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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be getting emotionally attached to the mouse in our house

118 replies

professorsnape · 18/11/2011 10:16

We've had a mouse in the house for last week or so.

We tired leaving cheese on the trap but he ate it.
We left chocolate buttons but he helped himself to those to and went back into his hole.

Every night me and DD, age 4, think of what food to leave out on the trap to catch him. Every morning when he get up, said food has been eaten.

He is becoming a house pet at this stage!

DH are getting pest control to come into and TBH am feeling a bit sorry for him.

AIBU/Do I need to get a life?

OP posts:

MollyintheMoon · 18/11/2011 12:50

We did have mice living under the sink this summer. They had been attracted to the dog food. I put the dog food in an air-tight box and they left. Problem solved.

Of course, mouse aren't house trained so no, they don't use your toilet , but they aren't incontinent. I just don't like the kill, kill, kill nature of people with regards to mice. It's perfectly possible to get rid of them humanly and I can't understand why anyone would choose to do otherwise.

MollyintheMoon · 18/11/2011 12:51

THEY ARE NOT INCONTINENT!

AmberLeaf · 18/11/2011 12:51

They are actually quite 'sweet' as pets, however there is a big difference to having hordes of them in your house and having one in a cage!

Does having a pet cat make much difference to the 'problem'?

OrmIrian · 18/11/2011 12:52

Awww... I don't blame you

But I expect the mean miserable blood-thirsty bastards are right and he needs to go.

AmberLeaf · 18/11/2011 12:53

THEY ARE INCONTINENT

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 12:54

Yep, YABU. I was you. I thought how cute they were (although didn't put food out for them). How bold, see how they just run around even though we're there!

ANd then the smell started. You've only had it for a week, you won't have noticed it yet - but they wee all the time. In that, they have no bladder sphincter (like us) so when they have wee in their bladder, it comes out. It takes a while for the smell to get really, you know, mousey - but it's vile.

So we tried humane traps - didn't work, they got around them! .

Had to get the poison out in the end, it was the only way. :(

ArtVandelay · 18/11/2011 12:55

So they piss everywhere and crap in the toaster on purpose then? I liked them better when I thought they couldn't help it

valiumredhead · 18/11/2011 12:55

Well for starters I am not sure why you insist they are not incontinent - because they are.

Yes, putting food in containers cam minimise the chances of getting them but once they are in your house they very rarely go away on there own accord ime - they like to bed down especially at this time of year and come in from the cold.

It doesn't sound like you have ever had a big problem molly or you wouldn't be so against killing the little fuckers them.

It's just taken us 6 months to get rid of a rat infestation due to neighbours 3 doors down who ignored the problem.

valiumredhead · 18/11/2011 12:58

There is nothing humane about humane traps btw - if you release them far away from where they know they die of starvation as they don't know there where they are going, can't follow their runs. Also they go mad if left in one for more than about 5 mins - really awful.

Traps are much kinder.

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 12:58

Oh valium - don't start me on the fecking rats - I had the EHO in 3 times over rat problems.
You know that song "There's a rat in me kitchen what am Ah gonna do" - that was me. It was hideous.

They have no bladder sphincter either...

pink4ever · 18/11/2011 13:01

We had mice last year. One ran over my foot in the dark when I went to the toilet-dh said I was dreaming

Came back from hols and we were over run-dh found one in the dcs cereal box-eewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!

Put traps down and caught about 10 of the little fuckers. Think there were more but after we mived all food up to high cupboards or into containers they buggered off.

I suspect one may have died in the wall cavitity as we also had a plague of flies like another poster mentioned. Actually they were worse than the mouse-I HATE flies-filthy little bastards.

valiumredhead · 18/11/2011 13:02

And rat piss STINKS! Blerk!

And they are SOOOOOOOOO noisy banging away up in the loft!

One sat on my kitchen step and LAUGHED at me even when I shushed it away - all that "Oooooo they are more scared of you than you are of them" is bollocks!

Plus my friend's FIL nearly died from contracting Weil's disease after petting his dog that had been in an infected stream - so you will excuse my 'hysteria.'

SoupDragon · 18/11/2011 13:04

Molly, whether you agree that they are incontinent or not, they do piss and shit everywhere and anywhere. Do you think mouse piss all over your house is OK?

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 13:12

Ah yes, not quite relevant to this discussion but worth knowing about - rat lungworm disease.

Rats can carry a nematode worm that doesn't do them any harm. The eggs come out in their poo. Snails/slugs eat the rat poo. The eggs hatch and go through their larval stage in the snail/slug - and if anyone should eat a carrier snail/slug, their brains could get eaten by eosinophilic meningitis. Not many people will eat snails or slugs (thankfully) but apparently you don't have to - there is a risk of infection just from the snail/slug slime.

So as well as Weil's disease from rat wee, you can die or get brain damage from rat poo via snails. Nice.

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 13:13

Valium, I hope you shooed it with a spade? Those things can jump, you know! 6 feet in the air, apparently, when cornered

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 13:14

I should point out that I do not know whether any incidence of rat lungworm disease in humans has been found in the UK but it's big news over here in Australia at the moment because of some recent incidents (including one death) - and as Wiki points out, with all the globalisation going on, it won't be long before it gets to the UK.

valiumredhead · 18/11/2011 13:14

Also worth remembering that councils don't very often offer free services but most offer free pest control ( or at a reduced rate anyway) and they do so because vermin is a serious problem.

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 13:15

Valium - most do for rats but not so many for mice.

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 13:15

although not free. But cheaper than Rentokil.

valiumredhead · 18/11/2011 13:16

thumb er no, I screeched and waved the wooden spoon I was holding at it - quite possibly why it laughed at me. Another MNer friend was here at the time - she was MUCH braver than me

valiumredhead · 18/11/2011 13:18

It is free in London or was 5 years ago when we were there, and here it is 3 free visits for rats and mice - think it depends where you live.

Luckily I have a dh who saw it as his personal mission to trap any rat that even sniffed in our direction - they are HUGE up close btw no wonder they do so much damage!

lollilou · 18/11/2011 13:19

Do you want to borrow our killer cat? We're are getting about 3/4 a DAY and they are usually alive(just). Or sometimes we find half a mouse secreted behind the sofa and curtains. The worst was when she dropped one into my sons toy box and no one noticed, hordes of flies and it was his Power Rangers box which I had to put in the bath and scour with bleach.

belgo · 18/11/2011 13:19

I'm emotionally (and physically) attached to the mouse next to my keyboard. And it doesn't leave droppings everywhere.

Thumbwitch · 18/11/2011 13:19

I took the poker to bed with me when I saw a rat running across my dining room floor - I had friends staying who told me about the jumping, and of course I knew that they can climb walls

I never should have read James Herbert's The Rats when I was about 12 - Very Bad Idea.

MollyintheMoon · 18/11/2011 13:21

I've just brushed my DD's hair with unnecessary vigour because of you lot.

Google mice and incontinence and myth if you want.

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