no, not really...
just one very well travelled mouse...
posing for the camera.
 |
| I'm not sure what that right front paw is trying to convey... but I can guess!! |
Closer inspection showed it to be little bits of duster...
Looking in the pocket on the back of the driver's seat told me where it had come from...
a traditional yellow duster...
which now had a collection of holes in it.. and some very, very small droppings attached...
I shook the duster out and put it back...
checking that there wasn't anyone at home elsewhere in the pocket.
I checked the other pocket on the front passenger seat...
no sign that anyone had ever been there..........
I checked under one section of the rear passenger seat...
aha!!
Some small b'stard had chewed a hole in the LIDL insulated bag...
right on the fold necessary to keep it under the seat.
Not a great loss... we haven't used it since we've been in France.
But it had also eaten a chestnut from Valmer... a Horse Chestnut... about four years old...
collected before we moved and forgotten about until they were iron hard...
I put the seat back down...
 |
| All that's left... bits of husk, the base and bits of LIDL cool bag!! |
Going round the other side of the car, I lifted the other section of the rear seat...
it had been here too...
it had chewed an old single duvet cover, kept under the seat for covering goods in the back.
I lifted the duvet cover and spotted the nest....
 |
| Well made... but some of those lime leaves are green... how long has it been there... how far has it travelled!?? |
I poked it with a finger...
and something mouse-like shot out...
and under the seat that I'd put down...
Hmmm!
I left the door wide open and went back round the driver's side...
and opened the rear door...
and lifted the seat.
"EeeeK! PaniC!! It's a human... where do I go...?"
I aimed to grab its tail....
but it decided to make good its escape and shot out of the opposite door.
GOOD!!
It is not wanted in this vehicle!
I replaced the seat and went to check the nest...
most of which consisted of lime leaves...
I have no idea when the mouse had moved in, but there must be an easy way in and out...
most of the lime leaves looked fairly whole.
I investigated the nest... the hole in the middle looked about right for a single mouse...
and there wasn't a family left behind!
 |
| A cosy home... I bundled it back together!! |
I placed that near the entrance to the nest...
and put the seat back down...
then..
I moved the car!
I knew that wouldn't keep it out...
when doing a study on Bank Voles...
I had a chubby little male who used to go back into the trap almost as soon as I left the area...
on the final occasion I heard the trap's door close before I left...
I had to move the trapping site... and took all my traps to an area just over a mile away.
It took him seven and a half days to find them again... and he was 6 grams lighter!
In this case, when I checked under the seat...
I saw the nest move... good, it is back... it can get out in Grand Pressigny!
I arrived in Grand Pressigny... no sign of the little critter... damn!
In the afternoon we went to Chatellerault...
still no sign...
but some of the "new" chestnut had been nibbled!
The next day I didn't go anywhere...
but checked the nest on the Wednesday...
before we left for the Touraine Bloggers Christmas Lunch party...
it moved as I lifted the seat...
right! It can get out in Montrichard!!!
After the meal...
no, it wasn't there...
li'l'ugger!!
Right...
this means war...
time to set the traps.
I baited them with "Snacky-Cracky" from SuperU...
irresistible...
and not just to rodents...
one trap in the footwell and one under the smaller seat...
and...
this morning...
SUCCESS!!
Got 'im!!!!
Yes... it was a HE...
a male Wood Mouse, Field Mouse [Apodemus sylvaticus] Souris de terre, Souris des bois.
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| Trying to let him go!! You can just make him out on the left... Every time I opened the front, he pushed on the bar and closed the door! No... he hadn't finished the "Snacky-Cracky", thank you.... in the end I tipped him out!! |
He "got out" by the "noyer privée" on the way into Grand Pressigny!
 |
| I left him by a good food supply... someone else's... but it won't harm... if they are still on the ground now, they are under all the leaves!! |
We have no idea how long he'd been in residence...
nor, how many miles he'd travelled...
but, in and out of Chatellerault...
and there and back to Montrichard...
he's got to have travelled many more miles than 99% of Field Mice...
but, it does go to show....
in these days of Chunnel and Ferry travel....
and "borderless" countries...
just how easy it must be for small mammals...
or insects... to cross continents!!
On returning home...
I reset the trap!!
I wonder..............................................?
4 comments:
What a wonderful, humane trap.
Looks like you've released him in
an ideal spot. They can be such
a nuisance in the pantry, (as
Susan and Simon know) but are
such "cute" little critters.
Your Swallowtail caterpillar
photos are great.
Thanks, Sheila...
The traps are cheap at £5... and are available with a "nest box" end as well at £8....
I have a Longworth Small Mammal Trap which I bought when I was doing the Bank Vole study...
it cost £15 in the early seventies and I could only afford the one...
when I last looked they cost £65 each!!
Tim... the big question is how was he getting into the Merc???? and he obviously had class and did not choose the 2CV!!!
C&E...
there has got to be a cable entry or heater duct that he can access... but where....
that is the 500,000€ question...?
And as for the 2CVs...
all the cable holes in those are far too tiny for even the smallest rodent.
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