I hate mice and I hate rats. Over the last few weeks all my time has been spent sorting the new visitor room. Today I decided to venture back into my old classroom to clear it out, so it can be used for storage.

Little did I know that Mr and Mrs Mouse had moved in over the Winter. As I opened the door I was hit by the unmistakable smell of rodent, yuck, then a vision of bits of paper spread all over the floor and various other unmentionables. Rodent tails make my spine tingle and not in a good way. I bravely ran out of the room and found my dad and Fly dog to come and help me. They had a great time hunting down the mice to encourage them to vacate the premises. I wasn’t brave enough to risk a mouse getting any where near to me and so I hid outside. Apparently my granddad once had a rat run up his trouser leg and he wasn’t at all fazed, a proper countryman. Once I was assured it was OK to come back in, I was presented with a scene of nibbled paper destruction . I then spent the rest of the day slightly horrified and slightly fascinated by the way the mice had set up home. They were very specific on what they had chewed and how comfortable they made their home.

I decided to learn a little more about the furry pests;

• Lifespan is typically 1-2 years, a gestation period of only 20 days and can give birth to four to a dozen babies (no wonder I found so many nests)
• Body is 8-35cm including the tail (shudder at the thought of the tail)
• Mice are tidy creatures and have specific areas for eating, sleeping and toileting (dad told me they were incontinent, I did wonder when he told me that)
• Mice like to stay near to their nests and only venture up to 8m away from their home (hence the total infestation of my small room)
• Mice can jump down 3-4m without hurting themselves (as witnessed by dad today)
• Perhaps more interesting than scary….?