Prepping: the new world...

Cherryfudge

There is such a lot of sense in this, @Broomstick . I think I will copy your idea for the car - I feel sorry for your mouse but I would rather not feed them! I have a spare biscuit tin that I could easily stock up with some small snacks, as well as the foil blankets and some first aid stuff. I used to have access to a good list for cars but it was on a group that's closed and most of the time, we don't need it so it's largely lapsed.

I recharge my laptop and phone daily, toothbrush a couple of times a week as it's ancient, and Kindle about once a week. The power bank doesn't get used much so it just gets topped up if there's a forecast of power cuts.

I had forgotten about keeping cash to hand as well: that's one I'd like to get back to. I have £11.76 in my purse right now: that wouldn't feed us for long. Mind you, my small purse also has spare sticking plasters, hair bands, a piece of emery board and some nail scissors, and those do get used!

P.S. off topic but on the subject of mice, I once stayed in a house that wasn't used much of the year. Two packets of gluten free pasta had been discovered in a cupboard by the mice, who had eaten the entire contents of one and sampled but mostly ignored the one next to it. No difference in accessibility, so presumably there are things they just don't like!

Broomstick

@Cherryfudge I think planning ahead for pests is something worth doing. As well as the visitor to the car, I've had two invasions by mice in my current home. I debated humane mousetraps but they were relatively costly and I knew I'd have to buy loads because the first time I seemed to have been invaded by an extended family seeking warmth as well as nourishment - it was freezing outside. That was the time of the car-mouse as well. They chomped their way through some very unappetising stuff in the under-sink cupboard - none of it human 'food' from what I remember - and then moved on to the main rooms. I bulk bought a big box of traditional mousetraps and got the problem sorted.

The following winter, as soon as I spotted mouse #1, I acted, and ended up having to kill far fewer, maybe because they didn't have time to show all their friends the way in, or live to breed some more. It was hugely useful to have the means to deal with them so quickly. Spare traps are definitely on my list of non-food items to always have in store.

Being prepared to deal with the local wildlife, including insects, and co-exist in a way that works for all of us, with entry points blocked is important especially if you have tasty stores of their favourite foods. They are essential parts of the food chain after all but it's awful to have to throw out human food that's been got at.

Cherryfudge

@Broomstick , we have a bundle of humane traps as the meece seem to appear with the colder weather. I agree, fast action is key as they breed so rapidly. We did some sealing up of possible entry points but I think the last couple have got in around the pipes where the sink and washer drain out of the house. They seem to get through tiny spaces though wire wool is pretty good as a filler.

MrsCD

Popping in to say we're having problems with rats in our garden, so we've had to buy some of their special 'food' to put in the locked boxes, with a 'run-through the side. I'd always been told if there are rats, you won't have mice, but today I saw a small mouse too... oh well, as long as they stay outside until we sort them out!

We have gardens close by with sheds, with nice spaces underneath for them..

Keep calm and carry on as they say!

DigForVictory

Much intrigued to know what a mouse-proof snack might consist of, other than your choice in a sealed tin. I've an elderly NATO cook set in the car (the sort of thing certain vintage of camper has, bought from the army surplus after the Falklands), so that should I break down a long way from anywhere, there will still be tea. Not giving odds on biscuits, and have a couple of those cheap flapjack bars that are filling without being flavoursome. (I have to fend off teenagers as well as other pests, despite them being family.)

Chez Dig, strategically placed Brillo pads can be seen where mice have tried to enter. A mouth full of wire wool is really not popular.

DigForVictory

Anyone got family on holiday in Tenerife? Their Storm Therese must be making the sun & sand a bit surreal as I gather there's snow….? Plus heavy rain & severe winds - the easter egg hunt will be different.