mice

[vicky whitworth]

Even now there's a mouse chewing through the cabling. No you don't take the spot light off the little critters that quickly. If it isn't for this thread where else is a mouse to get his publicity?

 

[Flyfisher]

Poor little mice. Such little cuties. Where's the harm in just letting them be?

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=GB#/watch?v=IOwinLWrEIw

 

[tobydog]

They're back but not in the house. In my engine compartment!! They were there last year because I found a tidy pile of seed husks on top of the engine. Unfortunately they also left me with chewed cables which I've temporarily sorted with ducktape. I looked at the weekend and the husks were back. I don't mind them sleeping there but the cable chewing is a big no no. Drastic measures might be called for :evil:

 

[Juju]

Well, to update from my original post - after leaving bait in the attic, no more mice in there as far as I know unless they're tip-toeing around. But I saw one in our lean-to the other day which is more worrying as it's off the kitchen and has a gap in the wall to the cellar. But, I keep looking around and haven't seen any since. The day the mouse ventured into the lean-to, I had left some veg in there temporarily but also I've been storing bags of poppy heads and sweet pea seeds there for my NT property so I've taken those back now. So hopefully there's nothing enticing to encourage them back now...
Juju

 

[Zebra]

The bit I'm definitely getting an electrician to do is the power connection in the cellar

And today I did, to drag this hopelessly meandering thread back onto a non-mice related tangent for a second time. All sorted, all looking a lot neater, and he was happy with my wiring. I was less happy with what he found when he took the cover off the bathroom shower unit, in order to test the new supply:-

- The shower unit was held to the wall with 1 very loose screw, that was far too small for its (knackered) wall plug - so really the whole thing was held to the wall by the incoming water pipe alone. No attempt at all to use the other fixing points.
- The original installer had clearly lost the screws that held the top of the case on, and had bodged in some far too small wood screws to hold it in place
- The original installer had failed to tighten the neutral, which had been arcing as a result and had fried the terminal block
- The original installer had used an RCBO (the trip thingy for the electric feed, for an acronym-free basic explanation) that was rated too highly for the cable.

Apart from that it was a quality job :evil:

Oh dear. Well at least you got the chance to fix all those things.

 

[Flyfisher]

They're back but not in the house. In my engine compartment!! They were there last year because I found a tidy pile of seed husks on top of the engine. Unfortunately they also left me with chewed cables which I've temporarily sorted with ducktape. I looked at the weekend and the husks were back. I don't mind them sleeping there but the cable chewing is a big no no. Drastic measures might be called for :evil:

Funny you should mention that but we've had exactly the same thing. FF junior doesn't take his car to uni so I give it a quick run every week or so. Last week I had to charge the battery and opened the bonnet to find seed husks on top of the engine. I think the little critter is hiding under the bonnet lining but I don't want to strip it out to check.

Fortunately, there's no sign of any cable chewing so far. Resourceful little blighters aren't they? :evil:

 

[Feltwell]

They can be destructive little so and so's. My parents had a trailer tent for family camping holidays back in the 1970's - one winter it was packed away carefully in it's shed, when it was pulled out the following spring it was found that mice had got in and chewed lots of holes in the canvas.

 

[vicky whitworth]

I have a rat in my parlour :? I think it's dead but it's moved twice. I'm hoping it is dead and that the cat is returning to chuck it around the room a bit more. It's huge. Albert Herring is huge too, but is this normal? He's caught rats before but I think they were babies. This chappie is full grown. Albert likes the odd mole too, and they are pretty chunky. So perhaps he's just up for a good scrap. He is from Exmouth

 

[Penners]

Vicky - there is a way to ensure that it doesn't move any more.

 

[vicky whitworth]

It's dead. Or maybe having a very long sleep. It's not moved for hours and the cat's lost interested. I need a crane to move it. It's a shame that rat stew isn't more popular.

Penners, I don't know what you were suggesting but all the options I considered would have made an awful mess

 

[Penners]

It's dead. Or maybe having a very long sleep.

Are you quite sure it's dead? It may just be resting... or stunned... or pining for the fjords:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8RIEQH7zA

 

[Flyfisher]

Dead or alive (Schrodinger's Rat?), burying it in a two foot hole would slow it down and allow Albert Herring to concentrate on finding a new toy to play with.

 

[LadyArowana]

Dead or alive (Schrodinger's Rat?),

:lol: :lol: :lol: but doesn't that only apply if you can't see the rat?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Quick, before Penners returns....

Dead or alive (Schrodinger's Rat?)

I don't mean to be a pedant, but isn't the point of Schrodinger's Rat that he is simultaneously both dead and alive? Until of course you look at it, in which case it decides which it is... which is where Vicky is going wrong. She keeps checking on the rat. Ignore it and it will be definitely dead (and alive).

8)

 

[Penners]

I've got my beady eye on you! :wink:

By sheer coincidence I was looking out of the window, watching the birds on the bird-table today, while talking to my daughter on the phone. As I watched, a rat emerged from the hedge, shinned up the pole of the bird-table and crammed its mouth full of the stale cake that Mrs P had left out. It obviously couldn't be bothered to climb down the pole again, because it then launched itself off the bird table (a height of about 4ft 6in), using a patch of herbaceous evergreen as soft-landing cushion!

I thought at first that it had done this as a desperate measure, because something had scared it. But no - while I chatted to my daughter the rat did this a total of three times.

Their intelligence is scary. Time for the trusty air rifle.

 

[LadyArowana]

I've got my beady eye on you! :wink:

By sheer coincidence I was looking out of the window, watching the birds on the bird-table today, while talking to my daughter on the phone. As I watched, a rat emerged from the hedge, shinned up the pole of the bird-table and crammed its mouth full of the stale cake that Mrs P had left out. It obviously couldn't be bothered to climb down the pole again, because it then launched itself off the bird table (a height of about 4ft 6in), using a patch of herbaceous evergreen as soft-landing cushion!

I thought at first that it had done this as a desperate measure, because something had scared it. But no - while I chatted to my daughter the rat did this a total of three times.

Their intelligence is scary. Time for the trusty air rifle.

How can you be sure that it was the same rat?

 

[Flyfisher]

Dead or alive (Schrodinger's Rat?),

:lol: :lol: :lol: but doesn't that only apply if you can't see the rat?

That's where the two foot hole come into the equation. :wink:

 

[LadyArowana]

Dead or alive (Schrodinger's Rat?),

:lol: :lol: :lol: but doesn't that only apply if you can't see the rat?

That's where the two foot hole come into the equation. :wink:

:lol: My mistake, I thought that was just a sensible and sanitary solution to the rat disposal issue.

 

[Penners]

How can you be sure that it was the same rat?

By the know-all expression on its face.

 

[philpjuk100]

TIP: when cooking rodents, pre-soaking up to 5 hours helps take away that pesky rodent flavor. AND the longer you cook it, with the other ingredients, the better the meat tastes.