What is this? Piccy

[PinkPearls20]

May I stress that I AM NOT BEING UNREASONABLE .... mumsnet format has changed on my phone, and I can't get the old one back or use this new one, so I gave up trying to find my way around and posted in AIBU.

Anyway... what is this I have just found in my gas Meter cupboard in my front room... they look like some kind of seeds to me...but I'm worried they are old dried up mouse poos! 😭

Now YABU.

When was the last time you opened the cupboard?

I opened that cupboard about 8 weeks ago.

I have a cat and she hasn't been acting suspicious
There doesn't seem to be any droppings

PinkPearls, I'm with you. I didn't even know I was scared of mice until I got one in my house. I couldn't sleep here properly for weeks, and still two years on from seeing the last one, have anxiety attacks every now and then that they're back.

Looks like casings of a seed and a rodent has been eating them there. Sweep out and see if they come back.

I don't mind mice tbh.

But middle DS had a spider on him this morning and it was huge. I mean huge. I have a horrible fear of them and was in a bit of panic. I picked up my bag, told DS to close his eyes and walloped him. Poor DS -he's 5.

DS is fine. Spider dead. Me traumatised

Agree with PPs that you have a mouse who likes seeds and pooping, sorry! I don't think you're being unreasonable by leaving either, I wouldn't but the thought of mice running over me when I sleep doesn't exactly fill me with joy.

Fill your house with humane traps and leave the cupboard open for your cat. Clear out any mouse havens (under the beds, the cupboard under the sink) and if things don't improve, I'd call an exterminator.

I know my council will address rat problems but not mice, you could give them a call and say you're not sure what you've got and someone might come and help!

You can get a plug in rodent deterrent. Looks like an air freshener type thing. Two settings - one for mice and one for spiders. Switch it to mice and they will be gone within 24 hours. You just leave it plugged in permanently. No good if you have Guinea pigs or hamsters though; it upsets them too.

They just leave home which is great. Yes you have a clear up job afterwards, but no dead bodies to deal with.

My Dads been...found the MASSIVE hole twy are coming from. We going Wilkinson's for... wire wool... a plug in mouse thing... Tupperware box for cereals...

I feel calm now. I have got lots of things s going on that I can't control. But this, I can.

Can I say that my mice just laughed at the sonic plug in and unless you can plug the thing in actually in the cupboard I'm not sure it'll help. Get poison down!

When we had a major mouse problem in a flat we put our cereal, rice, nuts etc in a big lidded plastic box on top of the fridge. Fruit was kept in the fridge. We made sure there weren't any crumbs and blocked up all the holes we could find. We used poison after traps didn't do the trick but check about pet safety as you have a cat, if you think about doing the same. You want to get them out now and block up the holes as the cold weather later will drive them indoors.

Mouse droppings a small black specks that could look like debris off the seed husks when they've dried out. They are not as obvious as rat droppings (I used to keep rats).

Yeah use humane traps, sling them miles from where they know and condemn them to a slow death, rock on

Better than a snap trap fosure.

Thanks guys... I do feel calmer now, I think I was just shocked

Glad you are feeling a bit better. Most people will have lived or worked somewhere with a mouse problem. One place I worked was near the tube and the Thames and mice used to raid our office bins whilst we were working.

Thing is... I could happily play with a hamster and let it crawl all over me. If it got out of its cage tho in the night, I wouldn't like that!

Just bought rat poison and the seeds look the exact shape as this poison, just brown... not the greeny colour this poison is

Even if I shut the cupboard door? I don't think they can get past that. Its all tight.

Maybe they will die under my porch tho? (It's back to back with the gas cupboard)

I would have remembered tho seeing poison in that cupboard! Surly!

Mice here used to nibble tbe poison off, spit it out, and eat what was underneath! Poison never worked - snap traps was the only thing!!

My Dad scooped some of it out for a closer look.
The stones are just the inside of the cupboard that is a bit crumbly

OH has suggested that maybe it's rice? We both have a very distant memory of rice everywhere and DP sweeping it up. Maybe he flicked it u der tge cupboard door. Or maybe we are clutching at straws. Why would we spill that much uncooked rice in our living room?

Sorry but doesn't look like rice to me. Do you live rurally?

I live in a town. Roads surround us. Why has something out it there tho, that's what I don't get