A mouse in the house

let nature take its course, i couldn't kill any animal myself, but that's just my weak soppy softhearted nature

humane trap and release near someone elses house

there was a squirrel in the backyard this summer that was attacked either by a fox or cat and one of it's hind legs was really messed up all swollen infected and covered in bite marks, it limped around for a month coming down for food every 2/3 days

it's been doing zoomies up and down the back yard for the last month, they're resilient creatures and will heal themselves if given time and opportunity, or they'll die

it never crossed my mind to whack the squirrel with a spade to put it out of it's misery

They're useful for keeping rodent populations down are foxes, and they'll work for free, unlike the pest controllers.

What’s the likelihood of only one rat being in our loft? Within and hour of putting a trap up we caught one.

Put the trap back up there and two days now and nothing even though there are now 4 traps up there - and also no more noise.

Rats are very sociable so weird it would be by itself right?

The others have learned to avoid the trap. And talk about the missing one as “having been chosen”. They’ve martyred it and are planning revenge.

I did think some of my coco pops were a bit chewy this morning.

We had a Rat Catcher come today, much disappoint he didn't arrive with a terrier or a ferret but instead an ipad and shoes covers. But, luckily he couldn't find any evidence of dead or alive rats. However he did find a hole that connects our roof to our neighbours who are the local veterinary practice.

I need to get up into the small part of our loft and install some wire mesh. Absolute shit of a job.

we caught one

👍

did find a hole that connects our roof to our neighbours who are the local veterinary practice

..ha, that rat probably did check in with the vet and got their broken limbs fixed 👍

We’ve finally and probably rather inevitably discovered evidence of a mouse in our garage. We keep a big (12 or 15 kilo) bag of bird seed in there which gets spilled when we fill the bird feeders, I’ve been saying for years that it’ll attract a mouse/mice but never seen anything until finding a hole in the bag and also a towel having been chewed up recently. The towel was on top of the bag of seeds so don’t know if it’s just been in the way or if it’s been chewed up to create fluffy filling for a nest.

I’m not upset about some seeds going missing or the towel but I don’t want to start finding that a mouse has been chewing on my Brooks saddles or the stem and frame bags that sit on a few of the bikes in the garage.

I’ve removed the bag of seeds from the garage now but am worried that this will prompt exploration of other possible food sources ie saddles and bags?

I found some mouse ate the lining of a pair of runners I left in the shed. I was sad.
Then i put a mouse trap down and wasn't anyore

Get a cat…

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..haha, great pic! 😅

That's a rat not a mouse. (i think?)

Either a very big mouse or a very small cat.

"Hey siri, enhance the view of the tail of that rodent. is it a mouse or a rat?"

We are definitely not getting a cat!

Just need to decide whether feeding it/allowing it to feed would encourage it to reproduce and bring its mates round or discourage it from nibbling thing’s that are not food.

I mean, if it’ll tidy up like this one then I’ll get some premium French fromage and leave it out for it!

Are you sure it isn't a rat that you're pondering feeding here ...

We have a cupboard which is the only place we catch mice in. Typically 1-3 mice a week get trapped. A couple of times a year the traps don’t finish the job. I don’t really want to block the hole into the cupboard out of fear that it’ll send them scuttling elsewhere into the house and it’s easy just to line three traps along the wall of the cupboard (somehow most frequently it’s the middle trap that executes its job properly).

It is my job to set traps, dispose of dead bodies and to dispatch half dead mice. Our dogs who delight in digging up mouse nests on walks and devouring meals with squeals al fresco have no interest in helping indoors.

The other week I was interrupted while on the turbo to be told I had to deal with a half dead mouse, so while in bib shorts and disco slippers had to locate the sledge hammer, get the mouse and trap outside and then finish the job. Which I did. But my wife was overseeing and exclaimed “it’s still alive” and I screamed when I saw a round thing with a tail fall off the head of the sledgehammer. Actually all that had happened was a leaf had stuck to the sledgehammer when the mouse and trap had been crushed. Though my wife was laughing hysterically and was gutted that she was in the way of the Google camera that could have recorded fat middle aged man in sidis and bibshorts let out a yelp.

This is the kind of stories I'm following this thread for! 5/5

Ps: you should get some cats

The holes in the seed bag have been pretty small.

There are some takeaways nearby though.

Either way, don’t mind it eating seeds and towels. Bags, saddles, and motorcycle wiring I’d be less happy with.

I already remove or at least disconnect the battery from the motorbike so there shouldn’t be much fire risk. If it chews on my oxy/propane hoses though…

You should get some cats! 🙂

Pet Kestrel?

Mice live in family groups, so it's unlikely to be just one. I'd put the bird food into a plastic/metal box so the mice can't get at it or smell it. If you leave it out the mice will still look for other food sources. Plus, you could end up with rats.

Mice also multiply v fucking quickly, so it won’t be long before they are looking for alternative sources of food anyway. Seal the bird food up, move it elsewhere and put some poison down in its place.

Don’t poison, it affects other wildlife. We are surrounded by buzzards and owls and rodent poison kills the raptors if they eat poisoned mice and rats.

I throw the mouse corpses into the garden and they disappear within a couple of hours.