off with bread-crumbs and the like. Here is a picture of one stealing some of Michael's seed.
This picture is of two baby striped mice. We found them on the ground in this
beautiful little nest, under a bush that I was about to clear from underneath
a protea.
The underside of the bush I had lifted, had the top half of the nest attached to it, with a tunnel to the outside. When I replaced the bush, the two halves combined to enclose the little ones securely in a spherical nest with a long, thin tunnel leading through the bush to the outside.
The bush this family had chosen is called 'slangbos' (literally snake-bush). This name may stem from the following line of reasoning:
- The bush is thick and matted, making ideal cover for small creatures
- Mice love to hide in it, therefore
- Snakes love to hunt in it.
- Being low and soft, and covering the ground all over between larger shrubs, people tend to walk right on/over/through the bush and end up stepping on the snakes.