So around 2am, it started making a rustling noise in the bedroom, and I was sure it was starting to make a nest under the radiator. Perhaps foolishly, I opened the door to my office and shut it in there so we could get some sleep.

The next morning, there was no sign of the mouse, but on my desk there was a small pile of black pellets. At first I thought they were droppings, but then I looked at my mouse (the computer one); almost all the rubber had been eaten off the centre wheel.

Later that day we managed to catch the mouse (the live one) using R’s ‘trap it in a poster tube’ technique and released it, but my mouse (the computer one) was knackered and I had to buy a new peripherals set. I’m quite glad about that actually – the function keys on the old one had a interesting design ‘feature’ where the writing on them was dark blue on black – not so good if you do web development stuff and need the F12 key a lot.

I don’t have another mouse picture so here is one of Schrodi being ‘shamed’ for rodent related activities last year.

I opened my office door when we got home, only to see a small brown creature scuttle away across the floor and disappear under my PC. After ineffectually chasing it around for a while only to have it go from the PC to the leg of my desk and back again, I decided to turn the PC on its side to remove one of its hiding places. I was a bit surprised when I turned it over to see not one but two perfect little field mice sheltering underneath it. I managed to grab one of them and put it under a bush outside, but the other one proved more elusive. I’ve now left the door to outside open for an hour or so, and it seems to have gone, so I am hoping it got away into the garden.

I do love the poor little things and I wish Schrodi would not keep letting them go in the house. Superficially he is a great mouser, but on closer examination of the facts he is a rotten one – cats are suppose to remove rodent problems – not create them!