My DH also suffers from Raynaud's Syndrome. I remind him over and over that he needs to keep his entire body warmer. Gloves alone will not do it outdoors. As soon as his brain knows the body is chilled; slam the fingers are white. He isn't a smoker, thank goodness.

Love the mouse story. Wonder how they are feeling taking all those supplements?

Oh my...couldn't help but chuckle. Hopefully, you won't start hearing loud

stomping noises in your kitchen...with that big, fat, huge Mouse doing

exercises or something. LOL Serious question...wondering if an overdose,

etc., is possible for them..with all those extra vitamins.

I hope he's not actually ingesting them, although you never know. Most were capsules with relatively hard shells. But maybe if the contents smelled good to him . . . ?

The cats haven't shown any indication that we have an active mouse in the house, so I don't know where he's holing up. When we have a mouse in the kitchen I usually find evidence in the warming drawer of the range or on a pantry shelf. Out here in the country it happens often.

My cat could not care less about a mouse. He is well fed and well rested apparently. He watched a mouse scurry across the floor one night and simply closed his eyes and went back to sleep. I guess only hungry cats will chase a mouse.

You may find a mouse nest with a lumpy, pill laden base to it.

Interesting about the cold fingers, and funny about the missing pills! Are you sure it's a mouse, that your cat isn't getting them?

Nope, not a cat. They're sequestered at night (and separated, because Peachy would rather be an only cat), and the kitchen isn't accessible to them. i hope it's "only" a mouse!

Weird about the disappearing supplements. I'm not comfortable with the thought of a rodent crawling on my counters, though, or living in my walls.

It's not a pleasant thought for sure, but I have to say living where I do, in a very old farmhouse, one gets used to it. Last year I trapped (snap traps) a large number of mice*, but this year they've been few and far between, or so I thought.

* I even caught one in my car!

When we lived in Dallas our house had several corn fields around it. During winter the mice from the corn fields would come to the near by houses looking for a warm spot and food. I would have one or more find it's way into my house. One in particular found a full bag of shredded coconut in my pantry. Apparently he loved it so much he refused to give it up and leave. He literally ate the coconut until he exploded in the bag! At least the disaster was contained in the bag.

When my oldest was very young, she loved, loved fruit. I had apples on the table in a bowl and one day noticed one had been nibbled. I asked my daughter why she did that--just ask me to cut it up for you, I told her. Being the very sweet child she was, she just nodded. Later we found droppings on a shelf and I put two and two together. I still feel a little badly for that sweet 2-year-old who took the fall for a mouse.

Love that mouse story, Alisande.

Everyone is different, but for me, I'd be horrified to know there were mice in my house.

We live near what I'll call undeveloped open space and there are rats in the area. Two kinds are around, smaller ones about 6 inches and larger ones about 12 inches or more, nose to butt, not counting the tail. About 10 years ago we discovered we had an infestation in our garage, crawl space, and attic - it was disgusting what was found. A control company cleaned up and over about 6 months found and sealed all the points of entrance.

Since then, the rodent control service comes monthly to re-bait and clear traps. We have covered traps around the exterior, in the garage, and in the crawl space. We try to keep the garage door closed. It is rare to find anything trapped in there or in the crawl space, and the 8 or so outside traps probably average 2 hits a month. A friend in the neighborhood sets out his own traps and says he gets 2-4 "hits" a week. It's not something I want to do myself.

Cats either have an strong instinct to hunt or they don't. It really has nothing to do with being hungry. Back when people kept cats just for that skill a female who was a good hunter was also a source of income for the owner selling the kits. Males can also have the same instinct but with cats it would be harder to know whose kittens were his. I had a cat named Toby who caught his first mouse when he was four weeks old. The very tiny mouse was alive when I found him with it but by the time I had managed to take it away from him it wasn't. I even put his head under the tub faucet trying to make him let it go. He always was a good hunter.

We have Dusky Footed Woodrats here that were taking over but lucky for us Long tailed Weasles moved in on them. We'd noticed we were seeing fewer rats and then saw a weasel snatch one. Yipes! The rat was as big as the weasel.

I like the idea of mice hoarding supplements.

I, too, live by undeveloped space. Rats make nests in my trees and in the ground palm plants. I have traps on the sides of the house that the pest service handles. I never keep food in the garage and we don't have an outside grill. My neighbor's grill was overrun...just too disturbing for me. Raven's story made me feel ill.

I am paranoid about mice...have had them in the garage a couple of times and drove myself crazy getting rid of the nasty things. I have always had cats until lately, but I think all of them were "too lazy" to hunt if they saw any. :) Elmer's story about the rats terrify me. I never knew they got that big...12 inches?????

Most of our squirrels aren't that big.

Yikes.

patriciae_gw we have a kitten right now who's not even a year old and is already about the size of our adult cats. I got a toy with a feather for them and he latched on and would not let go. Ok no feather toys for anyone. So I got some play mice. Same thing. He grabbed onto it and wouldn't let go. He started gnawing on it and growling. Eventually got it from him. He's a stinker and a tough guy. :)

Fun2bhere, it was very upsetting and disturbing to me also. I called my exterminator immediately. Took everything from the pantry and threw it away. Washed it down with bleach and water. We never keep food of any kind in our garages. But with the corn fields cut down the mice are determined to find a warm place. The exterminator found a tiny hole near the fireplace that was where they were getting in and closed it. We did not have any in the attic. Closing that hole put an end to it.

Hareball, is he black & white? He reminds me of a couple of B&W cats we've had. Wonderful cats! (They're all wonderful, but some are more wonderful than others.)

The farmers around here deal with rats that are attracted by stored grain. They think of them as large mice, no different, but I grew up in NYC and have a different perspective. I don't feel as negative about mice, however. I wish stores would stop selling glue traps. So cruel.

My Peachy (orange female cat) is a fierce hunter. Usually she lets me know if I'm harboring a mouse in the pantry or in the warming drawer by going on what I call "mouse alert." When she catches one she's likely to toss it around for awhile, so I try to intervene and save it. I don't like the torture part!

If I can get to the mouse I drop a plastic container over it (I have one just for this purpose) and then slide a piece of cardboard underneath so I can take the whole thing--mouse and all--outside. The last time I did this, the mouse got away from me on the porch. It ran back to the front door and, standing on its hind legs, scratched on the door as if it wanted to come back in! So bizarre! I'm not making this up. Between that and the vitamins, I'm starting to think I have unusual mice here . . .

I have a photo that I took some years ago, I'm not sure where it is, showing a dead rat on my driveway that had been removed from a trap. I took off my size 13 shoe and put it alongside to show the scale. Without counting the tail, it was as long as my shoe. And it was chubby too, so apparently well fed. For approximate measuring, I always figure my shoes are about 12 inches, sometimes a bit longer.

They're nocturnal so you rarely see them out and about. Predators in our area seem to be well fed but not as numerous as the rats, so the rats win. We have coyotes, some bobcats, and a rare mountain lion now and then. I suspect the adult larger rats are too big for raptors but we have owls and hawks. Also I suspect too big for a cat (which should be kept indoors anyway).

Oh, that is so cool, Hareball!

So appropriate for this topic.

https://imgur.com/t/funny/PP4SWYN

LOL Raven!

I hate mice! No way am I going to be kind to them!

Sue

Another raynaud here. If I have to go out when it is real cold I take a 10mg Amlodipine. It works. When it was first prescribed I took it daily all winter, now only if I have to, I hate meds! Heating pad & warm water helps. No matter how bad my allergies are I can not take an antihistamine!

,

Sorry about the finger and hope it's not hurting too badly.

I only know one person with Raynaud's and she really struggles to keep warm. Those hot packs seem to be working well for her in a pinch.

Love the image of the mouse taking its vitamins and going off to the mouse gym. :)

I used to be terrified of mice. Not at all now though.

When I still was terrified we lived in a house that had holes everywhere from animals including rats! chewing their way in. It was bad in the winter but we moved in in the summer...

The last straw was when a mouse and I got stuck together in our bathroom! I climbed up on the toilet, screamed blue bloody murder; the mouse couldn't get far enough away from me and my DH couldn't get in to help me. It was my own personal he!! of a gong show. I've never seen my DH move so fast or work so hard to plug up all of the holes.

I also have Raynauds, it affects my feet too. I go through a lot of hot paws during the winter. I also wear compression gloves.

DH likely has Reynaud's. He has all the right symptoms but wont go to the doctor. His hands get really cold and his fingernails have dished. He soaks his hands in hot water in the winter.

Those big rats are woodrats. There are a number of different kinds. When you see a rat if you can keep your wits about you notice if it has a hairless or hairy tail. The hair wont be thick or bushy even when the rat is named the Bushy tailed wood rat but it wont be scaly. Warf or Norway rats are relatively small for rats. Very long tails=length of the body or more are wood rats. Basically squirrels without all the positive press...that is unless you have squirrels in your attic. They chew holes in things and are hard to keep out. They can make nests of sticks or not, hoard stuff or not. If you aren't seriously creeped out by squirrels then check your prejudices. We feed birds and that has attracted them here. We also have a Bobcat in addition to our weasels. I haven't seen a rat at the feeder in a while We are surrounded by woods.

"When you see a rat....... "

I never see any. Other than dead ones removed from a trap (and I usually avoid those). They must scurry away and hide when a car's headlights shine at night because never is a rat or an eyeball reflection ever visible when driving through the neighborhood after dark.

For my area, if you judged by what you saw, you'd say there weren't any rats around. If you judged by what people trap and infestations you hear of (my neighbor had a larger one than I did), you'd say the neighborhood is overrun. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Elmer, have you never seen any rats running the lines at dusk, during the summer? Look up at that time, though I must say I haven't seen any in a few years. We had a rat in the attic a couple of years ago and he sounded like a possum, thumping around. Guy found the hole he used to get in and trapped him, poor thing. I really hate to kill living things but drew the line there. I

Thank goodness we do not have rats, just an occasional field mouse. They get whacked in this house. I am not having it!

My foods are all in glass or plastic. Not a thing for them to eat.

No, sjerin. We've been here >30 years and have never seen a rat. Squirrels running on power lines and crawling up the poles, yes. Not rats.

Most neighbors have removed ivy and low clumps of juniper bushes, favored nesting spots. One new neighbor doing extensive remodeling recently removed a big clump of juniper and found what he thinks is an abandoned coyote den.

Patriciae, I'm impressed with your rat knowledge! I know a family that keeps several rats as pets, but I don't know what kind they are. The mom (a very bright woman) has told me about the rats' personalities and affectionate nature. I absolutely believe her, but I'm not tempted. I also know a college professor who rescues orphaned baby opossums. He told me opossums seek the warmth of macadam roads on their feet in cold weather, and they're often killed by cars while still carrying their young in pouches. So my friend takes them home to raise. They live only about three years. I don't know if they'd live longer in the wild, but it seems unlikely.

I meant to mention that I spent several hundred dollars last week getting my piano repaired because of mouse damage. When we first moved here, mice built a nest in the piano that came with the house--a marvelous old upright. That took some serious fixing too. But my present piano is a grand, with all the strings and hammers visible, so it never occurred to me that mice could invade it. But they went after the felts, which apparently mice consider tasty. I don't think it would have happened when I played the piano every day, but I haven't done that for some time.

Re Raynaud's, mine started in my feet about 40 years ago. I wear disposable foot warmers six months of the year. It gets expensive, so I should probably look at alternatives. Eandhl, I'm the same way about meds, and I react badly to antihistamines too.

I remember hearing stories of pack rats, who usually will take shiny found objects like earrings or other jewelry. Not sure if they'd take vitamins. I wish I could remember a particularly funny story one of my customers told me years ago about all the things that disappeared from her house before they found the pack rat. Can't recall if she got her jewelry back or not.

I don't like any rat, but the pack rat is quite cute, comparatively.

We live in the mountains and have mice all around us. One can see the little eyes reflecting in the bushes and flower beds at night. Anyhow, once in a while one or more finds a way inside the house. I keep mouse traps on hand for when it happens; they enjoy my tupperware drawer for some reason and I always check for droppings.

How I trap them is I bait a snap trap with a dollop of peanut butter and slide it inside a paper lunch sack and face it to a wall. It works quite well inside the bag and there are less 'got aways' vs out in the open with no bag. I ask dh to look in the bag once a day. If the trap has a mouse, I close the bag, without looking intside and put it in the trash. I never have to see the little mouse in there. While I dislike having a mouse in the house and I will trap them, I can't see the deed as done, as I do love all creatures, except when they are pooping in my tupperwares. I draw the line there ;)...and bears. I will bang pots at them when they try to tear away at a door or window or I'll chase them out of the back yard if they are snooping around looking for food.

Sorry you have Raynaurd's. I get that sometimes and it takes some explaining to folks that I really am ok, never mind what my fingers are doing right now lol.

Hope you find your vitamin thief!