Mouse in the House

I had a visitor late last night.  I was asleep in my bed, and then around midnight I started to hear some loud sounds.  I awoke and grabbed my headlamp and thought, maybe my housemate’s kittens or maybe his chicken had gotten into my room somehow?!  Then I heard sounds again.  I got up to see something scurry down the bookshelves and I yelped out loud! (It was not really a scream, but I was definitely shocked and made some strange startled noise).  I turned on the light and crouched down to look under the bookshelf with my headlamp (I was at least 5 feet away from the bookcase, of course), and then the critter scurried into my bathroom.  I followed it into the bathroom and saw a tiny mouse crouched in the narrow corner between the back of the door and the tub. (I still have no idea how such a small creature could make so much noise!)  I didn’t know what to do!!  Since it was the middle of the night here, I checked online and tried to call people in the U.S. via skype to see if anyone had any advice. Unfortunately I couldn’t reach anyone.  I thought of killing it with a shoe, but that seemed pretty brutal.  I was exhausted, so I decided ‘well, if it stays in the bathroom, so be it.’

Unfortunately, it did not stay in the bathroom. At around 2 a.m., I awoke again to more rustling coming from the bookcase. I thought “Really?!?!”  I aimed my headlight at it, and it stopped for a bit, and then resumed, then I went and turned on the bedroom light and it scurried into the bathroom again.  I was starting to wish I had clobbered it with my flip flop, but then I couldn’t find it again. I was beside myself.

I began to wonder if maybe it was after a package of cookies I had in my room?  The package was unopened, but still, that was the only new thing I had brought into my room that day.  So I decided to take the cookies to the pantry in the kitchen. Of course, when I went to the kitchen, I saw a big roach. So instead of heading to the pantry, I just left the cookies on the counter and thought “Fine, you can have them!”  Then I went back to bed.

Around 4 a.m., more rustling on the bookshelf. I thought, “Ok, now if I ever get near that thing again, I’m definitely going to kill it!”  This time it seemed the mouse was fiddling around with a necklace I had on the shelf. I got it in Kenya, and it’s made from some kind of seed, so maybe it smells like food to the mouse?  I got up, and of course, the flipping mouse scurried away again.  So I put the necklace in a plastic bag and tied it tight and went back to bed.

Thank goodness, that was the last time the mouse interrupted my sleep that night. I woke up this morning pretty groggy, but saw no traces of the mouse in my room, which was nice. 

I told my Ugandan coworkers the story of the mouse when they got to the office, and they seemed amused with my reactions, but not surprised. Then about 15 minutes later, as if on cue,  the mouse ran through the office and darted behind bookshelves in there.  I was yelling and pointing, and I think everyone just thought I was crazy. 

I was gone the rest of the day in the field and haven’t seen the rodent since I got home.  But I’m pretty sure the stupid thing is still in the house somewhere. I’m just hoping it doesn’t pay me a visit again tonight…