Apparently rain = SC's

[TheSHAD0W]

Wild mice are absolutely not a good thing to get close to, nor are they something to love.

A large portion of wild mice are hantavirus carriers, and the virus is present in mouse urine. Because mice do not have urethral sphincters and literally pee constantly, they spread it around widely. Hantavirus is a hemorrhagic disease and is a nasty way to die.

Mice carry other disease as well, notably Yersinia Pestis (plague) and rabies. In the medieval period in Europe mice were admired and cats were thought to be witch related, which led to the plague epidemic (Black Death) in 1350.

Jumping up on a chair and squealing is maybe not the appropriate reaction to seeing a mouse, but I would strongly recommend not handling one, and would also recommend promptly washing any clothing or bedding exposed.

[Shalom]

.it was totally [mouse] infested the last year I worked there...at least that took care of the cockroach problem...the mouse problem was solved by the rat problem...boy, was I glad when I quit that place)

Witness the conversation I had several years ago at $JOB[-2], with a newly hired pharmacy cashier:
"You have cockroaches here, don't you?" [pronounced "cock-a-roaches" in NYC]
"Nope, no cockroaches here at all."
"I know you have them, I see the traps out for them!"
"No, I'm sure we don't have any."
"How are you so sure?"
"Because the mice ate 'em all..."

She wasn't all that happy with this either.

Maybe you should revisit and see if they have a cat problem now.

The chain of which the aforementioned store was part had one cat per store as standard corporate issue, until one day when a customer came in with a dog, and then got between it and the cat when they started going at it, resulting in them both attacking her. (The inevitable fate of the peacemaker...) The resulting lawsuit prompted them to remove the cats from the stores, leading to the predictable mouse problem.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I think mice are cute. Not that I want them in my house or anything (unless it was a pet in a proper cage, which I wouldn't necessarily object to if someone I lived with had one, as long as they took care of it, but I wouldn't get one myself). My cat once brought up a young mouse she must have found in the basement. I caught her with it in the living room, and when I got close she grabbed it up and ran across the room with it (before I realized what it was; at first I thought it was a hairball or something since it was the same color as her). I got her away from it and used a paper plate to scoop it up and bring it outside. What bothered me most was knowing that it was dying (I thought it was dead at first until it rolled over and started screeching; broke my heart ).

, until there's a complaint or we catch him doing something innapropriate, we can't do diddly!

Who has to complain? A customer? Why aren't employee complaints enough? Obviously it's bothering the employees if you are moving the bench to keep him away.

[Pagan]

Wild mice are absolutely not a good thing to get close to, nor are they something to love.

A large portion of wild mice are hantavirus carriers, and the virus is present in mouse urine. Because mice do not have urethral sphincters and literally pee constantly, they spread it around widely. Hantavirus is a hemorrhagic disease and is a nasty way to die.

Where do you live?

They're just not that scary to me. And I say this as a life-long resident of New Mexico. The state with the highest occurrence of hantavirus (82 cases with 33 deaths since '75) in the country. Not to mention that half the yearly US human plague cases occur here. (Yep, Black Death. We've already had a case of animal plague this year.) There's rabies around (3 animal cases of that this year so far). We also have anthrax in the soil.

I can't tell you how many times I've been exposed to all of it. Hell, I had a field mouse that invited itself into my apartment for a couple of days awhile back. I'm still here to tell the tale.

Nobody really gives it a second thought around here. Yeah, you're careful, but we don't live in fear of it.

[AccountingDrone]

Where do you live?

They're just not that scary to me. And I say this as a life-long resident of New Mexico. The state with the highest occurrence of hantavirus (82 cases with 33 deaths since '75) in the country. Not to mention that half the yearly US human plague cases occur here. (Yep, Black Death. We've already had a case of animal plague this year.) There's rabies around (3 animal cases of that this year so far). We also have anthrax in the soil.

I can't tell you how many times I've been exposed to all of it. Hell, I had a field mouse that invited itself into my apartment for a couple of days awhile back. I'm still here to tell the tale.

Nobody really gives it a second thought around here. Yeah, you're careful, but we don't live in fear of it.

heh, been vaccinated against black plague =) part of a package of overseas vacs I get from the Navy =) Also am good to go against yellow fever and had a rabies vacs added as well [live on a farm and occasionally deal with wild animals in the barn]

[TheSHAD0W]

Where do you live?
...

Nobody really gives it a second thought around here. Yeah, you're careful, but we don't live in fear of it.

I live outside of El Paso and am often in Las Cruces. No, I don't live in fear of them either but it's good to take precautions.

[Pagan]

I live outside of El Paso and am often in Las Cruces. No, I don't live in fear of them either but it's good to take precautions.

I'm a Las Cruces native and my parents still live there. I only moved up here 12 years ago. We have more of a problem down there with West Nile. I used to play in the drainage ditch behind the house (not too far from the cow barns at NMSU) and we never thought of any of those things. For some reason, most of the plague cases are up here in Santa Fe and Bernalillo counties, with hantavirus showing up in the Four Corners.

[Fire_on_High]

Used to keep pet mice when I was younger...ended up good practice for the rats I had later on :-)

They're mostly gentle critters, tho I had one with a bit of a temper. That said...mouse bites aren't much to write home about. Didn't draw blood, only a tiny pricking feeling.

I wasn't even sure the first several times that it was a bite, til he finally did it at an angle I could *see*. Felt like the rats handling me with their claws, except stung less.

[Pagan]

Used to keep pet mice when I was younger...ended up good practice for the rats I had later on :-)

They're mostly gentle critters, tho I had one with a bit of a temper. That said...mouse bites aren't much to write home about. Didn't draw blood, only a tiny pricking feeling.

But those are the ones that you buy from pet stores. I don't think that there's much worry of them carrying plague, hantavirus, or rabies, which aren't transmitted by bites. That's why there needs to be some caution around wild ones. Especially in New Mexico (most of the Southwest actually) since we're very sparsely populated and rural. And not just mice, we get plague in all kinds of animals.