It's very comforting to read that posters are prepared to admit that
they have rodents.

Whats the problem?

I don't know. I have no problem, I don't know why others do.

The mice are just outside the door along with
shrews, voles and rats.

I know that, you know that, but very many people can't bear the thought of
it.

What do people expect an sensible animal to do
when it gets cold? It's not going to stay out in the cold when there
is a nice warm place with plentifull food supply just through that
hole...

Absolutely.

We get an annual invasion around about mid October, when the first
cold nights/frosts occur. The rest of the time the house is rodent
free, well free of obvious signs of rodent... B-)

Ah - you've hit the nail on the head. Absence of evidence is not evidence of
absence ...

With young children there are small particles of food under the dining
table or on the kitchen floor, you'd have to hoover after every meal
to not have. One of the first indications of a "visitor" is a clean
carpet under the dining table or clean kitchen floor. I've watched
them foraging in the kitchen, they don't miss the tinyest a crumb. I
guess townies aren't used to the wildlife being quite so obvious and
close.

Some of us are ... some of us understand that there are more rats per square
whatever than there are in the country.

When I've said that we live in an unintended menagerie people
express horror - but I believe that there must be few houses without
the odd 'pest'.

None, dust mites are everywhere that humans live. What do they quote?
Half the weight of a 2 year old duvet is dust mite droppings or at
least a significant percentage... I bet there aren't many places
without woodlice somewhere or silverfish.

Now silverfish is the one thing I haven't seen in forty years in this house.
I once saw a couple in an only occasionally inhabited ancient cottage on the
North Yorkshire Moors.

I don't mind the mammals. I'm not worried about most lepidoptera or
hymenoptera.

I don't warm to slugs or maggots (yes I KNOW some of them are baby
lepidoptera). Woodlice are snapped up by the hens. We haven't had evidence
of fleas since the cat went for his last trip to the vets.

But mostly we don't mind sharing our living quarters with other life, we
share the Earth with far more than come in here. And as you say, there are
Things which we don't know about and mostly can't see.

Mary



--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail