Please identify this rodent for me

[Hullabaloo9]

OK my cat has been bringing in these rodents the last few days. Some are dead when I find them, some I rescue and put outside but one has escaped both me and cat. It is currently living in the cavity behind all my kitchen cupboards and popping up randomly in different drawers. I've emptied my kitchen and am now unsure what to do. Suggestions welcome!

Basically I would feel a lot happier if I'm dealing with a mouse or vole rather that (as I suspect) a baby rat. The picture is of one of the dead ones.

It's in the bottom of my mop bucket. Just a regular sized one. I can coax it in if I actually see him bring it in. Thanks all for your advice.

How many of these creatures are you going to allow your cat to play with / torture, then do the hokey-cokey in again out again routine with before you get some snap traps or pest control in?

@FoxyFoxyLoxy

How many of these creatures are you going to allow your cat to play with / torture, then do the hokey-cokey in again out again routine with before you get some snap traps or pest control in?

Op give your cat time out on the naughty step. Then explain where she /he must not chase mice.

Yeah I think you need to get pest control in.

These look to be baby rats. I used to keep pice and they didn't ever get that big.

@FoxyFoxyLoxy

How many of these creatures are you going to allow your cat to play with / torture, then do the hokey-cokey in again out again routine with before you get some snap traps or pest control in?

If you knew your cat was a mouser

You just need more cats to keep up with the supply of mice 🤔

Yes definitely mice (field mice).
Think if my cat was bringing them in I'd be closing the cat flap and only let in by humans (with no additional animals).

My cat once came in carrying a blackbird
My current cat is super lazy so no probs there, she only catches mice that have decided they are living in our cupboards

OK I am going to keep the cat flap locked now. I did do that the other night but he bust through the kitchen blinds and pushed the small window open to escape.

I also tried a collar with 2 bells but it has made no difference. None of my other cats have ever hunted to this extent and this boy is only just turned 1 so I'm sure it will get worse. I AM working to find a way to stop him and if I must keep him in, I will. I'm not a believer in keeping cats in though, unless they have always been house cats.

Will a rat man want to use poison? I couldn't have that?

Definitely mouse

Definitely a field mouse.
A humane trap is only really humane for us humans as it assuages our guilt at killing an animal, but in the long run the mouse will suffer a lot less if killed humanely with a plastic snap trap than being killed by poison (which also poisons cats/ wildlife further up the food chain) plus with poison they often crawl underneath floorboards to die and then rot/smell where you can’t find them.

If you scroll down this RSPCA fact sheet it has some useful information about traps etc.:

www.rspca.org.uk/documents/1494939/7712578/Living+with+Rats+and+Mice+%2813.06.2017%29.pdf/aee9490c-669d-9053-d248-77ac5c38d32a?t=1553271443232

@Bytrgrewd
Ohhhhhhhh the Mumsnet bat!

@Whatsthestoryboringglory

Baby rats are bigger than that. The snout is too pointy for a rat. It’s a mouse. I’ve killed enough of them in horrible London rentals over the years to know one!

I also hate to say it, but if you’ve got one you’ve got at least half a dozen. There’s always a whole family.

This is not necessarily true. I had mice a few years ago and used humane traps. Caught two, then nothing and no evidence of any again. Have a rodent deterrent plug in thingy and they've never been back. But in my case I know they live in the garage and garden so I suspect mine were just some opportunists popping in for easy food when it got colder, rather than a family fully set up in the house.

Baby rat my gun dog is obsessed with them !!!!!

You couldn't have poison put down but your cat is currently killing them by chasing and gradually ripping them to pieces, I wouldn't be worried about the inhumanity of poison.