Mouse or baby rat?

[Monkey]

This creature has just come out of my daughter's Barbie house.

Mouse or rat?

[Passiflora]

Probably a mouse but do you have a photo?

[Monkey]

I'm trying to upload it. Bear with me. Totally grossed out!

[Monkey]

Here's the beast...

[Earl Aelfheah]

Mouse

[Monkey]

Yes, I think so. It did have a thick tail, which made me wonder. In any event, yuk! Thank you!

[poppet27]

100% a mouse

[Penguin68]

If it was more brown than grey it might indeed be a wood mouse rather than a house mouse. These tend to be slightly smaller and are far less invasive of property (they naturally live outside). They are still annoying, but are less likely to colonise. Is the room you saw it in readily accessible from outside (i.e. patio or French doors?). Traps baited with peanut butter are often effective, placed at the edges of rooms where the mice might run (or in the Barbie House perhaps?)

[Passiflora]

Ahh, poor little mouse trying to hide itself!

[Ms Blueberry]

Leave a biscuit out. If it disappears, it's a rat. If it's nibbled in the same spot, it's a mouse.

[Jeremy]

Seems quite unusual for the thing to sit still while you took a photo. Usually as soon as they clock you, they do a runner.

[Grainne17]

It could be a pregnant mouse, we had one years ago and it moved very slowly!! I would get a trap down asap.

[DulwichFox]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Seems quite unusual for the thing to sit still

> while you took a photo. Usually as soon as they

> clock you, they do a runner.

It looks like a baby mouse. They do sometimes just sit there and stare back. I had one in my kitchen that layed down.

I thought it was dead. I poked it with some kichen towel and it did not move. I answered my phone, and when I went back.

.. the little bugger was gone.

Foxy.

[Jeremy]

Grainne17 Wrote:

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> It could be a pregnant mouse, we had one years ago

> and it moved very slowly!! I would get a trap down asap.

Yep, put traps down, and get all holes in the floors/skirting blocked up. That will get rid of 'em soon enough.

[dulwichbloke]

Fortunately it definitely looks like a mouse (I know my rats, unfortunately). Block up any holes big enough to poke a pencil into (with wire wool and/or sealant). Suggest trapping it rather than poisoning it as if poisoned it will go off to some place difficult or impossible to get to where it will die and rot (stinking your place out for a week or two). If you use traps, obviously don't put them anywhere your little ones can reach (same goes for poison, obviously).

You might want to check around for droppings and do a spring clean of Barbie's House too?

[Jeremy]

dulwichbloke Wrote:

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> clean of Barbie's House too?

Good excuse to burn the thing, I'd have thought.

[pommie]

Aw it's a mouse. My cat brings these in now and again and me and my eldest catch them and release them outside

[Monkey]

Thank you, everybody. We're going to block holes, get some humane traps and monitor the situation. There's building work next door and I think this might have disturbed some mice.

[TheArtfulDogger]

Es no rat Es a hamster

Si

[malumbu]

So cute.

Never bothered me but since we blocked various holes up no more. They only came in for food and warmth, and barbie houses.

Clever blighters got round humane traps. Or chewed through them.

[Sue]

If you use humane traps, don't forget to check them.

My brother once found a mummified mouse in one.

I once caught a mouse in one, but when I went to let it out (some distance from the house, in a field - this wasn't in London) the poor little thing was so terrified it wouldn't come out of the trap.

I do wonder how humane they actually are. A quick snap of the back might have been kinder than putting it through all that trauma :(

Of course then you've got to remove the mangled body......

[LondonMix]

I think they are humane for the humans more so than the mice. Killing mice can be rather traumatic. I've never done it but my husband has caught them on glue traps and had to hit them on the head with hammers... Let's just say its not something he likes to talk about. Got rid of them though when nothing else worked in our first flat together.

[intexasatthe moment]

I think some

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Control-Mousetrap-Reusable-Humane-Catcher/dp/B00V2A2IE8/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1470250554&sr=8-6&keywords=mouse+trap+humane

are more humane than others

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Mouse-Trap-4-5-17/dp/B000WFI866/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1470250554&sr=8-4&keywords=mouse+trap+humane

but I guess they're both scary if you're a mouse .Though perhaps not as bad as the glue traps .

[Jules-and-Boo]

glue traps are really cruel.

[civilservant]

a strong and definite no from me too to glue traps - they are appallingly cruel