A mouse in the house

A few months ago, when I was out on the back patio, I saw a tiny mouse scurry across the cement and scoot underneath an impossibly small space under the door.

I hadn't seen any mice in Queensland before, so I was a bit surprised. I took a quick look in the house, but as I expected I couldn't see where he went. I'm assuming that it's a he, for reasons that I will explain later. I told Dave about it when he came home, but then I pretty much forgot about the incident.


Living in the tropics, a person must learn to share their house with various types of critters. Here are a few that have taken up residency without my permission.

This guy is a gecko, and they're really cute. They cling to the ceilings and walls, and hide behind curtains and picture frames. We've got about three or four that live around the front porch and the living room.

They make an astonishingly loud chittering sound when they speak. An unfortunate aspect of their tenancy is that they leave behind little "presents". But since they eat small bugs and mosquitoes, they are all right in my book.


The geckos don't seem interested in the ants however. When the wet weather started, the ants were flooded out, so they came into the house for a bite and a dry off.

No matter how tidy I keep the house, it seems that they come in their hordes. This is the tiny wastebasket where I throw food scraps. It's emptied at least once a day, but the ants still find it very yummy.


So, in addition to the ants and the geckos, we have a mouse in the house. It's currently living behind the oven. Dave is investigating methods of termination, mouse traps and such. He thinks that there is only one mouse, and that it's been making the rounds at night, trying to find things to eat.

After Christmas the mouse ate a stale candy cane that I'd left on a shelf. It apparently didn't agree with him because the next night he ate an antacid tablet left in a basket on my desk. He also ate some polyester batting, and some papers from Dave's office. Since there is only one mouse, we're going on the assumption that it's a male house mouse.

Let's hope it doesn't find a girlfriend.