Weird mouse one

[AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii]

Been here 4 years, rural, small village in a row of houses that backs on to a field. First year we had a fair few mice but not house mice they were smaller with shorter tails? Caught about 6 in the trap then didn’t see any more and DH then built a shed which they appear to have made their home due to the amount of droppings in there.

since building the shed we haven’t had any for a few years maybe just the odd one or two which the trap quickly dispose of. My question is they are only ever in the bathroom (downstairs) I’ve never caught one in the kitchen (I did see one in the kitchen the first year but never since) or seen any evidence of them anywhere in the house else other than the bathroom? No noise anywhere, scratching or running around

There is no question, just a statement that they're in the bathroom. Are you asking why they're only there? I would assume they can access the house via the bathroom. I was told they can get through the tiniest holes (if you can fit a pen through a hole a mouse can get in). I'd look for tiny holes inside and outside the bathroom and fill them, using wire mesh if the holes need to be there. Good luck!

I just found it strange, a previous house I was in had a house mouse infestation and they were everywhere and very obvious evidence of such whereas these mice don’t seem to be anywhere else in the house other than the bathroom so wondering why they are coming in? They obviously aren’t coming in and settling? There was a gap behind the toilet which DH put a metal plate over and on closer inspection there is a gap where the pipes for the sink go out so that needs filled to

Could they be under the floorboards? When we moved house we had mice in the bathroom only too (bathroom on the first floor, not ground floor). They were living under the floorboards but only seemed to appear in the bathroom. No sign of them near the kitchen. I wonder if if was for warmth and that they'd come and go. We have a cat so he soon resolved the problem...

I don’t think so it’s fully concrete floors on the ground floor only wooden floor boards upstairs but definitely not up here as as I say no evidence or noise they would make. I just wonder if they come in by mistake 🤷‍♀️

They sound like voles. Voles generally live outside, but might be getting in your bathroom through a hole or crack.

@tattychicken i did wonder as they have little bodies and short tails I knew they definitely weren’t house mice

Short tails = bank voles. Long tails = long tailed field mice. I have a constant problem with voles in my house. It's old, solid stone walls, backs directly onto fields and the voles love to come in at this time of year. They get everywhere and travel through the walls. I live trap in the airing cupboard and put them at the end of the garden in the old outside loo. They probably cone straight back in but they are way too cute to kill. Tbh, if it wasn't for the possibility of chewing through electrics I'd probably coexist with them. I never see them downstairs or in my bedroom, but they do go into dd's room and the attic.

They can fit through the tiniest of holes so it's nearly impossible to keep them out if you live in an old house.

If they look like a lolly on a stick, quite dark brown, with blunt noses and more teddy-bear-looking ears than a mouse, then they'll be field voles or bank voles. Doesn't sound like field/wood mice, as their tails aren't short (tho they're skinnier than house mouse tails). Probably not yellow-necked mice, almost certainly not harvest mice, almost certainly not shrews. Could just be smaller stubby-tailed house mice. As you have regular access to dead ones, identification should be pretty easy if you look up info online, and once you have a species you'll know better how to manage the problem, though it sounds like you need a pest control person to come and tell you where they're getting into the bathroom, if you're not able to find it yourself.

Anything other than a house mouse doesn't really want to be in your house anyway, so you may not need to kill them, just relocate back outdoors (and block the entry).

If they have everything they need - water, food, bedding, shelter, then they'll stay & be content in the shed rather than risk a noisy house with people coming & going.

They're either coming into the bathroom to look for food or bedding - or your shed has reached saturation point and they're scouting out your bathroom as a potential home for the next clan.

Or it might be voles.

It’s possibly around a 1960s built house there is definitely a hole behind the sink which will be getting filled. As i say we have had no issues with them really since the shed was put up they all seem to be in there now but we do still get the odd one only ever in the bathroom I don’t hear or see evidence of them anywhere else. Interesting to hear it could be voles though I thought they were stockier

Well, it looks like they want to be in Calisto's house TBF.

@DumboHimalayan i am finding it hard to identify as so many different things it could be. I thought field mouse as the ones I’m catching are brown with a light coloured belly which house mice typically don’t have, they have short hairy tails, smaller faces and biggish ears. I’m 99.9% certain it isn’t house mice I’ve had them before and I knew I had them they were everywhere all over the house this is only the bathroom and only odd ones. The only other entry point is behind the sink or through the window which I keep open all year round for airing

The only thing that sounds remotely like to me is a hazel dormouse, but do those come into houses??

I mean it can't and won't be hazel dormice. Their tails are too long and they're pretty rare and only in a few areas of the country. But hairy tails is throwing me.

I'm intrigued and very invested in this now 🤣

I know I keep googling but not really any further forward definitely going to pay more attention if I catch another but definitely noticed that they are smaller bodies with shorter tails and different coloured to house mice the droppings are house mice either they are tapered ends and tiny

And to add they have all been the same every single one I’ve caught at the start when I had lots of them and now when we get odd ones and the ones in the shed are all the same

Another interesting thing maybe the field mu house backs onto has a few massive trees in? Wonder if they are In there? Or get disturbed off the fields during harvests/cattle moved in and out?

Might be field mice. They don't live in houses, usually but occasionally wander in out of curiosity and then can't find their way back out. Maybe the bathroom is where they're getting in.

I could see them setting up in a shed though, especially if there's food in there but the short tails sound more like sound kind of Vole. Again probably coming in by accident but would camp out in a shed if there's food in there. Do you keep bird food or anything in there that might attract them?

…constipated mice?

@Balloonhearts yes we have guinea pigs so their nuggets and hay is kept in there so that will be their food source I’m guessing, the cows in the field are also fed haylage at times so imagine that will be another source.

small bodies with tails roughly the same length. Fairly sure they’re Hairy and pointed tails

@DumboHimalayan not sure my nursing skills would help much with mice constipation 😂😂 not sure I can PR them 😂

Oh tails the same length as bodies?

I'm betting wood mice then.

All mice have some hair on their tails, maybe it's just that these ones have darker hairs, or you're looking more closely at these mice, or something?

I would say roughly the same length as I say I haven’t paid too much close attention recently but the one I caught last week definitely small short tail probably the same length brown fur light coloured belly same as all the others I’ve caught that’s why I didn’t take too much notice

I have a lovely little wood mouse that occasionally visits the planter at the bottom of my garden because seeds fall in there out of the bird feeder. The more it eats, the fewer weeds I have to pull up I've seen it sheltering from the rain beneath a hosta leaf, too. They're sweet things, in the right place… noticeably different from house mice, but far more similar to them than snub-nosed little voles are.

Light belly says wood mouse to me rather than house mouse.