Friday 26 December 2008

Car Mouse Update

...
The Car Mouse isn't living in the car at the moment. We know that because there's no sign of renewed mouse activity in our now pepperminty scented car (see replies to first post), but also because there's definite proof he/she is still living in our garage. I had some marzipan left from icing the Christmas cake and hubby decided to put it in the garage as a mousie Christmas gift on Christmas eve.

On Christmas day he checked and... the marzipan ball has been dragged to the back wall of the garage and partially devoured.


I've been doing more research and discovered that the name "field mouse" is actually a term used to describe the Wood Mouse. Wood mousies live wild, but will move into houses in winter. They're less destructive than house mice and never stay beyond spring.

For those who aren't rodent aware, below is a photo of both the House Mouse (left) and Wood/Field Mouse (right). :-)

6 comments:

  1. Michelle, I'm glad to hear your mouse has moved out of your car, but you know if you keep feeding him in the garage, he will take up permanent residence there! HA HA HA! This post gave me a laugh. Thanks! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I once took my car in for an oil change and the staff came to get me out of the waiting room (many of our oil change stations have a waiting room for customers) to come look at something they'd found in the engine. It was a rats' nest in the air filter. The rats were comfortable enough living and breeding in my car engine to build a home there despite the fact that I DROVE that car on a daily basis. WHOA!

    Please don't foster that mouse too long. If she's a she and if she's pregnant, you're going to have a garage full of mice soon. If she's a she who meets a he while hanging out in your garage, well, you get the idea. Mice chew through wires, cords, pipes, and all manner of necessary things.

    They're really cute but terribly destructive. Still, it's cute that it liked the marzipan. And I'm glad you got it out of the car!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bess is strangely interested by this mouse news, especially as rodent activity has dropped recently around The Rural Retreat. Now I know where they've gone!

    Russell

    ReplyDelete
  4. Even though I don't really like mice and rats in general, I find that the pic is quite cute hi hi hi hi...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Daisy
    It makes me laugh every time I think about it too. :-D

    Genie
    Don't worry. Field mice don't stay. We've had them in two other houses and once spring returns they're gone. In our first house they stole peanuts and stored them in my dad's golf shoes in the garage. In the house before this one they were in the roof all winter (wearing lead boots!), but the thumping of tiny feet went as soon as the snow went.

    Amel
    must admit I don't like rats at all.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hmm, a cute little mouse that doesn't stay and breed? Sounds interesting!

    I recently read Bill Pullman's, "I was a rat!" Kind of a cute fairy tale if you like to read the occasional childrens novel. Which I do. Your mousecapades made me think of it.

    ReplyDelete

Hi,

Older posts are moderated to stop spammers, so replies will go up, but please be patient. :)