HELP! Why Do Mice Go to My Pool to Die? Where Do They Disappear to Once Dead?

pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 12:15
Last edited 05/08/2018 - 15:33 by 1 other user

This is a real head scratcher. I need some real-life Sherlocks to help me solve the mystery of what happened to the dead mice I found in my pool.

Twice now I've found a dead mouse in the pool. A month or two apart. I'm terrified of the suckers and may need to sell or burn the place to the ground unless I can logically explain their disappearance. Part of me thinks these mice might be coming back to life and continuing their lives as some kind of 'Danger Mouse'-esque super villains (hence the 'terrorist' tag on this post).

FIRST MOUSE
First mouse was found floating on the surface of the water. I discovered it early one morning but decided against scooping it out immediately as I wanted to be 10000% sure it was dead (the thought of a mouse running up my net as I tried to scoop it out terrified me). I spent some time awaiting its definite death and devising a suitable game plan to ensure I didn't have to touch the filthy/terrifying thing.

Next morning, the critter was still there, floating on the water. Satisfied it was dead, I then spent a few further hours mustering the courage to get rid of the execrable thing. When I finally manned-up enough to go and fish it out, it was gone. Vanished. Nowhere to be seen.

Not on the surface, not on the bottom, not in the skimmer. Nowhere.

"Ah good", I thought to myself, "Some bird must've fished it out for me. Good riddance!"
…. or did it??

SECOND MOUSE
Fast forward a month or so (probably more) to Friday midday where I discovered another dead mouse in the pool. This time, the mouse was at the bottom of the pool. Slap-bang in the middle of the deepest part. About 2m from any of the pool's sides and 1.8m down. No chance of life.

Though convinced the mouse was dead (it was on the bottom and positively lifeless), I still needed to muster some courage and devise a game plan. Took me 2 days. I tell myself I was commemorating the loss of another mousey comrade and that the grieving process justified the 2 day wait.

I've just gone out to the pool (Sunday midday) to dispose the corpse and to my astonishment, the mystery has confounded itself further as mouse #2 has also completely vanished.

Right now, I'm terrified something even more sinister than filthy, bin-picking rodents is lurking in my backyard…

HELP! I need some theories (or perhaps someone courageous enough to buy the place so I can get out!)

TLDR;
- I'm terrified of mice
- I'm even more terrified of things that might eat mice
- Two mice have died in my pool recently. One floating for a few days before disappearance, the other at the bottom of the pool for a few days before disappearance.
- What could have happened to the mice?
- I may never be able to swim in the pool again unless I can solve the mystery

Home & Garden Computer Peripheral Mouse

Comments

  • Quantumcat on 05/08/2018 - 12:35
    +101

    You have a sea snake living in your pool, hiding in the ventilation system by day and coming out to eat when it smells any organic matter, whether that be leaves, dead mice, or your toes.

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 12:39
      +29

      :O Why did you have to be the first commenter?
      EEK!

      • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 05/08/2018 - 15:54
        +2

        Are you neighbours with Michael Barrymore?

      • legendary-noob on 07/08/2018 - 22:29

        maybe someone else at home just got fed up and decided to take thing in his/her own hands…..

    • OzzyOzbourne on 06/08/2018 - 13:56
      +5

      More likely to be a croc. Sea snakes only like salt-water

    • supersabroso on 07/08/2018 - 09:05
      +2

      Mate, buy a Yi outdoor Camera. Your sanity and life problems will be solved.

      They're probably stuck in your pipes.

    • Cyberninja on 07/08/2018 - 23:07

      or your toes…

      Or.. :P

  • bobbified on 05/08/2018 - 12:55
    +4

    Have you got a pool pump or anything that could have sucked the corpses into its pipes?

    Could large birds have flown over and picked up the dead bodies?

  • loulou1 on 05/08/2018 - 13:34
    +2

    love the tags.

    I have nothing helpful to add but love the sound of my own voice (or look of my own typing) so i shall comment anyway. We had dead rats. Way more disgusting than dead mice. They were in the yard, then they weren't. Creepy AF. The mystery of their whereabouts didn't take too long to solve. They somehow managed to get their dead bodies into our retaining wall and stank like nothing else. I had to summon up the courage to remove the bodies. I think i need counselling as it was quite some time ago and the thought of it still makes me shudder. I think it is like action movies, always takes more than once to kill the baddies (in this case mice/rats)

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 13:55
      +1

      perish the thought, but perhaps something more sinister dragged them into the retaining wall?

      Let me know how counselling goes….

  • [Deactivated] on 05/08/2018 - 14:01
    +1

    Sounds like someone who knows you are afraid of mice is messing with you.

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 14:11
      +1

      Plausible, but unlikely… No one would know I'm scared of mice - I'm a macho otherwise :P

  • afoveht on 05/08/2018 - 15:42
    +20

    You call the mice filthy yet you're the one leaving rotting corpses in your pool for days?

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 20:48
      +5

      Haha, you're spot on. Made me giggle too

      • Atazoth616 on 07/08/2018 - 00:33

        "Made me giggle too"

        So much for being macho.

    • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 05/08/2018 - 23:33
      +1

      if OP turned into a rotting corpse I highly doubt the vermin would help out. I takes two to tango.

  • chumlee on 05/08/2018 - 15:47
    +11

    Maybe they are going to the pool as it's a source of waterto drink particularly if you have laid rat bait down

  • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 05/08/2018 - 15:48
    +2

    Buy a cat.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/08/2018 - 16:10
      +9

      Cats don't like water though, how is it gonna catch these aquatic mice?

      • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 05/08/2018 - 16:12
        +13

        Turkish van cat. Or perhaps the cat will catch and slaughter the land based mice before they attempt to enter their aquatic state.

  • kipps on 05/08/2018 - 16:12
    +32

    Someone has probably recently poisoned their house nearby. The poison causes the pests (mice) to want to find water by making them thirsty (so that they don't die in the walls). I'd explain the disappearing mice by birds.

    • UFO on 06/08/2018 - 12:02
      +4

      Spot on!

      The poison makes them so desperate for water, they'll lean in too far and fall in. The problem is, once the water hits their stomach the acid in the poison activates, killing the mouse. It's as kipps has said… it stops them dying in the roof or wall and causing smell when they die. It ensures they die outside near the water source. Your pool edge prevents them from getting out and dying nearby.

      The other remote possibility is that they are simply drowning trying to get a drink (and there's no poison).

      Either way, I'd place a couple of small bowls with water near the pool at different points in your garden. That way, you'll avoid seeing them.
      If you don't have pets or children, put some RatSak out as well. At least that way, you'll help reduce the numbers… because if you can see ONE, there's DEFINITELY more nearby.

      • cameldownunder on 06/08/2018 - 12:38

        Put a plank leading in and out of the pool. Tie it with a rope so it does not slip in to the pool.

        • UFO on 06/08/2018 - 14:05

          Yeah but then they still go for a free swim until they find the plank. I'd rather the rodents not touch my beautiful clean pool water at all :).

  • Quantumcat on 05/08/2018 - 16:31
    +6

    If you want to get rid of the mice before they get to your pool here is how to make a good mouse trap where you don't have to get too close and personal with them, and is less cruel than poison.

    • Get a really tall bucket, like maybe one used by a catering company.
    • Get an empty can of soft drink and drill hole in bottom
    • Get a clothes hanger and bend it straight
    • Take off handle of bucket
    • thread one end of clothes hanger through one hole from the handle
    • thread through can, make sure it can spin freely (if not, make drilled hole bigger)
    • thread other end through other hole
    • spread can in peanut butter
    • put 30cm at least of water in the bucket, optionally add anti freeze
    • Leave outside, with a wood plank ramp perpendicular to the can
    • empty bodies into a skip every few days and refill, or when full if you used antifreeze (which stops the bodies rotting)
    • [Deactivated] on 05/08/2018 - 16:32

      Neat

    • afoveht on 05/08/2018 - 19:06

      You can do the same thing omitting the water/antifreeze and simply relocate the caught mice rather than suffocating them.

      • Quantumcat on 05/08/2018 - 20:23

        Then you have to tend to it every day unless dying of thirst/hunger is better than a quick drowning

        • afoveht on 06/08/2018 - 08:50

          Then you have to tend to it every day

          Yes.

      • Jolakot on 06/08/2018 - 12:19

        That's far more cruel than just letting them drown. Mice and rats are cannibals, you leave them trapped in a bucket overnight and you'll end up with one fat mouse covered in blood.

        • afoveht on 06/08/2018 - 17:26
          +1

          You must live amongst the most ravaging mice on earth if that is your experience; I'd be scared to live where you live.

    • Switchblade88 on 05/08/2018 - 19:16
      +2

      We just used the 'nail in each end of a stick' trick instead. Balanced that over a notched bucket with a stick ramp, add peanut butter around the middle of the stick and away you go.

      We were 'collecting' about 30 to 50 mice a night during our mouse plague at work (2009ish?). Mind you, they were probably breeding in the 100m3 of sawdust we had outside, but still - gross.

      • try2bhelpful on 05/08/2018 - 19:19
        +4

        If you have a plague of mice then you don't need a cat you need a dog. The cats get bored after a while but the dogs just bite them and then go for the next one. The other half lived on a farm as a kid and the farm dogs were much more useful than the farm cat when the plagues hit.

        • Scab on 06/08/2018 - 09:47

          Especially small terriers.

        • try2bhelpful on 06/08/2018 - 15:46

          @Scab: They were bred to be ratters.

        • Scab on 06/08/2018 - 15:48

          @try2bhelpful:

          Yeah, they're pretty good at it.

          There's videos of them on YouTube and they kill dozens of them and never get tired.

        • try2bhelpful on 06/08/2018 - 16:05

          @Scab: I'm squeamish, I don't want to see the videos; but I know they are very good at it.

        • rompastompa on 07/08/2018 - 11:11
          +1

          @try2bhelpful: Chickens are the best mice catchers. They're mini dinosaurs. Only probably is that they can't hunt at night.

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 20:53
      +1

      I don't mean to sound rude (and thanks for the suggestion), but this sounds harder than just waiting for them to disappear as they do in my pool… :P

      • Quantumcat on 05/08/2018 - 21:46
        +1

        Unless they're getting sucked into your pool cleaning stuff and causing blockages

    • MITM on 05/08/2018 - 21:00
      +5

      Name checks out

    • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 05/08/2018 - 23:25

      nice.

    • eug on 06/08/2018 - 19:10
      +1

      You were a day early for Mousetrap Monday!

    • hawktalk on 06/08/2018 - 23:25

      I shall call you the MacGyver of the pest patrol world!

    • Neenie Beamer on 06/08/2018 - 23:35

      Effective, cool, but uuuggghhh, still!

  • try2bhelpful on 05/08/2018 - 17:04
    +2

    If you don't like mice, get a cat. The only time we have seen mice with our place is the very tiny hiatus where we didn't have a cat. The little beggar ran across the floor in plain sight. When we got the replacement cats the mice disappeared again. My phobia isn't mice it is spiders. There is no logic in the phobias they are a primal reaction to something in the object of the loathing. In my case it is the way spiders move, I get the man to put them outside for me. I don't want them dead I just don't want to be able to see them.

    Thought you might enjoy this. The soapbox series is well worth watching.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNaXguD7tFM

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 21:17

      I'm even more terrified of things that eat mice…

      • pennypincha on 06/08/2018 - 07:08

        Haha that video though (have just watched it) perfectly sums up my predicament. Hilarious!

      • Wardaddy on 06/08/2018 - 12:34

        I'm guessing that your not in the SAS.

    • chichi on 06/08/2018 - 09:43
      +1

      Don't cats bring you their dead mice though? I'm scared of mice also and even the thought of dead mouse/rat bodies horrifies me.

      • cameldownunder on 06/08/2018 - 17:19
        +1

        Mostly they bring them ALIVE, for you to play with.

        • chichi on 06/08/2018 - 20:18

          Well that sounds delightful.

  • Godric on 05/08/2018 - 17:15
    +1

    Catch them and sell them to reptilian pet owners

    • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 05/08/2018 - 17:24
      +5

      Are they owners of reptiles or are the owners reptilian with baby reptiles or both?

      • Godric on 05/08/2018 - 17:40
        +1

        Um.. nfi

    • Quantumcat on 05/08/2018 - 20:25
      +1

      Not if any of the neighbours use poison

  • GregMonarch on 05/08/2018 - 17:54
    +1

    Birds do dive under water for food too.

  • BertieBrown on 05/08/2018 - 18:48
    +4

    Rat-Mouse baits are made from more advanced versions of the drug Warfarin. Warfarin, is used therapeutically in humans as a blood thinner, often to help those with heart conditions or heart related disease in order to more readily promote blood flow, as the blood is then easier for the heart to pump around the body.

    In higher doses, Warfarin can cause internal organs to bleed. It also means that wounds will take longer to heal, and will bleed readily and continually as the blood clotting properties have been compromised. This process can create hyper thirst as the body attempts to replace the fluids that are being lost due to the bleeding, which aren't satiated as often (ideally) a Rat or Mouse will continue to consume rat bait.

    This doesn't always mean that a rodent will seek out a water source. Sometimes if an animal has consumed enough poison it will basically just slowly fatigue and then die.

    It's really, really awful stuff. I mean, it's been designed specifically to kill animals.

    Typically though, secondary poisoning is not guaranteed, however certain groups are more dangerous to other pets in terms of secondary poisoning than others.

    My sense is that this is probably why you are potentially finding mice in, or around the pool, as they are searching for a water source, as I think mice can swim and so may not necessarily drown in the pool, however are lethargic from poisoning and then succumb eventually when in the water.

    That's just my thoughts.

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 20:56
      +3

      Great explanation, not quite as exciting as my danger mouse theory, but good all the same. Thank you!

    • OBone on 05/08/2018 - 22:54
      +3

      Your explanation of how Warfarin works is inaccurate.
      It has nothing to do with making it easier for the heart to pump blood around the body.
      Warfarin reduces the ability of the blood to clot easily and in high doses causes internal bleeding.
      It is prescribed to those with an increased risk of stroke, which can be a result of certain heart conditions.

      • BertieBrown on 06/08/2018 - 12:15

        Thanks for the reply and the info, happy to stand corrected. :)

    • Copt on 06/08/2018 - 00:02
      +2

      Warfarin doesn't LITERALLY thin your blood. It has nothing to do with people with heart disease or heart conditions except to be used to prevent blood clots that can result from the heart not working as it should. It also stops things like deep venous clots that can migrate up and cause catastrophic pulmonary embolisms.

      The danger warfarin poses for mice is the same as for humans if they took too much of it, you lose all of your ability to clot your blood and you end up having a massive bleed that your body can't stop.

      • BertieBrown on 06/08/2018 - 12:16

        Thanks for the clarification, I stand corrected. :)

    • BertieBrown on 06/08/2018 - 12:16

      So, I was wrong. See the comments above for more info. :)

  • iforgotmysocks on 05/08/2018 - 20:22
    +7

    Seems like a suicide cult.

  • apey2000 on 05/08/2018 - 20:55
    +3

    The mice are running away from your possessed house and drowning in your pool. Whatever is possessing your house to begin with is responsible for consuming the mice corpses. Once it consumes enough corpses its strength will grow to the point where you may need to recruit Tom Cruise to rid you of the evil in your house (and your pool).

    Good luck, and let us know how it pans out!

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 20:58
      +1

      Eep! The only good thing about this comment is the mice running away from my abode

      • apey2000 on 05/08/2018 - 21:00

        Throws a garlic-flavoured-olive, impaled on a cross, in your general direction

  • MITM on 05/08/2018 - 21:04

    I think the mouse at the bottom of the pool finally imploded due to the water pressure at that depth. Look for fur balls in the skimmer box.

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 21:19
      +1

      1.8m, enough to explode a mouse?

  • sraymond on 05/08/2018 - 21:07
    +2

    No idea why mice are turning up in your pool. Could be feeding on some moss or lychen etc on the edge and simply falling in then drowning. Just need to say there is no truth in the statements relating to rodenticide and dehydration. It’s an old wives tale and it needs to be debunked every time. Here are just a few links from universities and other qualified organisations with info about this and just general information describing the way rodenticide effects rats and mice.

    https://totalwildlifecontrol.com/critter-facts-control/roden…

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodenticide

    https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/uncategorized/common-misco…

    http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/rodenticides.html

    • pennypincha on 05/08/2018 - 21:09

      Hmm, interesting. Good sources, I trust them.

      This mystery has been blown wide open again!!

  • cloudy on 05/08/2018 - 21:38
    +5

    All I have to say is I love Ozbargain

  • T1OOO on 05/08/2018 - 21:51
    +1

    They are poisoned they run to water to try help it. But end up dying.

    • [Deactivated] on 06/08/2018 - 10:15

      I remember reading ratsack does that to them

  • tristanmarsh on 05/08/2018 - 22:32

    After stirring up such intrigue I hope you're at least considering live streaming said pool and allowing the collective OzBargain Sherlock community the satisfaction of solving this one.

  • [Deactivated] on 05/08/2018 - 22:45
    +1

    Broken hearts, drowning their sorrows, that's what's happening bro.

  • Herbse on 05/08/2018 - 23:56
    +2

    It's the same mouse.

    • pennypincha on 06/08/2018 - 04:58

      I thought about this too… I very much doubt it's the same mouse as the second was considerably bigger than the first.

      Plus, I've never searched for something so thoroughly - I couldn't believe either of them had just vanished into thin air! They definitely disappeared

      • Velt on 06/08/2018 - 09:22
        +2

        If the corpse had become bloated due to decomposing in the water it would be bigger. Should see what happens to human bodies in the water.

        • pennypincha on 06/08/2018 - 13:41

          Mmm, interesting theory - plausible.

          Still doesn't explain the disappearance though!

        • khomeini on 07/08/2018 - 12:36

          Catchy, just watch a movie called Triangle. That explains exactly, yet eerily, what is happening to your mices.

  • John on 06/08/2018 - 03:23
    +5

    Mice has resurrected. Twice. Next week your pool water will turn into wine.

    Cheesus!

  • cashless on 06/08/2018 - 03:36
    +3

    The Butler did it

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