Gloves or colander?

Ha ha. I was reminded of this:

www.newsletter.co.uk/news/offbeat/video-two-ni-farmers-hilariously-try-to-catch-a-mouse-1-8099274

When I was skimming down the list of active posts I first read the title as Cloves or coriander, and thought it was a cooking thread! However, re mice,I love Squiffy’s idea of a tube. I live I the country and mice often come in. Once when using my laptop I ‘felt’ that I was being watched and looked up....there beside me on a pile of books was an adorable little mouse: big dark eyes and bright chestnut coat with a white bib. So pretty.

We have found that an empty coffee packet (Taylors) worked well. The mouse ran straight into it. Did it like the smell of coffee? I also have had a mouse up the trouser leg. I don't know what it was doing in my sister's bathroom!

Here's my story which was like a cartoon. We had just returned from a holiday and were eating a takeaway on our laps. A mouse ran across the room. I screamed and my takeaway went up in the air. Our cat pounced on the mouse and jumped out through the open window. End of story, no! Our then 9 year old daughter felt sorry for the mouse and went outside and rescued it. Unknown to us she took it to her friend who had a pet mouse in a cage. They put the mice together. Some time later I was talking to the friend's mum and she said they were overrun with mice and they'd no idea how their mouse could have got pregnant. Oops!

Glammanana that reminded me of one of my previous boys who came racing over the garden with a string of sausages one day - obviously left out on someones kitchen worktop defrosting - never did find out who they belonged to

This is one of the main reasons I no longer have cats. They will bring in mice, frogs or worse, birds they caught and almost but didn't quite kill, yet. Having said this, I do find cats very entertaining with their disregard for anything much other than their own desires and their murderous intents.

I found a dead mouse in one of my wellingtons once when I put my foot in. I thought it was a left over sock until I emptied it out. I don’t know whether the cat had deposited it there or whether it had just crawled in to die!

Funnily enough I don't mind the living variety, it is the dead ones left in my shoes that literally make my toes curl! apparently that is the cat's way of showing you love or teaching what you should be hunting - could do without it I must admit.

Merlot It's partly luck - if you hear it run in - or just check every few minutes by tipping it up, so that the blocked end is facing down, then shining a torch inside. Needs to be done quickly, mice are very adept at scrambling upwards!! ?

Frogs I usually catch in my hands, but their legs are very strong and they really push against your fingers, so you need to be prepared for that!

That sounds like a brilliant idea, Squiffy

How do you know when it's gone up the tube?

glamma, you have reminded me of our lovely cat Nigel, he went through a collecting phase, once a moccasin slipper and then a scouring pad. (He’s the one chased around a tree by a pheasant. Beautiful cat.)

Jasper a cat my son "found" quite a few years ago was very fond of bringing home presents and depositing them on the kitchen floor for my inspection,mice/worms/feathers from birds his best present was a piece of Roast Beef which must have been cooling on someones worktop as it was still warm,he never even treid to eat it he was just so proud of his find,I often wonder what those people had for their lunch that day.

They only bring them in for us apparently, a fine way to repay them. That was the first mouse we have had brought inside for years, the two older cats concentrate on flies and bugs. Years ago we ended up dismantling the bedroom when one of the cats brought a mouse in. That is a very good idea about using a cardboard tube Squiffy, we have one of those handy as GGS uses it as a tunnel. The worst thing was when I was dusting one morning. All of a sudden a frog leapt out of a plant pot, don’t know how long it had been there but it made me jump.

Once my son woke up with a harvest mouse in bed with him, lying next to his leg.
We didn't believe our sons at first when they told us. Lifted the duvet up very carefully, and they were right!
My husband just scooped it up in his hands and took it outside again.
No idea how it got in.

On the day of princess Diana's funeral, literally just as I had settled down, and as the coffin rolled in to sight, my cat bought in a big mouse and let it go in my front room.

One of my cats often brings them in at night so I'll find various 'parts' the next morning somewhere however occasionally he loses them and it manages to escape. I've cornered them in the passage and used the spider catcher (pyramid shaped plastic on a handle with a trap door) to rescue them but in the summer he took one upstairs! We can always tell he's lost it as he sits patiently staring at something - this one was on the landing between the wall and a cabinet. Husband shouted shut the doors but it just ran underneath and into my bedroom. There followed a frantic race round until it ran behind the chest of drawers which we couldn't move. There are patio doors in the bedroom with a small balcony outside (totally useless - was there when we bought the house) - my OH opened the doors and then poked at the mouse with a brush handle - it shot out and literally flew out the door and over the balcony where presumably it ran off to tell its mates about its amazing flight to freedom!

Mice aren't so much of a problem as when the cat brings you rats. If the rat is bigger than your hand it is too clever for the cat and things can get really nasty. Mice are a doddle after that.

We don't have cats any more, so I don't have any tales to tell. But we always managed to catch the mice and rats in the end somehow.

I don't have cats but have had loose birds inside so grabbed a towel and threw it over to take outside

When you own cats, this ‘bringing a mouse in’ occurrs all the time.
We used to throw a towel over it, it stopped and felt safe, then we gathered up the towel carefully and shook it outside.
A squirrel (live) brought in the house was a different matter,
Once free of the cat it went nuts and wrecked the room, hurling itself about.We had to allow the cat ( a huge cat) to catch it again, take it outside and then managed to pry it from his jaws.It ran up the nearest tree and chattered at us angrily.

Me too Cagsy and in answer to the question 'what would you grab first'.......the only thing that I would be grabbing would be my coat

You are all too brave, our cat had a mouse in it's mouth at the weekend and I was terrified of DH opening the door in case she brought it in - I'd be a wreck!!

I`d do what I did the last time Mia brought a mouse in, carefully follow it around until it settled in a corner, then make a quick grab, in order to give it a gentle stroke before releasing it outside.

Good idea Squiffy!
We often have mice in our house, as we live in the country. Our cat is no longer interested in catching them.
Last autumn there was a very large toad which used to come into the kitchen in the evening, if we left the door open. It was quite easy to catch with a dustpanand brush. Then one evening there was a campagnol sitting by the rubbish bin - I screamed, husband came running and was able to pick it up, it seemed dozey.
jardinage.lemonde.fr/dossier-243-campagnol-terrestre-rat-taupier.html
He killed it, they do a lot of damage to plant roots and make random molehills.

Greyduster That happened to me when our previous cat brought a mouse in, only it ran right up my leg! I was laughing so much that I probably traumatised the poor thing! I just went into the garden and lowered my trousers enough to release it.

A trick I use to retrieve mice from under furniture is to use a tube (cardboard or one from the hoover) and block one end with something (crumpled paper would do) and then put the open end near where the mouse is. They are drawn to the apparent safety of the dark tube and run inside it. It’s never failed. Yet!!

We were in the same situation last month! Our cats didn't bring in the mouse as they're house cats but we live in the country and at this time of year the field mice are looking for winter homes.

Our huge brutes of cats (they weigh 11lb and 16lb!) just sat and watched the mouse running around literally inches from their jaws.

We resorted to a humane mouse trap in the end. The cheeky mouse was calmly eating the peanut butter bait as I walked down to a field to release it!