Thursday 29 January 2009

All creatures great and small

A few months ago, during harvest (we live beside fields) we had a little furry visitor in the shape of a fieldmouse. I am sure they are cute, delightful and harmless creatures in their right place. This place is NOT my home. So we bought some traps, laid them with toasted porridge oats and waited... The next morning, the traps were bare of bait (clever mouse) but no sign of the mouse (not so clever trap). Thankfully, this situation had reversed itself the next evening when we heard a bang and discovered a shower of porridge oats covering the carpet upstairs in the landing and a mouse caught in the trap. Major success.

I left the traps up just in case....

And the months passed.

Now, I don't know what it says about my housecleaning regime (perhaps this is a discussion we could have another day) but I still hadn't got round to putting these redundant traps away even though there had been no sign of any more little friends.

And then last night as I was walking back from the bathroom (having finished my packing - phew: see the previous post!) I spied a grey tail poking out from under a bag beside a chest of drawers. Eeeeeek.

Yes you've guessed it. It was another friend. He's now in the dustbin.

And yes, I screamed. A lot.

I like animals, honestly I do. I am just not totally keen on the wild rodent variety in my house. What's bothering me is how did he get in and, assuming it arrived with its chum in October, where has he been since then and what has he been eating? Answers on a postcard please.

4 comments:

lislynn said...

I can feel for you! I have a thing about mice in my house, too. Outside the house or in cute little cages-- no worries, but in my house?? No thank you!

We had a run-in with a mouse this Thanksgiving. Here's my post about it :)

http://theforsheyfour.blogspot.com/2008/11/first-thanksgiving-cue-theme-from.html

Edith said...

I checked your post. WAS THAT THE MOUSE?!!! Oh my word!! I am squeaming as I type. I really am not the hysterical kind but that beastie looks like a killer!!
Your Thanksgiving post is hilarious. I can see how the humour element probably kicked in after the event mind you...:)

Susannah Forshey said...

Haha! I had one of those myself.....only it started out as an entire shed full of the nastiest variety: RATS! What we ended up with was one of the little ones sneaking in the house via a toolbox. I couldn't figure out what the SMELL was coming from in my LAUNDRY ROOM! BLECH!!!! :P

Hildie said...

We were infested with mice last year. We figured they snuck into the garbage cans at night and had a little feast while we were sleeping. They're so little I don't think it takes much food to fell them up.