I took some well-intentioned advice after I bought bird feeders nearly two years ago, namely to buy food by the sackful. Accordingly I bought two paper sacks of bird seed from the RSPB.
It has been an unmitigated disaster. Mice nibbled away the bottom of both sacks and scattered the contents around the cellar floor. I mounted a clean-up operation and decanted the remains of my granary into a plastic crate with a lid. All was well. The mice went out into the garden in the summer doing gymnastics on the feeder stand, their prowess being rewarded when they landed on the perch and could have a snack.
Now they have moved back into the cellar in force and got into the grain crate because the lid isn’t secure. I put a heavy garden urn on the lid, set an old-fashioned wooden Little Nipper trap baited with a morsel of Red Leicester and awaited events. Like Tom in Tom and Jerry I have been outwitted. I caught one mouse but now the trap goes off without getting a victim. Much worse is that they have gnawed a hole in the crate and resumed feasting and wassailing.
I am pondering what to do next. An obvious plan is to dispose of all the seed and clean up the cellar. I can buy seed in smaller quantities and store it in a mouse-proof container. However, I am a strategist and put myself in my opponents’ place. I fear that the substantial mouse population beneath the hall floorboards will simply move upstairs and avail themselves of the more varied diet available in the kitchen cupboards.
May I digress. One of the first animals I killed in a sporting context was a mouse. I was watching TV in the library at Barmeath when it scuttled across the carpet in front of the set. I pursued it onto the landing where it made an error. It sped between the stair rails and fell to the stone-flagged hall floor, stunning itself. I went to my grandfather’s study and indented for a weapon from the armoury. One shot from an air gun killed the mouse. Do not think it unsporting because it was not moving. Stags are stationary when stalkers bag them.
Meanwhile cold weather in London has been an excuse for cooking a bean stew and opening a bottle of Wine Society red Burgundy. I just hope it doesn’t encourage the mice to come upstairs to participate.
https://youtu.be/mBgBJ2leiDg
Permit me to dispense some advice based on previous experience. You must take immediate action to eradicate your infestation as mice have a gestation period of around twenty days. Firstly invest in several ‘advanced mouse traps’, these are made by rentokil and are simply the best weapon against attack (think of them as the Purdey of the mouse trap world). Next bait: save your Red Leicester for your pickle sandwiches and deploy some chocolate, if you can spare a small square of Green and Blacks it will suffice. Capture should be imminent.
You then need to consider a more proactive, long term approach. I have deployed two sonic rodent repellers in the house for several years and have had no uninvited visitors. These plug in to a standard 13amp socket and emit ultrasound and electromagnetic waves to dispel the vermin. The sounds are inaudible to humans, and, thankfully pets, so should Reggie pop in for a visit he will not be perturbed.
I am intrigued by the erect sculpture on your terrace and was wondering if it was the work of Hepworth or Moore?
Onyx and Vanstone posted in March 2016 elucidates –
https://christopherbellew.com/marble-and-vanstone/
I too have learnt the hard way about storage of feeds in cellars and elsewhere and your mousing story is familiar. May I suggest a small metal mini dustbin easily found on eBay.
Small Medium Large Metal Bin Rubbish Waste Dustbin Animal Feed Storage (8 Sizes)
For bird feed storage use a steel container with a secure steel lid. Make sure there is no spillage on the basement floor when refilling your bird feeders or the container. Elementary, my dear Christopher…..
So you have a “mouse” that sets traps off without getting caught and lifts lids off bins. Don’t want to perturb you but it could be a little bigger than a mouse. You may need a shotgun rather than an air gun this time.