What do vegans do when vermin infest their houses?

Question

With all due respect, just where do you draw the line when it comes to not killing animals?

Answer 1

This is certainly an interesting question and one that asks us to sharpen our thinking about our beliefs.

Put all the dry food in jars & keep in the fridge.  Put the dry pet food in jars (plastic or glass) with tight lids.  Don't leave any out & always wash the pet dishes.  Keep the dishes washed & the kitchen floor scrubbed clean.  Be sure the plumbing doesn't leak, & don't let the vermin have any water.  This may not work, but might help.  Get a cat.  The cat is not vegan & will tackle the vermin for you.  

Actually, I'm not vegan because dairy foods are fine with me & I definitely will eat honey. I assume the beekeepers will leave some of the honey for the bees.  Don't they have a stake in keeping the bees alive? However, it's fine with me whatever vegans want to do.  They can do what they want to do, & I'll do what I want to do.  

But good luck with those vermin.  (What a funny name we have for such a broad category.)  When I'm between cats, I'll set out the mousetraps & will definite crush any other types of pests inside.  I certainly understand those who set out rat poisons tucked into rat traps, creepy though it is.  Rats are nasty critters & can threaten human life.  

There are certain spiders that I will leave alone or carry outside, but there are others that I will squash or wash down the tub because they are known for biting people during the night.  I don't want to wake up with red spider bites.  (I'm assuming it's not bed bugs if I see the spiders.)

I will crush snails outside, though it's tough psychologically to do it, but they will completely devour a garden.  Some people put copper around tree trunks & planters to repel the snails, but that would still leave lots of other plants unprotected.  Ideally the birds will eat the snails for the calcium that the bird eggs need, but they just don't eat enough of them.   On the other hand,  I will not put out poisons in the garden.  There are just too many repercussions from using poisons.  My garden is important to me, but not important enough to poison the whole environment.

I try to laugh off the nuisance of gophers & moles.  After all, there seem to be plenty of flowers left.  I've heard that people living in the country put out owl houses so the owls will eat the gophers, & I like that sort of idea.  If I lived in the country, I'd try that.  A neighbor of mine was getting furious as we watched a mole move the soil underground.  She kept trying to stab it with her shovel.  "You say you do gardening for relaxation?" I asked her as I stood there laughing because she reminded me of Elmer Fudd.

For awhile I noticed that something was removing the soil from my outdoor flower pots, leaving the roots bare.  A landscaping friend said it might be voles.  (I saw a picture of a vole in a kids' book, & it sure was ugly.  Ha, ha.)  I started putting small stones on top of the flower pots, and that seems to be working.

We get deer in our gardens, too, and they & the squirrels are not always so cute as you might think.  That's a whole other topic, but I'll just stop here for now.  Rest assured that I'm not out there terrifying either my neighbors or the deer with a shotgun.  'Nuf said.

Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any set answer, so I think we should just do what we can without going nuts & then get on with our lives.

Answer 2

They call a meat eater to fix the problem

Answer 3

they call exterminator lol most vegans draw the line when it comes to vermin

Answer 4

Try using an owl to hunt for them. If you really don't want them killed use humane traps that captures the mice and return them into a forest away from the city.

Answer 5

I'm not a vegan, only vegetarian but I still don't use rat bait...it's a horrible way for an animal to die...

Last time I had mice infesting my house I used live traps which catch the mice and then I took them to a field and let them go. In the end I caught over 10 and it took longer then if I had used rat bait but it was worth it. It's a bit unfortunate that they're a feral animal and not good for the environment.. but I can't win all the battles...

I don't really feel right about killing bugs either... I don't kill spiders at all.. and I let bugs be, leave them alone or move them outside. Cockroaches in my house...I tend to try to get rid of them. I have been known to crush them...but I've stopped using poisons on them...

I try to not put one animals life over another. No matter how small or annoying they are.

Answer 6

they'll just say "excuse me, it's not your house please leave in an instant. if not maybe i'll forget i'm a vegan and i'll eat you all alive!" kb

Answer 7

ima vegetarian and when i have vermins in my house i...

for

rodents: humanely trap them, then release them in the wild

bugs:kill them

Answer 8

Vegan is a diet, not a moral choice. Some do it out of morality, but in the end, vegan is a diet.

Answer 9

I had a mouse and mole problem before.

I got rid of them very easily

I got a couple cats

nature always has a way.  

Answer 10

well I'm gonna assume a lot of vegans/vegetarians have cats or dogs so that's one solution (they scare em away) we use HUMANE traps and let them go by a pond/forest/hill/field somewhere they can roam free and be happy and natural!

Answer 11

Being a vegan means you do what you can and all you can to minimise your contribution to animal suffering and exploitation; it doesn't mean you sacrifice your own health or safety - allowing animals or insects to endanger your health and safety and that of your family, particularly your children, is not vegan it is irresponsible and stupid.

Though a dilemma, because you don't want to harm life, it is essential to rid your house of cockroaches, rodents and other pests if you have an infestation.

Taking rodents as an example:

unfortunately mice don't come into the house singly - they move in en masse and breed very quickly - so catching them singly and putting them outside isn't really a practical option.

If taken outside they will soon find their way back in anyway; if taken far away and placed in the woods or somewhere they are vulnerable and will almost certainly be killed. But using humane traps and releasing mice is like trying to empty a lake using a teaspoon anyway: Each female mouse can have 5 - 10 litters per year of up to 13 young each time; each of the new born mice will be able to breed at about 7 weeks. Do the maths and see how quickly the population will increase – you’ll never catch them all.

There is no point in being sentimental about mice and rats - they are a huge health hazard and a danger when in your home. A danger because they need to gnaw constantly and will present a very real fire risk by gnawing on electric cables. A health risk because they spread disease - they are there for your food and will contaminate that; mice urinate and defecate constantly and that will be spread around wherever they go.

A better option is to try and prevent pests coming in. You can get a plug-in device that emits a noise inaudible to humans but intolerable to rodents and to other pests like cockroaches; make sure your kitchen is squeaky clean, with no food scraps or crumbs to tempt them in; and try to block up any holes or gaps where rodents might get in - bearing in mind that if you can get a ball point pen into a hole, a mouse can get through it. They tend to stay away if you have a cat, too.

If having tried all the above you still get an infestation you have a responsibility to deal with it properly. Your health and safety and that of your family comes first.

I'm vegan and I would call in the exterminators if precautions failed - just as I would defend myself against any creature - animal or human - that was threatening my health, safety or life

Answer 12

Shoo them out, they don't kill them or poison, or even stun them, they just shooing them away

Answer 13

Kill them.  Don't eat them.

Answer 14

you can buy a trap that humanely traps them in a plastic 2 liter bottle, and release them into your neighbors yard