Toddlers attacked by fox inside house? Yikes.
I realised last night just how much bigger rats are than mice: amazing observation for someone with my experience of handling rodents. The one that I spied on my windowsill appeared to be only slightly smaller than my cats. Can't think about how it got into the house (in the cat's mouth? through the cat flap?). My scream of horror sent it skeddadaling behind the book shelves, and it refused to emerge, despite my threats and banging about with a deck scrubber. Eventually did a deal with it: I would open the french doors slightly and lock myself in my bedroom on condition that it exited, never to return, and promised not to invite any of its friends into the house.
Spent last weekend camping on the Eyre Peninsula (between Adelaide and Perth), where they are not quite under mouse plague conditions (in that the ground is not yet appearing to undulate), but are close. The cats and dogs are pretty much over catching and dispatching them. I heard noises coming from a friend's kitchen, and upon investigation found that the noise was coming from the meat safe, which was housing bread and crackers. Opened the door and removed a loaf which was warm and began to move
, then little furry bodies began leaping from the safe, seemingly throwing themselves at me kami kaze style as I let out a series of high pitched squeals. They had chewed through the wire to gain entry. More noises from behind me: 7 mice inside a cereal packet.
(and their taste 
)
