Glis glis

That's right, glis glis? No, I haven't gone gaga yet, it is the Latin name for the edible dormouse or le loir in France, introduced into the UK by the Romans.  For them it was a delicacy for the table but for most people today it is a pest.  Common throughout mainland Europe and the UK today it is a protected species despite wreaking havoc and causing sleepless nights for those with whom it chooses to live.

Dormice are an attractive, cute looking mammal with large dark eyes and that is where any cuddly factor ends. Just after we moved into our home a loir decided to move into the roof space above our bedroom, being nocturnal in habit it did not want to sleep when we did.  Apart from disturbed nights the other main factor is the awful smell from excreted waste matter it was soon obvious that an eviction was paramount. 

There are a number of ways to be rid of them, the obvious path being to set a trap.  Not a practical idea as the roof space is only some six inches deep and virtually inaccessible without major structural alterations!  They like to sleep during the day and hate being disturbed whilst sleeping so the obvious tactic was to make noise in the day, as loud and as frequently as possible.  When we went out we left a radio playing loudly in the bedroom, thankfully we have no immediate neighbours who may have complained. We could not stand the racket of French pop music so a different approach was needed.  Our bedroom roof is supported by a pyramid of large timbers which is a superb piece of carpentry, by knocking loudly on these beams with a broom at random times during the day the desired effect was achieved - said loir packed its bags and left within a couple of days.

Our neighbours now have had a resident loir for several days, not in the preferred lair of roof space but in their ten year old daughter's bedroom who awoke startled in the middle of the night because of scratchings in her bedside cabinet. Naturally she ran to wake her parents, she spent the rest of the night with them.  That morning it was decided to search her room to find the iunwanted intruder but given the more than chaotic state of her room a major turnout was necessary. Naturally this led to tears as it seemed a good opportunity to sort out no longer used or now unloved toys and dolls, the positive side was that a number of long lost little treasures were rediscovered which somewhat made up for others being got rid of!  After half a day of searching had passed - no loir.

Plan B was put into action, several mouse traps baited with chocolate and apple were set. The following morning found all of the traps to have been looted of their tasy morsels but still no loir.  Plan C was next, use a small trap such as that used by local hunters for rabbits etc. The trap was set with part of a banana as bait. Next morning the bait had gone, the trap was sprung and voila, one loir.  The next step was to remove the trapped mammal from its cage, that's where it all went wrong - the loir escaped!

Our neighbours have two cats, one of whom is a veracious hunter so last night Plan D was set in motion - shut said hunter in the bedroom overnight.  So far today no sign of the loir nor of Mille having caught it.

The saga continues ...