A Mousey Mystery

[Bealman]

On Thursday night, Mrs Bealman reckoned she saw a little brown mouse on her bedside table which jumped down behind the bed and disappeared.

Naturally she refuses to sleep in there at the moment.

Yesterday I bought a couple of traps, but also some sachets of poison:


Each sachet is about 10x5 CM and holds 20g of poison. My watch as a size comparison. The idea being that a mouse or rat would nibble through the sachet and eat the poison.

Last night I put one on the floor near to where the mouse was seen.

Now the mystery.... this morning the whole sachet has gone!

I've looked everywhere -- drawers, cupboards, under the bed, it's totally gone! Now I don't think a little mouse could drag that off anywhere, so it would suggest a rat.... which of course is even worse.

It's got me baffled. I've put another one back in the same spot, and will be very interested to see what, if anything, happens to it.

Any theories very welcome, as long as it's not that Mrs B took it to put in my coffee - I've already thought of that. I don't drink the stuff anyway!

[emjaybee]

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out it was called 'RatSak'.

I hate to tell you, but if the whole packets vanished it ain't a mouse!

[N_GaugeModeller]

You will be surprised how much they can eat, in my loft I had a large cardboard box filled with a dozen 1kilo packets of fishing bait, all brand new and sealed, six months later I went to get some to go fishing and found every bag empty that's 12kilos devoured in less than 6 months.

Our mouse's are also immune to all the common poisons available. We (the wife  ) just keep the place spotless so their is no food about to attract them and we don't see evidence of them in the home, although we do hear them scurrying around in the loft at night, sometimes they are so noisy you would think they are playing football wearing hob nailed boots.

NGM

[Bealman]

Well, as I said, the mystery suggests a rat. But we've had em before but only in the roofspace. One carked it, fell down the wall cavity and stunk the house out.

Anyway, if this stuff does what it says on the packet, it's days are numbered.

[emjaybee]

Well, as I said, the mystery suggests a rat. But we've had em before but only in the roofspace. One carked it, fell down the wall cavity and stunk the house out.

Anyway, if this stuff does what it says on the packet, it's days are numbered.

Well, that depends George.

If it's smart enough to carry it away rather than eat it, I'd be reluctant to leave a fresh cup of coffee unattended.

[Bealman]

 

[Bealman]

Says on the packet 6g will kill a mouse, 9-10g a rat.

I'm only worried that the greedy rat's taken it before the mouse could get to it 

[emjaybee]

Interesting...

...he thinks I'm joking...

...it's like he's never watched cartoons.

They're based on real life ya know.

Says on the packet 6g will kill a mouse, 9-10g a rat.

I'm only worried that the greedy rat's taken it before the mouse could get to it 

I'd be more worried that the mouse found it, started to gnaw on it and a rat came and carried them both away!

[Bealman]

Well we all know who's the smartest out of Tom & Jerry 

[NinOz]

It is most likely a possum.
Very easy for the average city-slicker to confuse with a mouse.

[dannyboy]

although we do hear them scurrying around in the loft at night, sometimes they are so noisy you would think they are playing football wearing hob nailed boots.

I'll do you a deal. You tell your team not to play any more International matches in Leitrim and I'll tell my lot not to issue any more invites. 

[PGN]

If setting a trap, don't bait it with cheese. Bait it with rich fruit cake. Mouses LOVE it ... as we discovered to our cost when we lost all of the wedding cake which we were saving for use as our first child's christening cake (30 years on, we still have no first child ... so I think the loss was not so great as it felt at the time ... )

When we were visiting my parents the following Christmas, and they reported a mouse problem and that their mice were ignoring the traps which they had baited with cheese, we re-baited them with my mother's Christmas cake and bingo!

[Bealman]

Ha Ha, thank you. This is not the first time Chez Bealman has had mice over the years. You are quite correct - forget the cheese. I've never tried fruit cake, but Cadbury's chocolate worked. 

I tried to get the old wooden mouse traps which I have always found to be the most effective, but all you can get now are the covered plastic 'safe' models.

Anyway, all sachets still there this morning, so I presume it's gone. It's still a mystery as to how that sachet disappeared completely, though! 

[Nbodger]

Anyway, all sachets still there this morning, so I presume it's gone. It's still a mystery as to how that sachet disappeared completely, though! 

Obvious isn't it
There wasn't just a mouse but mice who carried the sachet away above their heads for safe disposal in a local rat nest.

[Malc]

Not a sleepwalking midnight snack then?