Do not read any further if you are afraid of mice.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Because this story involves plenty of them.
Locals are reporting a big surge in mice numbers this year with rural merchandise stores struggling to keep up with demand for mice baits.
One Koroit woman, who did not want to be named, said mice had raided her pantry and nested under her oven, which now reeked of mouse urine.
She said her children had found mice in the toilet and she had found a dead mouse in her shoe last week.
The woman said the big surge in mice numbers started up to four weeks ago.
But her regular laying of mice baits and her cat’s attacks on the rodents had reduced their numbers.
Roger Bade, of Bade Ness Rural at Warrnambool, said his operation had sold significantly more mouse bait this month compared with May last year.
Mr Bade said the demand had come from throughout the south-west and from both dairy and beef farms.
In Warrnambool a lot of demand for baits had come from new housing estates on the city’s outskirts, indicating the mice were moving from rural to urban areas seeking shelter and warmth, he said.
Murray Goulburn Trading Koroit store manager John Ross said this year had been an exceptional year for mouse bait sales and the store had struggled to keep up with demand.
Mr Ross said the mild summer and early autumn break, and the good grain harvest, had provided the mice with the conditions and food supply to flourish this year.