Of mice and men

[RED-DOG]

As some of you may have gathered, we have a new puppy at Chez Red.

As far a possible, I like to do her feeds myself, apart from getting the mixture and quantity right, it's a great opportunity to teach her that it's OK for people to touch her food. So many dogs are food aggressive, and this can be extremely dangerous, especially if a small child happens to stray too near to the food bowl.

This problem need never arise if you take a little time during puppyhood to demonstrate that you have no intention of nicking the dinner. I like to feed my puppy from my hand, or put my fingers in the dog-dish so that she has to eat around my fingers. Now she associates my hands with receiving food, not losing it.

I keep the food in an old railway carrage that we use as a shed, because it's not exactly mouse-proof, I put everything in an old plastic dustbin, the type with a lid.

Anyway, while I was playing at Luton last week, my daughter Bridie took over feeding duties, the last thing I told her was "Don't forget to put the lid back on the bin, otherwise the mice will get in"

As you can guess, she forgot to replace the lid. When I discovered the open bin the next morning I called Bridie into the shed and pointed out her mistake. She assured me that no mice had been in the bin, "How do you know that?" I asked her, "Because he would still be in there" She said, "How would he get out?"

I had to admit that she did have a point, the bin was about 3 feet deep with perfectly smooth sides, surely for a mouse, it would be escape proof.

I forgot all about it until today when I tried to put on my boots, which also reside in the shed, one of them was almost full to the top with Morrisons own brand small bite mixer. I counted them. 423 individual pea sized biscuits. Let's be generous and assume that a mouse could jam 4 biscuits at a time into his jaw-pouches, that still means over 100 trips. How did he manage it?  I had to see this for myself.


Today I left the lid off the bin again and I wedged the shed door open just wide enough for me to be able to see from the kitchen window. Of course, I couldn't watch all night, but I knew if I gave it an hour at dusk, I would stand a good chance of spotting him.

No sooner had I come indoors and settled down to my stakeout than he arrived, bold as brass in broad daylight. He sniffed around the base of the bin for a few moments, then, apparently satisfied that the lid was off, he made his way across to an old desk that sits against the opposite wall. It was but the work of a moment to shin up the the leg of the desk and launch himself Evil Knevil like into the bin. Seconds later, Morrisons small bite mixer biscuits were cascading out. After watching for a while it finally dawned on me, the crafty little blighter was burrowing into them and the digging action was flinging them every which way, some were landing on the floor.

So, he didn't make 100 trips after all, but there was still the mystery of how he got out of the bin. I decided to go and see, I knew that as I approached, sooner or later he would decide to beat a retreat. He didn't notice me until I was almost on top of him, at which point he ran at breakneck speed around the inside of the bin like a motorcycle wall of death, spiraling ever upwards. Then, whether by chance or by design I don't know, but he slipped over the rim of the bin on the side opposite to where I was standing and was instantly lost from sight amid the shed clutter.

I have had a mouse trap set in the shed for months, although so far, our acrobatic friend has managed to avoid it. Before I left I made the trap safe, and put it away in a drawer.

[KingPoker]

lol another great read.

Similar thing happened to me but in the house. We obviously fed the dog in the evning and she wuld eat the tinned stuff and leave the mixer til the morning, well after a while we noticed that when we got up in the morning she wasnt going back to her bowl for seconds so just assumed she had started eating it all in one go in the evening but then she started to pay a lot more attention to one of the armchairs we had in the room, like sniffing and blowing under there with her nose. She did a similar thing when her rubber bone toy got lodged under there so i lifted it up expecting to get the toy loose and back in play but what i found must have been around a bag of dog mixer neatly piled under the hollow underside of the chair. It was unbelievable if you scaled it up from size of food pile to size of animal it would be like me storing up a room full of bread.
He was so greedy and that was his downfall, if he had of stopped and taken what he needed we wouldnt have found him but he'd given himself away and it wasnt long before my mouse trap got him!

Another mouse story was with m missus in her house down in cardiff. She lived with a group of girls and one evening she rang me, as my house was only 5 minutes walk away and said they had seen a mouse in the kitchen could i come around (used to this drill with a spider emergency so was quite normal). Anyway went round and laid some traps, caught one and when they saw it dead in there they decided they didnt want to kill anymore so i took traps back home. Then one night i was staying around at hers whenthere was a noise coming from under the bed, obvious as to what it was but kaz wanted to see it so we got a creme egg and drpped pieces doen the side and sure enough out it came and piced up the pieces and went back under. Of course she liked that one as it was cute and was allowed to stay.

[suzanne]

As some of you may have gathered, we have a new puppy at Chez Red.

As far a possible, I like to do her feeds myself, apart from getting the mixture and quantity right, it's a great opportunity to teach her that it's OK for people to touch her food. So many dogs are food aggressive, and this can be extremely dangerous, especially if a small child happens to stray too near to the food bowl.

This problem need never arise if you take a little time during puppyhood to demonstrate that you have no intention of nicking the dinner. I like to feed my puppy from my hand, or put my fingers in the dog-dish so that she has to eat around my fingers. Now she associates my hands with receiving food, not losing it.

I keep the food in an old railway carrage that we use as a shed, because it's not exactly mouse-proof, I put everything in an old plastic dustbin, the type with a lid.

Anyway, while I was playing at Luton last week, my daughter Bridie took over feeding duties, the last thing I told her was "Don't forget to put the lid back on the bin, otherwise the mice will get in"

As you can guess, she forgot to replace the lid. When I discovered the open bin the next morning I called Bridie into the shed and pointed out her mistake. She assured me that no mice had been in the bin, "How do you know that?" I asked her, "Because he would still be in there" She said, "How would he get out?"

I had to admit that she did have a point, the bin was about 3 feet deep with perfectly smooth sides, surely for a mouse, it would be escape proof.

I forgot all about it until today when I tried to put on my boots, which also reside in the shed, one of them was almost full to the top with Morrisons own brand small bite mixer. I counted them. 423 individual pea sized biscuits. Let's be generous and assume that a mouse could jam 4 biscuits at a time into his jaw-pouches, that still means over 100 trips. How did he manage it?  I had to see this for myself.


Today I left the lid off the bin again and I wedged the shed door open just wide enough for me to be able to see from the kitchen window. Of course, I couldn't watch all night, but I knew if I gave it an hour at dusk, I would stand a good chance of spotting him.

No sooner had I come indoors and settled down to my stakeout than he arrived, bold as brass in broad daylight. He sniffed around the base of the bin for a few moments, then, apparently satisfied that the lid was off, he made his way across to an old desk that sits against the opposite wall. It was but the work of a moment to shin up the the leg of the desk and launch himself Evil Knevil like into the bin. Seconds later, Morrisons small bite mixer biscuits were cascading out. After watching for a while it finally dawned on me, the crafty little blighter was burrowing into them and the digging action was flinging them every which way, some were landing on the floor.

So, he didn't make 100 trips after all, but there was still the mystery of how he got out of the bin. I decided to go and see, I knew that as I approached, sooner or later he would decide to beat a retreat. He didn't notice me until I was almost on top of him, at which point he ran at breakneck speed around the inside of the bin like a motorcycle wall of death, spiraling ever upwards. Then, whether by chance or by design I don't know, but he slipped over the rim of the bin on the side opposite to where I was standing and was instantly lost from sight amid the shed clutter.

I have had a mouse trap set in the shed for months, although so far, our acrobatic friend has managed to avoid it. Before I left I made the trap safe, and put it away in a drawer.

Darn it...you caught me off guard and I forgot to put the kettle on.

Lovely story :-)                                                                                                Still HATE mice though (((shudder)))

[barhell]

Red another great read, if you try catching mice in the future try chocolate they love it.

[tikay]

What an extraodinary story Tom - you can't make these things up!

My Angell (the cat) brings me as "present" of a mouse 2 or 3 times a week. He finds them in a field, 200 yards or more away, brings them home in his mouth, enters via the cat-flap, & drops them at my feet. The mice are completely unharmed, as the moment he drops the mouse at my feet, the damn mouse scampers off. Then I'm faced with hours, sometimes days, or finding & rescuing the mouse.

Mice generally get under wardrobes or furniture, & the Cat gives me the clue of where the mouse is, & he sits "on guard" waiting for the mice to re-appear.

I once tried tempting the mouse out after 2 days with cheese bits, but the daft cat ate the cheese.......

I'm pleased to say the "rescue" ratio is high, I manage to catch most of them, then I put them out in the garden, & after a few seconds to re-orientate themselves, off they go. Though Angell once caught the same mouse three times in a night!

I am surprised that so many folks have a phobia about mice. Pick one up & they are as cute as it gets, lovely little things. (Rats are different, they carry very dangerous diseases, & don't go near squirrels whatever you do, they are vicious so & so's).

Angell also brings birds home, sparrows, thrushes, even a blackbird once. How he carries a live bird of such size, without damaging it, is extraordinary. Again,  I rescue almost every one, live & unharmed. (Anyone ever seen the remarkable footage by David Attenborough of a crocodile carrying it's young in their mouth?).

The animal, bird & fish Kingdoms are cruel but beautiful things, where death = survival in many places, they really do eat each other to live. So it's an odd thing when we try & interfere with Nature by rescuing them, but I can't help it I hate to see animals killed.

But I draw the line at the ridiculous attempts to save beached whales & dolphins. These beautiful creatures know when they are done, & deserve to die with some dignity, niot being pushed & pulled & lifted by cranes & such like.

I can't figure out why I've never been a veggie, really.

Anyway, keep the animal stories coming.

[Zebediah]

Rats are incredibly intelligent affectionate creatures.
They make a much better pet than a hamster for eg.

My cousin had 2 and they would come to you for attention and only ever dirtied their "toilet" even though they had the run of the room.
They could also be trained for tricks etc.
When one eventually died the other died of "a broken heart" within a few days.

[Rod Paradise]

Rats are incredibly intelligent affectionate creatures.
They make a much better pet than a hamster for eg.

My cousin had 2 and they would come to you for attention and only ever dirtied their "toilet" even though they had the run of the room.
They could also be trained for tricks etc.
When one eventually died the other died of "a broken heart" within a few days.

I'd a lovely pet Rat, called Norm (after the guy in Cheers - the wee fella was a boozehound ).

He was great fun, used to play fight against my hand, I'd hold my hand out and he'd dive at it & wrestle it, pretending to bite it, even though a rat can easilly bite through to the bone he never bit me.

The only problem was when I stated seeing my ex, he started making his territory on her - by peeing. He'd sneak up on her, jump on her arm or leg & pee on her. He had to stay in the cage when she came round. When he died she put her foot down so I never got another.

[bolt pp]

Rats are incredibly intelligent affectionate creatures.
They make a much better pet than a hamster for eg.

My cousin had 2 and they would come to you for attention and only ever dirtied their "toilet" even though they had the run of the room.
They could also be trained for tricks etc.
When one eventually died the other died of "a broken heart" within a few days.

Hamsters are brilliant!!!!!

they run around on that wheel for ages, i mean they just keep going and going, they don't care that they're not going to get anywhere, that shows determination, you don't see a dog do that, the best a dog does is chase it's tale around for a couple of minutes and then give up, that's just lazy, if you're going  start something, finish it!!

that little hamster will be back on it's wheel trying to get to nowhere again just as soon as it's little legs have got back their strenghth but a dog will just get bored and walk off and start licking itself, that's a good alternative but ive never seen a dog with a tale in its mouth and that's disappointing, i lose a lot of respect for the k9 species there!

[matt674]

The only problem was when I stated seeing my ex, he started making his territory on her - by peeing. He'd sneak up on her, jump on her arm or leg & pee on her.

Animal 6th sense - he knew you weren't meant for each other and was trying to inform you the only way he knew how!!