Is it a very large mouse or a small rat? We did notice some scuffling going on in our back passage where we stored food for our two Muscovy ducks, Flip and Flop. We then saw who was doing the scuffling. Our cats were not much use at dealing with the problem. They are good at mice but this one seemed a real mouthful for them.
We didn’t want the usual mousetrap method which does not necessarily kill the offender but leaves them with serious injuries.
Poison was no use as the cats and duck might have eaten it. Sticky paper was too ghastly to ponder on. We therefore settled for a ‘humane’ rat-trap which caught the culprit.
Cheeky, although sometimes a very aggressive cat, was not amused by our capture.
The next thing to do was to dispatch the felon to the other world before we could catch the Black Death. We could not do it ourselves so we sought help from a local who was good at dispatching larger rodents like rabbits. The only difference here was that he couldn’t make a nice pie with it. Or did he and fed it to his worst enemy I wonder?
The decisions one has to reach in country life among the Italian Apennines!
PS Ratty in that immortal book ‘The Wind in the Willows’ was a water vole.
Our one was definitely not!
Poor Ratty!
One died of fright in the cage 5 others survived a fate worst than death as I managed to rehouse them the plan was to hire a private jet plane and send them out to the special temple in India where people eat and live with mice and rats on a very very very friendly basis but would have cost us a wee bit too much so they were rehoused by the river as a family where they manage to find food as humans generously throw their household garbage there and I have been applauded for so doing as they are not a nusisance to anyone in fact they are doings very worthy task. Well done you ratties and keep in the good work!