Boi-yoi-yoi-yoi-yoi-yoing!
How prosh are these ball houses for field mice?
According to BBC Cuteporters, intense farming methods have left field mice homeless. To combat this, some 36,000 used Wimbledon tennis balls have been made into mini penthouses.
"Pish prosh!" [Say in English accent]
The score is Love all, K Lui 
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{ 90 comments }
They’re just lookin out for that racket comin….
wow, habitat for rodentanity!
That’s so awesome they’re doing that for the mice! ^__^
Cute little buggers. x3
HOMIGODSOCUTECAN’TBREATHEGYAH!
FAULT!!!
yay!
Looks like the score for this story is Love-All…!
–TwoDragons
O M G
thats 2-love
That is really very cute, but why would farmers want to help substain the lives of animals that eat all their crops?
Beacause they’re soooo cute!
And if the mice are gone, the owls and hawks will leave.
Poor mice! They were run out of their homes by farming?! Well at least they have stylish modern homes now. ^.^
How many houses got mouses, at least their housing market is not quite in a slump well until they fall thru, athump
Where is robin leech when you need him for the rich and famous mouse houses interviews
To a Mouse
On turning her up in her nest with the plough, November 1785 – Burns
WEE, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie,
O what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickerin’ brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi’ murd’rin’ pattle!
I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve:
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
‘S a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin’ wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss’t!
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin’;
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin’,
Baith snell an’ keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary winter comin’ fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell—
Till, crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.
That wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter’s sleety dribble
An’ cranreuch cauld!
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promised joy.
Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, och! I backward cast my e’e
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see
I guess an’ fear!
Wimbledon with a D
BEST.
IDEA.
EVER.
This site is too cute.
The cuteness of it all has affected me very badly.
I’m dying now, I think. Of a cute-overdose.
oh, i love robbie burns. and the wee mousies.
OMG little mouse-sicles! Squee!
Wait, am I allowed to squee, being a guy and all?
‘Round and ’round and ’round we go and where we’ll stop, no mousie knows. =)
Shadyman, when ya gotta squee, ya gotta squee.
Them’s some small mousies! Excellent housies — but how do they know which house is which? Mr. N. Mouse comes home late one night, after feasting on some barley that’s been in the field too long, staggers around for a bit with a puzzled look on his face, then crawls into the nearest tennis ball. Ms. A. Mouse screams, startling all the neighbors in nearby tennis balls… and then, I guess, the ref says “Quiet please”, because the tennis balls do come from Wimbledon, after all.
That was kind of a stupid story, but it’s too long to erase, so you’re stuck with it.
Wow. To even this jaded Cutologist, that is some astounding and fresh brand of Cute. I’m loving it that somebody went to all the trouble of converting those used tennis balls into penthouses (or should that be “pet”houses?)
Shadyman, *everyone* is allowed to squee here. Guys included. Or especially.
//threadjack:
Don’t know if anyone’s been looking at the Holy Venn Diagrams thread lately, but there’s a note there from hrh.squeak that her (I’m assuming hrh.squeak’s a her) Mom had to go to the ER. hugs, kitters, and puddins are in order…
end threadjack//
This warms my heart (which is why I come here everyday, multiple times per day). To know that someone out there cares for the smallest of this planet’s inhabitants makes me smile!
Thank-you Laura for the Robert Burns, poet of the people and the mousies!
OMG, me again. I just noticed that the mices are HARVEST MICE.
They are the Cutest Things EVAR, with a TRULY PREHENSILE tail, (Squee!), that they use to hang off stalks of wheat
It’s also endangered
That’s why they’re trying to help the poor, cute, tiny mousey.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/266.shtml
Beatrix Potter would approve. I’m positive Mrs. Tittlemouse would love it there.
I wouldn’t mind living inside a giant tennis ball.
Are tennis balls that color on the inside, too? Kinda bright for sleppin’, I’m thinking.
Ugh-whagh-whahhhhh?!?
Too cute, too dang cute!!
They gave them hooooooooomes!!
Look at how delightfully wee the mices are!
little mousie condos – I love it!
I’m still back at the THIRTY SIX THOUSAND tennis balls used at the tournament. Thats in two weeks??? Thats 2500 tennis balls a day.
Wow
Reg
Tae a Moose… ane o ma maist liked verses by The Bard- (as he’s ken’t back hame).
But moosey penthoosey…. fandabbidoosy……
I’m wondering if maybe placing an used tennis ball in my friend’s kitchen will keep lil’ mumbling mice away from her stove???
She found out a cute little family built a nice and cozy place in the fiberglass material (it looks like cotton) that’s inside the stove, including tunnels, bridges and everything you can imagine
Hehehe xD
I’m in ur balls
making my nest.
Yes, that’s all fine and good for Mrs. Frisby there, but where are the rats of Nimh living?
OMG too Cute.
So, if they fit into tennis balls that must mean that they are oh so itty bitty!
EEEEEEEEE!
Tennis (Wimbledon, at that!) + Widdle mousies = best.combination.ever.
Useta – Tennis ball innards are smooth and a sort of cartoonish wood colour. Still rather bright, but dark/dull enough so the mousie doesn’t get a migraine. So no worries!
Lauowolf–LOL!! Perfect. Love mousies!!
Yubi Shines,
Do mice really get migraines? Poor widdle mousies! Better keep some mousie-sized Imitrex and teeny tiny ice packs on hand just in case!
Laura, thank you for the whole Burns poem, I had never read it I guess. Knew the famous phrase, but not the rest. Darn, made me weepy.
Mouse balls!
Hey! That’s not Serena Williams!
re: the inside of the tennis balls, mice are believed to be colorblind, so no micey-migraines from the bright colors.
Cute (and inventive) idea, though!
They are actually Harvest mice, not field mice, which are increasingly endangered as they make nests at the top of corn or wheat, that look the same shape as tennis balls. They are amazingly small (Britain’s smallest mammal I think) and they even have pre-hensile tails. Amazing!
P.s. I went to that farm and saw the balls but not the mice
So cute.
Yes, definitely harvest mice, different from field mice, which are just the same as house mice only in the country. But harvest meece do live in fields to. Um.
Saw a harvest mouse at London Zoo and he was sooooo tiny… he could have sat in a teaspoon. We were transfixed. After about ten minutes, he got fed up with nosey humans spying on his personal grooming and pootled back to bed. Awwwww, we said.
That is one of my favorite pics evarh! I’ve had it in my “cute pics” folder since the article came out in 2001. Those mices are long gone, folks, but their great grandkids are still nesting in the tennisballs.
That leetle eensy face is just killingk me! After looking at that face several many times, and reading other peeps stories about harvest mousens, I had to google them. HAD to, I say. They are indeed exceedling squeeable. And their Latin name is, (wait for it), micromys minutus. Can it get any cuter than that???? Check out this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/266.shtml
micromys minutus! I had no idea Latin could be so adorable!!
Love the mice, balls and all, and the wonderful comments. But why do Americans insist on spelling Wimbledon with a T?
WOW! Those are a work of absolute genius! Cute…yet functional. Resourceful…yet cute. AHHHHHHH! My head is overcome with the geniusness!!!
Since the balls are from Wimbledon, are the mice required to dress in all white?
If anyone enjoys stamping, there’s a website called http://www.house-mouse.com/ that has a lot of very mice things at it. Including mouse pads.
Best recycling program EVER!! And the market can only go up for the Condominimice.
I’m going to have to fly across the pond just to see these mini-itty-bitty-meeces-peeces
I love that they’re trying to SAVE mice this time, instead of rid themselves of the poor furry souls.
I would love to see the little whiskered faces peeping out each morning.
Something called a “TARSIER”
DO NOT FEED AFTER MIDNIGHT!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nuH48JW8XrU
Wouldn’t the mice look so adorable wearing little, mouse-sized, cotton terry cloth sweat headbands and wristbands?
I suppose now the squirrels will be wanting soccer balls.
P. Erasmus – Thanks! Tarsiers are wonderful. Never seen one before. Sure enjoys snacking. I could hang with them all day. Either, they’s got botox eyes, or they’s wearing coke bottle bottom contacts and can’t see diddly, or they’s can see right into yer soul.
What smash-ing houses. Sure evidence of sincere mouse appreciation, rather than a
backhand-ed compliment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsF6H_aEFH4
one can’t help poking petting the eyes
Woah! Talk about teh cute overload!
Sorry to digress, but New Stuff New Stuff New Stuff! I’m spoiled that every day I can come here and see at least one new totally cute something. And nothing today?
Am now depressed.
Aieee! Tarsiers are soooo teenie and so cute. I was in the Philippines with my husband a year and a half ago and we went to see these guys. They are found only in, I believe, 3-4 places in the world, in south east asia, one of them being the island of Bohol in the Philippines. Tarsiers also is known to have inspired the character of Yoda !
Now hear this, now hear this…
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060420/060420_lynx_hmed_730a.hmedium.jpg
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12386806/
A much better use for tennis balls than batting them back and forth.
What a sweet thing to do.
High Five for those guys.
EEEE!!! did a little googling on the H Mouse and came up w/ this reason for why farmers wanna help the mice. Also, tennis balls are a dull rubbery brown on the inside.
from http://www.yptenc.org.uk/
Man has never deliberately persecuted harvest mice since their small appetites do little to affect crop yields. They even do the farmer a small favour by eating harmful pests such as aphids.
Next time someone tells you CO is good therapy, believe them… last night I got in a bad mood (it’s a long story) but right in the thick of it I came on and saw this picture, and I kid you not, everything was right with the world again!
P.S. Awwww, thanks Tony James! Those links are great!!
There ought to be worldwide awards for such awesome ideas such as these!
omg I love the British EVEN MORE NOW @>@
Anyone remember when the Mice of Brambly Hedge met the harvest mice in their round houses? With wee little patchwork quilts on their beds? Anyone who likes cute rodents needs that picture book series.
And in the background of that Tarsier video you can hear the disco song “I Love the Nightlife” playing. Hee-larious.
it’s a house of mouse.
“Tarsiers also is known to have inspired the character of Yoda !” Posted by: sandypartridge
—–
I didn’t realize the Yoda connection, but after you mentioned it I totally see how it must be true…
In addition to being tiny and cute, they look amazing magical, strange, wise, and all-knowing/all-seeing.
Then do indeed look like they “can see right into yer soul,”(–pyrit) with a single passing glance.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_023.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_027.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_005.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_008.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_007.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_006.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/McKimchi/tarsiers_018.jpg
and if a mouse wants to move house, he can just run in it like an exercise ball (with pauses to peep out the window and see where he’s gotten to.)
you know that camera commercial with Maria Sharapova and all the tennis balls following her around? that’s how they did that.
this has got to be one of my favorite posts ever. teeny tiny meece! unbelieveable. i wish i had something clever and tennis-related to say, but all i can do is squee.
Ok, someone help me out here – I had a book when I was a kid about a mouse and his friends. The mouse was called Timothy, and I think he was a harvest mouse. Anyway, the thrilling climax of the book comes when they rescue a passel of widdle baby mice from the field because the wicked farmer was going to set the dogs on them. A balloon made out of a red checkered hankerchief got involved too. I can’t remember what the book was called, but it had a happy ending and the last line goes “And over the hills to Timothy’s house went Mr. Brown and Timothy Mouse.”
Anyone recognise the plot and can name the book?
Teej — http://www.easyontheeye.net/ladybird/40s/497/497.htm ?
or maybe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Leader_(Redwall)#Saxtus ?
TJ — one more possibility…
http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Despereaux-Being-Princess-Thread/dp/product-description/0763625299
Yay for mousehouses! Yay for tarsiers! Yay for lynxes…I wish them well!
I don’t recognize Timothy mouse, though.
Spell check first off.
It is not Wimbleton.
It is Wimbledon.
As for the wee whiskered mouses (Sylvester speak!)…
Wee lovey mouses!!!
OK, fixd teh speling of Wimpoltin.
also, not to hate but — it’s pish POSH. not pish prosh. because “posh” is what the english say for “cool.”
Oh, pish tosh, everything is prosh on this site, b’gosh!
Not correcting the intentional use of “prosh,” FYI.
cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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