Mouse in a box

[Gyppo]

   I shall call him Jack, although I have a feeling it's probably female.  In which case it's Jacqueline  I haven't looked that closely yet and quite possibly never will.

   My neighbour knocked on the door and seemed rather amused that I was swanning around almost naked to cope with the heat.  After I'd made myself a bit more respectable I opened the door and found she had a lovely little brown wild mouse in a plastic box.

   She'd rescued it from her cats, who had it cornered and were batting it around between them.  Doing what cats do.

   She grabbed it and the mouse bit her.  So she quickly slipped it into a plastic sandwich box and then held the lid on but with one corner up so air could get in.  She said it was moving badly, which it was at that point.

   "Could you put it behind your shed, seeing as my cats don't seem to go into your garden.  Or kill it painlessly, if you know how.  I just can't do it."

   I told her I'd put it in a cardboard box, with plenty of air holes, and a little bit of food.  "We'll give it some peace and quiet for a few hours, see if it starts looking more lively.  Then if not I'll do the necessary.  But we'll give it a chance."

   In the time it took to find and perforate a suitable box it was already moving much better.  The box is outdoors, where I can see it, and if it looks much better when Alma gets here we may take it down and release it in the woodland.  Plenty of perils there as well, but a better chance of escaping.

   It's current home is a laser toner cartridge box.  Big enough to let it move around, but small enough to feel like a secure hiding place for a bit of recovery time.  I'm hoping it's more frightened than damaged

   We shall see how it goes.  Alma will want to keep it as a pet, but that's not going to happen.  I have a deep-rooted aversion to caging 'wild things'.  My Ex would say she understands why ;-)

   Gyppo

[Spell Chick]

I hope the lady is properly treating the tiny bite.

[Gyppo]

I expect so.  She's a pragmatic and sensible lady.

I did joke about having to put her down if she started foaming at the mouth and running around biting people.

Alma was horrified.  "You can't have people put down."

My daughter and I looked at each otherr and silently decided not to talk about the Swiss 'Exit' clinics.

=====

The rest of the mouse story follows...

After a couple of hours safely tucked up in a little box Miss Mousie was full of the joys of spring.  When I checked on her I opened the carboard box inside a tall sided plastic crate in case she made a sudden break for it.  She stretched up, stood on her back legs, blinked a bit at the sudden light, and then leapt out to run around the crate. 

She was moving well and with no obvious wounds.  Squeaking like a good-un.  A world removed from the terrified and trembling little thing she'd been just a few hours earlier.

My policy with these involuntary wildlife rescues is the less time they spend in human company the better.  Minimal handling suits me as well as them.  After Alma had a few minutes to enthuse over the furry little bundle I scooped Jacqueline back into her box and closed it up again ready to release her into the wild.  Alma agreed it looked like a girl mouse.

Linda came out as we were leaving and asked after 'her' mouse.  She was clearly expecting to hear that I'd had to 'deal with it', and the look on her face when she saw the perforated cardboard box was priceless. 

We released Jacqueline into a hedgerow, where she quickly scuttled away under a pile of dead leaves and then popped out again to move a bit further away through the hedge.

My daughter caught a 25 second video clip on her phone, although it's hard to see the mouse against the pile of dead leaves. She can't send it to me direct from her phone, but she'll ask her husband to sort it out and send me the video.

All's well that ends well, and we all feel rather good about the way it turned out.

The world will still be full of dangers for our little mouse, but we gave her a chance ;-)

Gyppo

[Laura]

I do love a happy ending! And now that little mouse has quite a story to tell.

[WordBird]

Very nice story indeed. You are a kind man, Gyppo.

OH, and thinking about how much I love nature's little ones, I'll post an update.

[Gyppo]

Very nice story indeed. You are a kind man, Gyppo.

I have my moments ;-)

   There is a third little codicil to the mouse story.

   When we got back after releasing 'Jacqueline', and sorting out some other business downtown, Alma vanished for a while armed with paper and felt-tipped pens.  She was very quiet for about quarter of an hour and then told me I needed to "Come into your office , Grandad!  Quickly!"

   There, perched on the lower bezel of my monitor, was a coloured cut-out of a little brown mouse.  Pretty much true to size.

   "So you won't feel sad now that Mousie has gone back to live in the wild."

   Gyppo