Mouse or Rat? Good/Bad?

That one looks very much like my one Dave. I think its safe to assume that its mice in my compost bin then.

I haven't got the heart to evict it/them. Everything needs somewhere to live, and my compost bin is quite far from the house. As long as they're not doing any harm I'm happy to live and let live, but if they pose any health risk, then they'll have to go.

 

So, to sum up, if it's cute it's a mouse, otherwise it's a hate object.

I've just had the rat-lady from the council round, after a few sightings of tails whisking off into dark corners and having my seed potatoes chewed to oblivion. The teeth marks looked rather large so it seemed a wise precaution. She put some poisoned bait down next to the compost bin and said if it was rats, it would all get eaten in one go. Two weeks later it was mostly untouched. Phew.

I can't fault the council service in this respect - maybe you've got a similar one up North, Clue?

 

I've got a Wood Mouse living in my bedroom, she doesn't cause me any problems

 

Not necessarily phew yet, rats are neophobic, they won't go near anything new until they are sure its not going to move, then they will eat it all in one go.

I'm assuming its in a container or rat bait station.

 

Clever things, aren't they!

 

I love the Field Mouse but have a genuine phobia of rats absolutely hate them

 

They got used to the idea of my seed potatoes PDQ!

The bait was in a couple of plastic bags pinned down behind the compost bin.

 

When the compost heats up will it cook the mouse !!!

 

Are they dim enough to sit around waiting to be cooked?

 

They wont get cooked in my bin. It wont get hot enough in there. Most of the contents are already mostly rotted now so not much heat left to be generated.

 

Time to throw your grass clippings into it then, clue

 

Try lobbing on a sack of horse manure, that'll liven things up.

 

most animals that rely on olfactory social signals in their day to day existence will make sure there is no human smell on their food, before they touch it.

 

Everything in my compost bins has been handled by humans so I should be OK then.