A lab at Drexel University is looking for New York City mice — as well as their country counterparts — to compare their genetics.
at Drexel University in Philadelphia. She is seeking city mice — and their country cousins, too — to compare their DNA.
Among the participants is Debra Lass of the Upper West Side, who’s been having a mouse-related nightmare in her home, which has required a major cleaning effort.Mice thrive in cities like New York, filled with aging housing stock, and are tough to control. Phifer-Rixey has seen situations like “a one-mouse-in-the-kitchen thing to something more extreme,” she said, like a full-on infestation.
She has found mouse remains in the oven. “The oven is a mouse crematorium!” she said. She has also added an air purifier, worried that she is inhaling pathogens.“The smell comes from MUPs,” Phifer-Rixey said — mouse urinary proteins. “House mice can identify one another based on scent. They are depositing odor — it is territory and identity.”
“It is sort of an arms race against mice all the time,” Phifer-Rixey said. “They chew their way in. They spend a lot of time chewing and they are good at it.” “I feel so powerless,” said Lass, who has consulted a lawyer. “I am terrified that it’s not solvable and we’re never going to get rid of these mice, and this is my life.”
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