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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

yesterday i evicted an entire family

29 replies

FiloFunky · 21/12/2014 08:17

discovered a family of mice in my outhouse yesterday. i had forgotten that i stored a bag of dog food in there some months ago... i had also stored a sack of shredded paper.

mum and dad ran out and off up the garden. and right at the back i found 6 pinkies wiggling around and 5 babies with fur snuggling around them.

i feel quite awful about it Sad We relocated the babies to the far end of the garden in a bucket with some sawdust and straw for warmth.

AIBU to be feeling guilty that the babies probably wont have made it through the night and I worry mum and dad didnt find them? DP thinks I am being odd about it!

OP posts:
londonrach · 21/12/2014 08:21

How many cats live near you. Sadly i dont think the babies will have lived now. Can you check? You not being odd about it. Dp is bu.

WhatsGoingOnEh · 21/12/2014 08:21

Why did you have to move them? I think its quite cruel.

Honeybear30 · 21/12/2014 08:22

I know it's nuts but I'd have worried about this to.

gamerchick · 21/12/2014 08:23

Hard not to feel guilty when it's baby anything but those 11 babies would have multiplied in a few weeks.

CaulkheadUpNorth · 21/12/2014 08:23

In the summer I was camping and felt something move under me - turned out to be a field mouse feeding small babies. I moved my tent but the babies died. I felt so guilty to begin with, but it was impossible to sleep within them underneath me.

Selinasupreme · 21/12/2014 08:25

YANBU! I would have had them sleeping in the master bed with me, I'm silly about animals. Happy to eat a steak but feel terrible about stuff like this.

AlwaysLurking38 · 21/12/2014 08:25

No yanbu to feel guilty BUT you should of thought about that before you moved them. I doubt they will have lived. Does seem rather cruel. If it was just two adult mice by all means move them but why move the babies?

Original poster
FiloFunky · 21/12/2014 08:27

i moved them because i was clearing out my outhouse. the smell of urine in there was overpowering. i dont remember buying the dog food so they had been living in there for some time. i had gone in to look for something else.

OP posts:
MissMarplesBloomers · 21/12/2014 08:28

Oh get a grip you lot, they're vermin!! Grin

Filo you gave them a chance, but get or borrow a neighbours cat to just wander around the garden & outhouse occasionally it will help keep the little buggers away in future.

I invested in a cheap metal dustbin too to put the big sack of dog food in.

hesterton · 21/12/2014 08:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MinceSpy · 21/12/2014 08:31

Maybe you should report those awful parents for abandoning eleven children!

Andrewofgg · 21/12/2014 08:33

What MissMarplesBloomers said. OP, think of the cats who've had an early Christmas and stop bloody worrying!

Original poster
FiloFunky · 21/12/2014 08:33

DP attempted to catch one of the parents but it was so damn fast! if it hadnt been for smell i woukd have just left them. it really honked though

OP posts:
Topseyt · 21/12/2014 08:37

Employ an army of cats. Grin Most of them have no such compunction, and will deal with the mice, baby ones or not.

Seriously though, if you don't act then you may end up overrun pretty quickly. They breed in fair sized numbers regularly enough.

Chandon · 21/12/2014 08:37

Yuck, mice!

Much better to have them gone!

Original poster
FiloFunky · 21/12/2014 08:39

i have two indoor cats. the neighbours have a big ginger cat who is often in the garden watching my pet ducks and quail! next door have chickens and rabbits so mice being around isnt a surprise. they can live down the bottom of the garden... just prefer them not to be so close to the house thats all.

OP posts:
FraggleMountain · 21/12/2014 08:40

You are sweet for caring OP Smile but in 5 weeks all those babies would have been grown up and starting to breed!

Topseyt · 21/12/2014 08:41

Oh, and yes to a big container for dog food as MissMarple said. A cheapo dustbin with a secure lid is fine.

WiseKneeHair · 21/12/2014 08:42

We got infested with mice in our old garage. The damage they did was astounding and I agree the smell is awful.
Tbh, I would have done the same as you. In fact, there would now be rat poison in the shed to stop them coming back. I am possibly definitely a hard hearted bitch though.

JennieR60 · 21/12/2014 08:43

Much better to have them gone. Besides the smell and mess they breed rapidly.

Although u feel bad the greater good is worth it.

x2boys · 21/12/2014 08:53

I agree with missmarple I have a real phobia about mice the thought of eleven baby mice yuck I,m a nice caring person really but hate mice and rats.

ArchangelGallic · 21/12/2014 08:56

Mice are incontinent. Definitely right to evict them before they start breeding. There would be hundreds of the vermin running around your house weeing wherever they went.

twoopsie · 21/12/2014 08:56

You should feel awful about that.

Some animals were just living in an outbuilding. We are all animals with rights.

misskangaandroo2014 · 21/12/2014 08:57

You haven't moved them far enough. They will return.

Andrewofgg · 21/12/2014 08:58

PP Not if the cats have done as their species does!