How small a gap can a mouse get through?

[ARWadsworth]

As per the header.

I found a dead mouse today in a CU and the only entry point I could find was where the tails entered and even that seemed too small to let the head through.

Adam

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

You'll be suprised where a mouse can get. :-)

At a guess, a 2p piece sized round hole.

[tony sayer]

Less than that!, around 10mm or whatever that is in Mickey mouse measurement!.....

[Mark A]

The official government line is anywhere you can get a standard pencil in. I didn't believe it till I saw it with my own eyes - a normal sized adult mouse leaping up and vanishing through an air brick that I couldn't even get my index finger into. It astonished me at the time.

Regards

Mark

[John White]

From personal experience:

They can get through a 1/2" square hole (into an airing cupboard) without any difficulty. I saw one do this when I surprised the little bugger one evening.

They can also get through a 20mm knockout even when there are four

2.5mm singles running through it - Have you ever tried removing carbonised mouse from a three phase isolator?

John

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"The3rd Earl Of Derby" typed

You'd get a rat through that!

I'd guess any hole large enough for a woman's little finger.

[Mary Fisher]

That's a good guide but it doesn't have to be a round hole. A mouse's skull is slightly flattened, broader than it's high. A round pencil hole wouldn't allow a mouse through but squash it a bit and it would. IYKWIM.

Mary

[ARWadsworth]

Pencils are standardised? B****y EU. Is that a round or hexagonal pencil?

The only hole the mouse could have got into this CU was through a rectangular with two very tight 25mm tails passing through. I do believe a hexagonal pencil will fit.

Cheers

Adam

[.]

How small a gap can a mouse get through ? well, measure the hole where the tails enter the CU and that's about right for ingress. however, there seems to have been some malfunction of the mouses egress strategy :-)

[dennis]

I have seen them go through 1/2" mesh.

[meow2222]

apparently they temporarily dislocate their jaw to enable them to get through tight holes.

NT

[Owain]

Especially as, without food, the mouse should be getting thinner, not fatter.

Owain

[john2]

Many rodents can get through a hole which their skulls will go through. Its probably the only way they can measure it (lacking small rulers and callipers).

john2

[Guy King]

The message from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:

You could -drop- a mouse though a hole that big. More like 8 - 10mm

[Guy King]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

OK, own up, who cross-bred mice with politicians to leave us with a bunch who can dislocate their jaws so they can lie more convincingly.

[Dave Liquorice]

A mouse wouldn't even touch the sides. An adult rat(*) could get through a 2p sized hole.

[Dave Liquorice]

Thats about right. Our mouse holding cage has bars spaced 7mm apart, a pencil will just go between them. No mouse has yet got out between the bars. Shrews on the other hand can, with ease...

[nightjar]

According to the man from Rentokil, anything you can push a Bic Biro through - say about 6mm diameter. Apparently their skull joints are flexible, allowing them to pass through holes that are smaller than the normal head size.

Colin Bignell

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Mary Fisher writes

I once watched a shrew wriggle through a 5/16" clearance hole. Shoulders seemed to go one at a time.

regards

[The Natural Philosopher]

if a finger can get through, a mouse can.