This is completely random and I haven't been able to get a picture. My desk is a mess! And around it, there are many cables [ small network, USB, and a UPS]. We had our weekly power cuts yesterday. I was in the pub for them, and when I got home, my computer was still up, as though nothing had happened. But that is irrelevant. On this messy desk, a mouse just run past. And then he/she came back to peer at me, Turned round and disappeared, again. On my mess, is a photograph of a CSXR750 that I had years ago. Mouse was fascinated by that! Now, I think that he has left the room and gone in the /kitchen to look for supper! I am a very sharing person!
Mice! Hahahaha Perry... Though I'd feel guilty if i didn't warn you (you probably already know?) that they love to eat electrical cables. Computer ones included, so be careful or you might vanish again due to no connectivity!
Paranoid me feels that it is payback. Berkeley had the first nuclear power station in the country, Now long closed but a hell of a stack of nuclear waste was stockpiled in the basement and that is still being cleared up. Rolls-Royce Nuclear wanted to put two of their units in to start generating again, but can't as the waste stops them from getting in there. Lots of the workers are retired and still live n the area. I am convinced that there is payback going on here. I have never lived in any part of the country that suffers from so many power cuts. Also they had a policy of not documenting where lines are buried, so when there are roadworks on the A38 (all of all the time) diggers rip up the power lines.
I know and I suppose that I should get a trap. You can get humane ones that don't kill it, but just trap it so you can let it go outside. I think I will get one, as more will com in as the weather gets colder.
Ooo meeces! they're buggers to get rid off and if there's one there's plenty more where it came from. They breed (& crap) like err... mice. Humane traps aren't that good in operation as they rely on a see-saw effect which often isn't delicate enough to snap shut when a mouse is inside. I've also had one of the blighters chew it's way out after being trapped. Plus a mouse will return if not released far enough away. Take a trip out and chuck it in some far off lay-by. Classic snapping traps are the best although sometimes the trap may not kill 'em outright and you have to do the deed manually. With both traps half a raisin is the best bait. Once you've got rid of them all you then need to do is find how they are getting in. Usually it's through some decaying mortar in the wall and they can get through the smallest of holes - around 10mm B'stards...
Ah Perry, I've caught up on the site this morning. Having read several long posts about your accident and resulting fight for justice I was having a feeling of Deja-vu, but then when you mentioned power cuts I realised I'd actually travelled back in time to when you were here before. Thanks, I'd be grateful to have a different crack at the last few years.
My sister “lost” a corn snake in her maisonette, several months before she passed away. Because of her obsession with birds, the bird food attracted mice like a magnet attracts ferrous metal. When I was cleaning out the property, I “found” the corn snake but saw no mice. The pet shop owner who took the semi ferrel snake off me, said he’d never seen a corn snake that big …. or one that aggressive Andy
All interesting stuff. I don't know for sure, but I live in a Coach House, and it is quite easy for something small (and this mouse was small) to get under the garage door and then under inside doors to get further inside. I have no pets and don't have any food left out. Before my accident, I had a dog here. She never ate all her food, so there would be dog biscuits out. But the dog probably discouraged mice! The dog found better accommodation after my accident and I can't walk a dog, anyway. I'm not really keen on killing things and I'll leave it for a while, to see whether it was just a "one-off" Being so close to death, has had a strange effect on me. There is weird stuff going on here. As I said, the investigating Police officer thought that i was a fatality, and a psychoanalyst, working for the other side, said that after two head injuries (I had a horse riding accident about fifteen years ago where I got thwacked on the head, another hospital, and then the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit on the old Frenchay Hospital site) said that I would die soon, anyway. My brother was there, and he says that I am wrong and she never said that, but I think that she did. Anyway, where I am at, is that I am grateful to be a survivor and lucky enough to have funds to plan holiday trips next year. As, there is Spain next year and also the Orkney Isles. A few weeks ago, I saw this film "The Outrun" in Wotton-under-Edge set there. "That's where I wanna go!" I thought. My only Scottish recent experience, was that I did a contract at the University of Stirling, about seven years ago. This was in the Summer, during the University summer holidays. It was brilliant! I never saw it get dark there. It was darkish when I fell asleep (I did long days and there may of been a few whiskeys involved - rude not to when in Scotland) and it was well light when I woke up a about six in the morning. I suppose the downside is in Winter, when you hardly ever see the Sun!
Peanut butter is a good enticement for mousetraps. If you use a non-death trap, the general advice is to release it at least 1km away!
Mice. Whilst there may be some who will be aghast at the thought of it the best and only way to eradicate the problem is with baited food. One will find it, and will take it back to the nest for the rest of the brood to eat. This way you eradicate the problem at source. Use a trap and you only eradicate the misfortune one who tripped the trap, there will be 30-50 others lurking behind the scenes and once they see the sprung trap they’re wary of it in the future.
The huge problem is not really having one mouse that you spot occasionally, its that there are breeding pairs, which turn into massive numbers if you don't take steps to get rid of them quickly. Then the damage with cables etc is constant, as it the scratching in the walls or ceilings, where unfortunately they die, and rot with terrible stench. If left unchecked, a pair of mice can quickly infest a home. For example, if each female mouse has 10 litters, the original pair could produce 5,082 new mice in a year. Litter size: A female mouse can have 4–8 pups in a litter. Litters per year: A female mouse can have 5–12 litters per year. Gestation period: A mouse's gestation period is 19–20 days. Weaning age: A mouse's weaning age is 18–21 days. Sexual maturity: A mouse reaches sexual maturity at 1–2 months Then the government health people get involved and it can be tricky with NHS/ doctors social services,
The pest control guy I use applies a poison around the entry/exits holes. I looks like jam and sticks to their fur. As they clean themselves they digest the sweet sticky poison. Works very effectively
My Grandfather would boil up cigarette butts for the nicotine and use it around the garden. It is a powerful poison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine_poisoning
speak for yourself. . we had a mouse problem. we used the humane traps and were catching dozens of them. then for some reason or another we forgot about it. some time later we found it again where we left it at the back of a cupboard when trying to find the source of a stench. it contained one dead mouse. but no more evidence live ones. i'm wondering if the scent of the dead one kept the others away.
I plan to go to the Orkney Isles next year too, I tried this year when I was up there but you couldn’t get a ferry without booking in advance.
hmm, you would never have thought they were that organised. clever lil fucks. . Orkney rocks btw. you can a v,busy 4days there.
ideally i would catch and release but have avoided a fire in a loft myself before a more sensitive fuse-breaker box fitted so i count myself lucky. Also remember a mate having a small fire in his kitchen behind skirting boards as a result of chewed wires. More likely rats than mice i'm guessing.
