Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms I have a dormouse in my tool shed

Cute little bugger. I talk to him (or her) and tell it that I don't mean any harm and it is quite welcome as long as it doesn't eat anything valuable. It seems to be using a wicker basket that is hanging from a nail as a nest. It has a arrived at the point that it doesn't try to escape and just sits there listening to me. Obviously alert but not afraid. Obviously I will now have to leave the basket untouched, at least whilst it is obviously in residence.

A couple of years back there was another that was using a cardboard box with some tissues in it as a nest but one day I found a lot of blood and later the lifeless body under the Morgan. It may have been injured by a fox.

We have a couple of hazelnut trees so it has a source of food for the winter.



Photo from Wikipedia. I will try to get a photo in the next few days,

How do you stop it eating the Mog leather?

That has happened to me too. They will go for anything moist which they think will afford nourishment, and leather (especially well treated leather) is a target.

They also went for energy gels in my cycling gear , and emergency rations in my kayaking bouyancy aid (gnawing through the pocket to get to it. In the end I had to lay traps for them.

They are a bit fussy when it comes to artificial leather though. I put some spare guitar cases in my shed, and the case for my Taylor 12 string seemed to be especially attractive to our toothsome friends. The PRS case on the right however was untouched for some reason. The other two are ABS plastic, so no worries.

Tim,
I know we are supposed to exercise tolerance and remain polite on this forum but I have to tell you that keeping cases of that calibre out in a shed.....well that pushes a chap almost to the point of outrage. I may have to consider blocking your contributions. Whatever do your guitars think of you? I mean....well, really!
Nick

Second from the right looks like a Hiscox, had one for my accoustic til Ryanair managed to destroy it on a flight from Glasgow to Dublin ..... how do you utterly wreck a proper flight case on a short haul domestic flight with no changes?? .... did it's job tho and saved the guitar ..... never flown with them again



K

Sorry Nick, but there's a limit to how many you can cram under beds or in the attic.




Yep, I have a couple of Hiscox cases and jolly good they are too.

Nick, Tim`s mention of a Taylor guitar and K`s mention of airport damage triggered a memory of a bit of a publicity disaster for United Airlines....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

The Mog is under a car port next to the tool shed but will return to a lower altitude and a dry garage before long. I can only hope our guest listened to my instructions not to eat anything valuable in the mean time. I hope it prefers the hazelnuts which are still a bit green but the empty shells on the ground would seem to indicate that they are edible all the same.

As autumn is approaching there is no shortage of little delicacies to be had. I am more worried about the field mice who do seem to hava a tendency to eat the most unexpected things, such as the plastic fuel tubes on the lawn mower and the brush cutter They also leave holes in my polyweave garden rubbish sacks!

The UK dormouse is a more golden colour than grey. I suggest your resident could be a little grey squirrel - eating hazel nuts and all.