In bed and have just seen a mouse - help me calm down!

[choux]

I live alone in a flat - I was just surfing the internet when I saw somethign move out of the corner of my eye. It was a mouse which scurried out of the bedroom into the hallway. I have lived here for 3 years and never seen one before. The flat upstairs is currently empty and having some refurbishment work done. Preiously it was occupied by students so my money is on it coming from there.

How can I sleep? Am petrified it will come back in the night. I know I am big and it is small but it's a mouse in my house!!! Help!!!!!!!!

Please can someone talk to me....

I squealed as it scurried off. Will that have scared it away? Will it help if I leave the light on all night? Should I put all the lights in the flat on? Am tempted to try and surf the net and stay awake all night but the power cord is in the living room so the battery will run out at some point...

You poor thing. This happened to me once...though not when I was in bed. Try (though I know it is very very very hard) to remember that the mouse will be much more scared of you. I'm sure it won't come back tonight so try to sleep easy. Then you need to get onto the council to sort out pest control on Monday.

Take care

I suspect you won't see it again certainly not tonight. If it makes you feel happier keep the lights on.

My brother thought his flatmates were eating his muesli until the morning a dead mouse came out of the packet. Seems it might have been more than just raisins he'd been eating.

I'm pretty sure mice don't eat humans, so you should be ok. I'd be freaking out

Thanks for replying. I'm very tired now and could do with a loo trip but am very nervous about going in case I see it again. Am trying to weigh up what will stop me sleeping more - a full bladder or second mouse sighting!

I know logically that it will be more scared of me but the shock of seeing it.... so scary. I'm also really annoyed cos I was about to go to sleep and five minutes later the light would have been off and I wouldn't have even seen it!!!

It's ok, really Choux, it will scuttle off, really, it's not interested in you, really. You can sleep easy.

Go to the bathroom very loudly to scare it away.

And leave something making noise in the bedroom.

And maybe get a broom while you're up.

bagelmonkey - thankfully this is a muesli free flat. That is awful story though.

Reminds me of when my mum put a choc chip cookie on the side table. A few mins later she picked it up and ate it. Then saw a choc chip whch had fallen out of it so picked it up and put it in her mouth. It was a beetle whch had fallen out of the plant on the table. Yuk in the extreme.

It's gone now. Go to the bathroom, then back to bed with you and sleep easy.

I live in a house of creatures, bats, mice, newts, frogs, toads & the occasional snake.

Don't be shcocked - be calm - it's just a mouse, a little furry thing, you see it, don't be alarmed.

Ok am preparing to pee - v loudly!

Bathroom extractor fan will then come on for about 15 mins. I may if feeling brave get the laptop cord in case I am now mumsnetting all night. The broom is in an understairs cupboard which would probably be agoof place for a newly homeless mouse to live so no way am I opeing that at 2.40am!!!

agoof = a good

It's more scared of you than you are of it. Like spiders. this knowledge is of no practical use to me

You see, I'm the opposite to you OP, I would be trying to tempt the mouse out with treats to make friends with it.

I can tell you for certain the mouse is so scared of you that he/she wont want to come anywhere near you. You would really have to put the work in over weeks to get the mouse to come near you again.

Am back. It's hard to pee when you are stamping your feet but I did it and now have the cable.

Left all lights on including bathroom so extractor fan is now going.

I am taking heart from a few years ago when I lived somewhere else and heard scratching coming from the communal wall with next door for a few nights. Then one evening I saw a mouse (to be honest it was big and could have been a rat!) on the kitchen unit. I screamed and it ran away never to be seen again even though we didn't put any traps out. again I think there was some people who'd moved out and work was being done.

Esian no offense, but you're crazy :)

Umm, okay. First of all, ...

Keep calm and carry on.

Secondly: They don't harm you, so you have no objective reason to feel scared. Do you know where the hole might be? Until a more permanent solution can be found, you can prevent them from coming out by stuffing it with aluminium foil and then securing the foil with duct tape (I suppose sellotape will work in an emergency).

Esian - as much as I thnk your attitude to mice... shocking, your words are also strangely comforting. I'm hoping this little fellow likes to play as hard to get as the mice you have known!

Notadude - can't mice squeeze through the tiniest of holes so it's impossible to make an old property mouseproof? There is a vent in the corner of the room it was running from so I expect it came through that. I ain't sealing it up now though. Now is about relaxation and believing all those people who say it will be long gone...

Well, not exactly impossible - just, ahem, challenging. But if there are no holes mice can't enter. It's just a hell of a lot of work to find and stuff all the holes.

This may not make you feel much better but: You're in exclusive company. I spent quite a few years working in several London 5* hotels. All of them without exception had rat problems (it's the food waste that attracts them) - even the purpose built 5 year old one. The difference is really only how they were managing it.