There's a mouse in me cooker what i'ma goona do?!!!

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

My pet mice tend to wee pretty much anywhere and everywhere! 

[Steff - Petsearch Bedford HQ]

Good shout Sam!

I'm pretty sure wild mice (so I'm assuming wild rats also) just wee as they go and also wee on their feet so wherever they have been there will be an invisable wee trail!

Growing up I never had pet mice or rats just hamsters as they were ever so good and used to go in a designated corner of the cage...not sure if domestic rats and mice do this too...

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

I wouldn't worry Tan ... I'm sure your little rat was a nice clean little "field rat"   

I would suggest making sure you give your surfaces a good wipe down with dettol (or similar) though just in case 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Red text = takeaways for the forseeable 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Do wild rats carry diseases and parasites?

Yes, some of them do. Which diseases and parasites they carry, and what percentage of the rats are infected, depends on the population of rats under study.

Parasite and disease load of wild rats on farms in England

On English farms:

Webster and MacDonald (1995) studied the parasite and disease load of wild rats on farms in England:

red text = transmissible to humans

Helminths (worms):

the oxyuroid pinworm Syphacia muris in 67% of the rats
the strongoloyd parasite Nippostronglyus brasiliensis found in 23%
the liver worm Capillaria in 23%
the cestode Hymenolepsis diminuta in 22%
Toxocara cati causing Toxocariasis in 15%
the oxyuroid pinworm Heterakis spp. in 14%
the cestode Hymenolepsis nana in 11%
the intestinal tapeworm Taenia taeniaeformis in 11%

Bacteria:

Leptospira spp. bacteria causing Weil's disease in 14%
Listeria spp. bacteria causing listeriosis in 11%
Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria causing yersiniosis in 11%
Pasturella spp. bacteria causing Pasturellosis in 6%
Pseudomonas spp. bacteria causing Meilioidosis in 4%

Protozoa:

Cryptosporidium parvum causing cryptosporidiosis in 63% of the rats
Toxoplasma gondii causing toxoplasmosis in 35%
Trypanosoma lewisii in 29%
Eimeria separata in 8%
 
Rickettsia:

Coxiella burnetti evidence of infection by Q fever in 34%

Viruses:

Hantavirus causing Hantaan-fever or hemorrhagic fever in 5%

Ectoparasites (note: these ectoparasites are vectors for diseases which are transmissible to humans, such as typhus)

Fleas found on 100% of the rats
Mites found on 67%
Lice found on 38%


Other Diseases that rats can spread (and the bubonic plague  )

Weil’s disease
Salmonella
Tuberculosis
Cryptosporidiosis
E.Coli
Foot and mouth disease

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northwest/series1/rats.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2743883.stm

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Isnt there always or one missing   

The end of my story was that I saved the mouse and put at the bottom of the garden and before I could blink Misa and Sasa were there hunting it and instaed of staying in the long grass where they couldnt get it, it ran out into full view to be chased again and they sent it to the Bridge 

[Tan]

  there was one screw left over 

[Liz]

Lets hope there are no extra bits when you have put it back together

[Tan]

Well done Tan but you'd best check that (s)he hasn't nibbled thorough any of the wires on your cooker.  Rats and mice and notorious for that.  .

Good point hun, I put it all back together but better check the wires before i cook with it. Better check for rat poopy too! 

[Tan]

Phew pleased to hear "rattie" is now back outside where s/he should be.


I guess now I can tell you ... there's not such thing as "nice clean field rats"    rats are rats ... some live in sewers, some live in barns, some live in your cooker ... but they are all rats.   Of course that said, I stll wouldn't kill one if there was a way of catching it and setting it free.  Fingers crossed this little one stays in the fields and doesn't come back indoors 

  yeah i hope it stays in the field cause if it comes in there are two hunter awaiting to give them a lovely foster home in my cooker!! 

oo i thought that sewer rats had more "viruses" they can carry due to the nature of their habitat? Would a feild rat then be the same? I did hear a couple of years ago on the news a lady died from a town rat bite from Wildes decease within two days after saving it from her cat.

I know it sound silly cause it used to be a cats job    but is there any "danger " for the lads if there are these rats about? 

Little one got put down a hole at the back of the garden under fence panel. It must be how it got in! Hopefully it's back home now 

Neighbour next door told me she actually shot one   

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

Well done Tan but you'd best check that (s)he hasn't nibbled thorough any of the wires on your cooker.  Rats and mice and notorious for that.  .

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Phew pleased to hear "rattie" is now back outside where s/he should be.


I guess now I can tell you ... there's not such thing as "nice clean field rats"    rats are rats ... some live in sewers, some live in barns, some live in your cooker ... but they are all rats.   Of course that said, I stll wouldn't kill one if there was a way of catching it and setting it free.  Fingers crossed this little one stays in the fields and doesn't come back indoors 

[Tan]

Got him or her???

Yeap was a rat small one but a grey rat!!  Took me over 2 hours and the cooker is in pieces!! 

Better put it back together now cause i am starvin!! 

At least he or she is saved 

[Ann Clarke (Tabby cat)]

Some of you may remember the winter before last I had suicidal mice who not only came into a house with two cats, although to be fair Dylan was far too lazy to do anything about them  , but made themselves even more attractive by eating the boys' catnip drops 

I sympathise Tan, I ended off managing to rescue two, including the one that Hobbes rushed upstairs with and I chased round bedroom, bathroom, followed it as it hurled itself down the stairs and eventually managed to get in a big coffee jar so I could put it outside. Sadly Hobbes played a little too vigorously with one and I came down to find a present on the rug one morning  I have used humane traps in the past and they are very good.

Good luck 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

My lot brough a mouse in which came alive again after they had left it and it went down the side of the boiloer.......sigh

I used a felix box and put some cheese in and just sat and waited.................when it thought coast was clear it came out and into box to eat........so sweet and shut the flap and put him back oiut side.

 Just a bit of patience and no moving for about 5-10 mins 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

If you can't get out to buy a trap ... make your own http://glass.typepad.com/journal/2005/09/how_to_catch_a_.html


Just remember to keep the cats out the room 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

There are lots of rats round here clean field ones (not sewer) as we live right opposite farm fields and they do come over as so many of us feed the birds. Peeps have seen them in their gardens and on the bird feeder tables. 

So it's actually i have a rat in me cooker .. what im'a gonna do! 

Are rat bites dangerous to hoomans and cats? 

I'm sure if it's a "nice clean field rat" Tan it wouldn't bite you anyway!  It's not realy advisable to allow any "critter" to bite.  If it's only a baby rat I wouldn' t imagine it will stand any fight anyway ... more included to run and hide    (Oh yeah it already is doing that! LOL).

TBH whether it's a rat or a mouse I think it needs catching and removing ASAP ... if only so you can cook again.

[Claire_smc]

We have a mouse living in our house, I've affectionately called him Mr Mousey  I've only seen him once when we first moved in and Si has seen him once too, sneaking along our living room wall carrying a dropped chip in his mouth  I haven't seen him since we got Pepsi, her smell must be keeping him away, although I have seen her and Darcy both staring intently underneath the fridge, maybe that's where he lives but doesn't dare come out? Although I can just imagine him scampering and dancing all over Pepsi and her just sitting there and letting him, she's not the most active of hunters 

[Tan]

Ok will get a humane trap. Will try and get down shops today but have urgent work today.  Oh well i at least i don't have to Cook! 

Steve thinks he is a bit too big for a mouse!!!  and it's a small rat 

There are lots of rats round here clean field ones (not sewer) as we live right opposite farm fields and they do come over as so many of us feed the birds. Peeps have seen them in their gardens and on the bird feeder tables. 

So it's actually i have a rat in me cooker .. what im'a gonna do! 

Are rat bites dangerous to hoomans and cats? 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Mice love anything sweet really ....  Mine are partial to Cheerios    But the best thing to use is choccie!

[blackcat]

They are also quite partial to pumpkin seeds and peanut butter - variety is the spice of life after all

[Teresa Pawcats]

Agree with Sarah, maybe you could somehow attach humane trap to his little lodging place, Tan be careful not to constipate the poor creature with too much cheese mice love kitkats.

[LesleyW]

I would suggest a human trap as well, if he's coming out for food he should come out to some in a trap - and he obviously doesn't mind small spaces.  Good luck.

[madkittyrescue]

OMG sounds like you have your hands full with this one Tan - can you get hold of a humane trap?  he's obviously coming out to eat and that would allow you to catch him and take him somewhere outdoors to release???

[Tan]

Two nights ago heard a squeak downstairs and went down to find Marl & Garf stalkin a mouse trying to hide under my shoe in the hall. 
Ok so get box to help mice back outside ... Nope didn't work as Marl got in the way and it ran in the kitchen and straight under cooker.
Pulled cooker out to get it but it was nowhere to be seen on floor  There is a hole it could of got into at the back of the cooker but searched everywhere i could, put a torch into the cooker and couldn't see it at all. It was the middle of the night so left cooker out and shut kitchen door to have another go in am. Left some cheese on floor!

Next am couldn't see it at all but cheese had gone!  Took some parts off cooker .. Nowt. Search all over kitchen, in cuboards etc Nowt! Didn't use cooker just in case!

Anyhoo,last night i manage to see the little minx we heard scratching sounds so tracked it down and it was behind a screwed in plate behind the top buttons on the hob      Unscrewed the plate and can see him amongst the wires etc but can't get him out. The space he is in is about 3 inches tall behind the plate and if i try to manover him out so i can catch him he just runs to other side.
Left some food in there last night and it's all gone this am and i have seen him in same space this am but still can't reach him! 

How on earth am i goona save this little minx! ????