Where are my mice?

[JoceAndChris]

The scuttling under the floorboards has stopped. I haven't seen a mouse or vole for months. The cat stares forlornly into the hedge and comes in empty pawed. The garden seems full of hungry predators who play havoc with the bins every night- I don't know if this is a visiting cat or fox but it's something big. And my little chicks arrive on Friday- I'm frightened for them!

I've done nothing to eradicate the mice that I'm aware of. Is anyone else experiencing a mouse lull?

 

[skier-hughes]

In the warmer weather there is plenty of natural food available so their need to find warmth and food in houses is less, no doubt as autumn starts you'll find them back.

 

[Ushy M]

You'll know where they went when you see Lord Rochester trotting down the garden to greet you wearing the catflap.......

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

Well I look forward to them packing their little micey suitcases and coming back when it cools down, they had a real sense of humour. I particularly liked the way they targeted unwanted gifts in the airing cupboard, and chewed up the Hello Kitty umbrella to make a nest.

 

[MdB]

... and chewed up the Hello Kitty umbrella to make a nest.

so not all bad then?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Definitely not- they seem to love gnawing plastic which suits me. And they never came in the kitchen.

But I guess they aren't terribly good for the house, or its hygiene.

 

[Cloudscape]

And wiring tends to be insulated with plastic, while some people have plastic plumbing. :| In my excavations round the house, I found four or five old dessicated mouse corpses. It depends whether you're counting complete mice or not. :? One had definitely chewed some wiring. The accumulated mouse poo surprised me... masses of it.

 

[worms]

But I guess they aren't terribly good for the ... hygiene.

If they left for the summer, they will be field mice and will be back once you get a couple of cold frosty nights. Field mice don't leave the trail of urine that house mice do and so are much less of a hygiene issue (and don't smell).

 

[JoceAndChris]

Hmmmm. I never got a long enough look to be able to compare them to my mouse identification chart. (yes, I really do have one, it's one of my favourite things)

They were shy, brown, biggish (for a mouse, not like those tiddlers on the Underground), they didn't smell, they brought their food from outside in. Maybe they were field mice.

Mice eating wiring has got to be very bad news though, could it cause electric shocks? Could a mouse cause death? :shock:

 

[MdB]

Mice eating wiring has got to be very bad news though, could it cause electric shocks? Could a mouse cause death? :shock:

Yes and yes. Death is most likely for the mouse but shocks / fires from damaged wiring can and do kill.

A nibbled solid flat cable (twin + earth) is most likely to short the live wire to ground which will trip an RCD in new installations and hopefully a fuse in old installations. A nibbled round flexible cable could expose live and neutral which won't trip an RCD but should blow a fuse. A highish resistance though (such as gently frying mouse or a stray strand of copper) between live and neutral could start a fire without blowing the fuse.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:shock: I might be going off these mice then.

Is there anything that can be done to one's wiring to make it anti-mouse?

 

[MdB]

Is there anything that can be done to one's wiring to make it anti-mouse?

Not sensibly that I know of. The guy on Grand Designs that built the wood / straw house in the woods (fab house by the way) used some sort of rodent resistant cable but it was very expensive. Fitting RCDs on all circuits is probably the best thing you can do combined with burying as much cable as possible under plaster.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh hell, maybe I'm going to have to rethink these chandeliers. The wall lights are buried in plaster so I suppose that makes them inaccessible as we have solid walls.

The reed ceilings bear telling evidence of mouse activity. Lord Rochester begged to be allowed in the roof space earlier this year, and would disappear for hours. I don't like letting him in there, but he gave me no peace. Mouse + electric cable + 200 yr old reed ceiling is probably a bad combination. :?

Thanks MdB, for a timely warning.

 

[worms]

They were shy, brown, biggish (for a mouse, not like those tiddlers on the Underground), they didn't smell, they brought their food from outside in. Maybe they were field mice.

Don't think there is any maybe about it!

Field mice are reputed to be much less damaging in the house, less inclined to gnaw their way through everything in sight, including the wiring. However, it is not clear that the field mice have all read the right books... Having a clear space between the house and the garden might help reduce their chance of finding the house in the autumn.

 

[MdB]

It's a worry but don't worry about it too much. A quick google shows up a few articles of mice causing fires but to be honest there are not that many considering how many houses have a similar situation to yourself. I would fit RCDs (or RCBOs) though.

 

[worms]

Mouse + electric cable + 200 yr old reed ceiling is probably a bad combination. :?

Mouse + overweight cat + 200 yr old reed ceiling might still be a bad combination!

 

[JoceAndChris]

MdB, thank you so much for the reassurance about the mice and the advice on wiring, I'll be sure to get those RCDs installed.

Worms- blasphemy - cats have developed their soft, light movement to such a high degree that not a leaf is disturbed when they move through the bushes. My cat may be 7.5 kg (of solid muscle) but I have watched him leap up crowded shelves of china without dislodging a single piece.

 

[Penners]

I haven't seen a mouse ...for months.

They've all gone here for their jolly holidays.

 

[worms]

They've all gone here for their jolly holidays.

No they're here

 

[JoceAndChris]

Good Lord. I won't sleep, that's terrifying.

Penners, I'm intrigued by this paragraph in your link:

"Dolly Pentreath, reputedly the last person who spoke the Cornish language as her natural tongue, which died with her some 200 years ago lived in Mousehole. As you walk towards the harbour from the car park, you will pass the house where she lived - marked by a plaque. A memorial to her is to be found in the churchyard in nearby Paul - a small village just above Mousehole"

If she was the last, to whom did she speak this language? And why was she the last? It all seems very melodramatic to me.