When an overwhelmed man arrived at a New Hampshire animal shelter last week hoping to surrender 150 mice, shelter workers were ready to help.

But the director said the shelter currently faces a “tremendous” breeding problem; because the man didn’t just have 150 mice. There were 150 container rats

“When he first came in, he said he had 150 mice,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The man then explained that he had 150 tanks with mice inside.

Due to rapid breeding the situation has gotten out of control and created a significant problem for the host and local shelter.

“The breeding of mice created a huge problem for him,” Dennison told CNN on Sunday.

Staff and volunteers care for pet mice surrendered at the New Hampshire SPCA. (Charles Krupa/AP via CNN Newsource)

The NHSPCA said in a statement that the man brought three large plastic tubs containing 73 mice to the shelter last Monday and was “overwhelmed by the sheer number of mice he had.” newsletter. As the week progressed, NHSPCA staff continued to make trips to his home, filling vans with additional mouse tubs. There are currently about 1000 mice in the shelter.

“The mice were living in dirty plastic tubs that had not been cleaned for a long time,” the SPCA said.

“We’ve never seen anything like this. “The longer we wait to rescue all of the mice from their horrific living conditions, the more likely it is that the numbers will continue to rise,” said Savannah Alcero, SPCA director of animal and veterinary services. “Mice can reproduce at an alarming rate, with a gestation period of approximately 20 days.”

Sitting behind him with stacks of containers filled with mice, Dennison works to take care of the mice, find them permanent homes and prevent further breeding.

“We were separating men and women,” he said. “And now we have a lot of females under pregnancy monitoring because they are reproducing rapidly.”

So far, 18 mice have been adopted and many have been sent to regional charities.

Elisha Murray adopted four females named Kelly, Dee, Maxine and Eleven, even though he told his children last week, “No more rodents.” Associated Press reported.

“We’ve always had small rodents as pets – rats, mice, hamsters and all nine – so I thought I could help,” he said. “We already have the whole setup, I already have everything I need in the house, so I thought, what the heck.”

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Dennison said as he appealed to the public for help.

Many of the mice were given names like Doug, Daryl, Dude and Vice, while others were named after candies like M&Ms.

“Help these mice find great new homes. They’re so much fun,” Dennison urged.