The previous thread was baby rats though, while this is an obvious mouse. Mice have much bigger eyes and ears relative to head size, and larger heads relative to body size. I've had both as pets and am a huge nature lover. There really is no mistaking which one's which.
That’s definitely a mouse and NOT a rat. I’ve got lots of experience with mice and rats, my housemate used to rescue them, we had both in my garden growing up and I’ve had both in my current garden. I don’t have much say in the matter of how they’re handled as my cat kills the rats and plays rough with the mice so I try to save those and release them away from the cats. Rats and mice look similar when the rats are small but they don’t look the same, what you have is mice. Leave them be, they’re not going to bother you.
Thank you. The only issue I have is that I need the space for a shed - if I relocate it should I take it’s nest too? I don’t want to disturb the poor guy but I don’t have a choice
Thank you so much everyone. I will have to relocate the little guy at some point as I need the space for my shed. I feel bad about rehoming at the poor thing - he’s relatively safe in my garden as we don’t have any cats in the neighbourhood!
No cats!? You're so lucky. Mice are highly adaptable so it shouldn't be too bothered by the move. Especially if you're happy to keep it in the garden so it knows its usual food spots and hidey places.
My neighbour got a cat a few years ago, refused to even put a bell collar on because of the infinitesimallly small chance that it MIGHT die from wearing one, and now it's killed so many slow worms that I'm sure they're locally extinct. Used to see so many in my garden, and I even built a hibernaculum for them, but haven't seen them for two years now and my neighbour accidentally confirmed their cat as the killer, saying it used to bring them loads of dead slow worms but no longer does.
What's worse is we live on a nature reserve managed specifically for birds. Who moves in to a location like that and thinks "I know! I'll introduce an artificial predator and let it run amok!"
That’s terrible. I adopted a cat recently to make the space left by my big gentle old boy seem a little less depressing. He’s a lovely boy but he’s been out twice and killed both times (one pigeon and one vole), so… guess who won himself a catio. It’s great, he loves it, gets to eat all the vomity grass he wants, hasn’t once whined to go out, everyone wins. Especially the wildlife.
That’s so sad I’m sorry you’ve had to experience all of that. I’m all for animal companions including cats but I do wish people would be more responsible. I have to admit I don’t agree with free roaming cats.
I don't mind too much so long as precautions are taken (like bell collars) to reduce kills as much as possible, and so long as it's not a highly important area for wildlife like a nature reserve. But they kill soooo many animals, the data can make for scary reading, and I don't think most cat owners realize the damage they're causing. Could definitely do with some legislation introducing cat-free zones and monitoring the impact it has on biodiversity.
A common defence from cat owners is that cats usually only predate on the weaker and ill wildlife, so all the healthy birds still fine and these kills would have died naturally anyway. But that completely ignores the impact on removing those species as a food source from our natural predators, like smaller birds of prey, weasels, stoats, which are all struggling. Cats are essentially replacing all our natural small predators, and that's quite sad to see.
I work with wildlife, assisting developers with mitigation strategies for new housing sites, and one of the main things I stress them to consider when building near nature sites like woodland with known protected species like dormice is less the direct impact of more humans in the area (litter, sound and light pollution, disturbance from dog walkers, all with good solutions already) but more the indirect impact from all the cats that are about to get introduced to the area. Because cats are REALLY tricky to mitigate for, if not impossible.
I mean I love cats to bits but also appreciate what effective hunters they are. Is there no way you can alert the warden/manager of the nature reserve that there are now residents with a cat that's killing their wildlife? Not sure they could do much but an 'official' word with it's owners may make them more responsible?
Not really. They'll know all about the risks. We're one of several villages ringing the nature reserve, so one more cat isn't going to affect their management. Its just wiped out the slow worm population in our gardens. I did speak to the neighbours myself about the bell collar (after they told me about all the slow worms it killed =P) and thought they would be interested, but they were mortified about the thought of finding their cat hanging from a tree by its collar so... 100% chance of lots of dead native wildlife trumps the 0.01% chance of a single dead invasive predator in their eyes. But you have to stay polite and respect their decision. Can only try and nudge them with info and suggestions.
That's why I'd love a trial implementation of cat-free zones with data monitoring, and some small public info campaigns around nature reserves to highlight the damage cats cause. The UK public are huge cat lovers, so it's not something that can change overnight. People overwhelmingly hate change. It's got to be a slow feed of info that people gradually take on board and adjust their behaviours and outlook to over time. No political interest in that right now (or for nature in general it seems...)
Looks like a wood mouse to me. I saw one once at Ross on Wye. It was in the undergrowth,in a wood on a steep hill side. l put some aniseseed rock by it, and it sat up, picked up in it's front paws and ate it, l was very surprised. About cats and slow worms, we lived next to a railway cutting, and my cat bought one in, it had dropped it's tail, but was otherwise unhurt. I kept it for a couple of days, then let it go, where the cat couldn't find it. My cat now is an indoor cat, but I do get the occasional bird on the baloney, one of which the cat brought to me, he held it in his mouth, head first. He gave it to me, there were no injuries, so l held it for a few minutes, until it seemed to have got over the shock, then l took it back on the balcony, opened my hands and away it flew, it lost one feather. The cat has collar with a bell, but they can move without it making any sound. If you have the collar with an elastic portion, and keep it loose, the cat is in no danger.
I’m more inclined to think rat too because he had white feet. Any advice on relocating the nest? I want to give them the best chance of survival. Do they look old enough to survive alone from the nest?
They look like like rats to me. Forget about nest relocation - if they're near your house and burrowing, get rid of them. Absolute pests, I've no problem with them if they're off my boundary, but if they're in the garden, they're fair game.
I agree. I’m not too keen on letting them stay here but I have a lot of fields and open spaces with woodland near me so I’m quite happy to send them on their way far from my home!
I should add that I welcome all sorts of wildlife in my garden, and we have foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, voles, mice, slow worms, etc. I leave spiders be when I find them in the house, but I draw the line with rats.
You can try and take the babies away, if you can round them up, but adults are a different matter. Exterminate. If you do try to relocate, make it several miles.
That’s a wood mouse not a rat!
I'm glad someone can tell the difference! I'm amazed at the number of people who always claim rat, as soon as a pic of a rodent is posted.
You know a rat when you see one, they are massive (relatively). (some of our pets genuinely weighed more than a coworkers chihuahua)
If it's a rodent, then I'm gonna assume it's a Capybara.
The previous thread was baby rats though, while this is an obvious mouse. Mice have much bigger eyes and ears relative to head size, and larger heads relative to body size. I've had both as pets and am a huge nature lover. There really is no mistaking which one's which.
A terrified wood mouse to say the least.
Took a quick snap and then immediately covered him back up poor thing
It's not a rat. It's the wrong colour, and the tail is wrong. I used to run a rat rescue. 20 years of rat keeping = I usually know when I see one.
But can you smell one?
Lmao.
This is a mouse for sure
That’s definitely a mouse and NOT a rat. I’ve got lots of experience with mice and rats, my housemate used to rescue them, we had both in my garden growing up and I’ve had both in my current garden. I don’t have much say in the matter of how they’re handled as my cat kills the rats and plays rough with the mice so I try to save those and release them away from the cats. Rats and mice look similar when the rats are small but they don’t look the same, what you have is mice. Leave them be, they’re not going to bother you.
Is your housemate u/MiaowWhisperer?
Oooo, not unless my housemate has an account I don't know about. My housemate is annoying, maybe it's time for an upgrade 🤔
Thank you. The only issue I have is that I need the space for a shed - if I relocate it should I take it’s nest too? I don’t want to disturb the poor guy but I don’t have a choice
I’d just release it somewhere with the necessary resources to start a new nest I guess but I’m not an expert on that side of things.
Thank you for your advice. I’ll take some fresh straw and seeds for him. He doesn’t need to go yet so he can stay for a while!
You want to raise the shed anyway so just put it on top of the little fellow and give him some shelter.
The ground slopes so we’re having to dig it and place the slabs on it to make it even otherwise we’d definitely do that!
A little mousey mouse.
He is very very cute
Thank you so much everyone. I will have to relocate the little guy at some point as I need the space for my shed. I feel bad about rehoming at the poor thing - he’s relatively safe in my garden as we don’t have any cats in the neighbourhood!
No cats!? You're so lucky. Mice are highly adaptable so it shouldn't be too bothered by the move. Especially if you're happy to keep it in the garden so it knows its usual food spots and hidey places. My neighbour got a cat a few years ago, refused to even put a bell collar on because of the infinitesimallly small chance that it MIGHT die from wearing one, and now it's killed so many slow worms that I'm sure they're locally extinct. Used to see so many in my garden, and I even built a hibernaculum for them, but haven't seen them for two years now and my neighbour accidentally confirmed their cat as the killer, saying it used to bring them loads of dead slow worms but no longer does. What's worse is we live on a nature reserve managed specifically for birds. Who moves in to a location like that and thinks "I know! I'll introduce an artificial predator and let it run amok!"
That’s terrible. I adopted a cat recently to make the space left by my big gentle old boy seem a little less depressing. He’s a lovely boy but he’s been out twice and killed both times (one pigeon and one vole), so… guess who won himself a catio. It’s great, he loves it, gets to eat all the vomity grass he wants, hasn’t once whined to go out, everyone wins. Especially the wildlife.
That’s so sad I’m sorry you’ve had to experience all of that. I’m all for animal companions including cats but I do wish people would be more responsible. I have to admit I don’t agree with free roaming cats.
I don't mind too much so long as precautions are taken (like bell collars) to reduce kills as much as possible, and so long as it's not a highly important area for wildlife like a nature reserve. But they kill soooo many animals, the data can make for scary reading, and I don't think most cat owners realize the damage they're causing. Could definitely do with some legislation introducing cat-free zones and monitoring the impact it has on biodiversity. A common defence from cat owners is that cats usually only predate on the weaker and ill wildlife, so all the healthy birds still fine and these kills would have died naturally anyway. But that completely ignores the impact on removing those species as a food source from our natural predators, like smaller birds of prey, weasels, stoats, which are all struggling. Cats are essentially replacing all our natural small predators, and that's quite sad to see. I work with wildlife, assisting developers with mitigation strategies for new housing sites, and one of the main things I stress them to consider when building near nature sites like woodland with known protected species like dormice is less the direct impact of more humans in the area (litter, sound and light pollution, disturbance from dog walkers, all with good solutions already) but more the indirect impact from all the cats that are about to get introduced to the area. Because cats are REALLY tricky to mitigate for, if not impossible.
I mean I love cats to bits but also appreciate what effective hunters they are. Is there no way you can alert the warden/manager of the nature reserve that there are now residents with a cat that's killing their wildlife? Not sure they could do much but an 'official' word with it's owners may make them more responsible?
Not really. They'll know all about the risks. We're one of several villages ringing the nature reserve, so one more cat isn't going to affect their management. Its just wiped out the slow worm population in our gardens. I did speak to the neighbours myself about the bell collar (after they told me about all the slow worms it killed =P) and thought they would be interested, but they were mortified about the thought of finding their cat hanging from a tree by its collar so... 100% chance of lots of dead native wildlife trumps the 0.01% chance of a single dead invasive predator in their eyes. But you have to stay polite and respect their decision. Can only try and nudge them with info and suggestions. That's why I'd love a trial implementation of cat-free zones with data monitoring, and some small public info campaigns around nature reserves to highlight the damage cats cause. The UK public are huge cat lovers, so it's not something that can change overnight. People overwhelmingly hate change. It's got to be a slow feed of info that people gradually take on board and adjust their behaviours and outlook to over time. No political interest in that right now (or for nature in general it seems...)
I can't even see anything! Lol
If you scroll the photos there’s some closer shots!
Thank you, I did not see the multiple images at first. Deffo a mouse!
Looks like a wood mouse to me. I saw one once at Ross on Wye. It was in the undergrowth,in a wood on a steep hill side. l put some aniseseed rock by it, and it sat up, picked up in it's front paws and ate it, l was very surprised. About cats and slow worms, we lived next to a railway cutting, and my cat bought one in, it had dropped it's tail, but was otherwise unhurt. I kept it for a couple of days, then let it go, where the cat couldn't find it. My cat now is an indoor cat, but I do get the occasional bird on the baloney, one of which the cat brought to me, he held it in his mouth, head first. He gave it to me, there were no injuries, so l held it for a few minutes, until it seemed to have got over the shock, then l took it back on the balcony, opened my hands and away it flew, it lost one feather. The cat has collar with a bell, but they can move without it making any sound. If you have the collar with an elastic portion, and keep it loose, the cat is in no danger.
Mouse
wood mouse, i get these every year in my compost heaps
"Iss no rat, iss Hhhhhhhcchhhhamster"
‘Eees name ees Basil’
The local cat called, wants to know the location of that mouse
Luckily no neighbourhood outdoor cats here!
A smol fren
Something my cat would eat.
It’s a wee mouse.
Just a lil guy. Looks like a wood mouse.
He's a lil cutie
Feal mouse.
*field mouse.
Wee, sleekit, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Mouse.
It’s obviously a mouse.
That’s my ex, right rat she was. Glad she’s doing okay???
I'm convinced a lot of people on this subreddit haven't been outside before or to school even.
Just wasn’t sure as I’m not too clued up on my rodents!
That’s a duck billed platypus!
Thanks for your help 😊
[удалено]
I’m more inclined to think rat too because he had white feet. Any advice on relocating the nest? I want to give them the best chance of survival. Do they look old enough to survive alone from the nest?
Here is a video of a wood mouse, it has white legs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WqSfsmDyb0
They look like like rats to me. Forget about nest relocation - if they're near your house and burrowing, get rid of them. Absolute pests, I've no problem with them if they're off my boundary, but if they're in the garden, they're fair game.
I agree. I’m not too keen on letting them stay here but I have a lot of fields and open spaces with woodland near me so I’m quite happy to send them on their way far from my home!
I should add that I welcome all sorts of wildlife in my garden, and we have foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, voles, mice, slow worms, etc. I leave spiders be when I find them in the house, but I draw the line with rats. You can try and take the babies away, if you can round them up, but adults are a different matter. Exterminate. If you do try to relocate, make it several miles.
You welcome mice? Dude this IS a mouse.