Sadly, this story won’t be side-crakingly funny like all my other mouse tales (shameless plug - read all the way through both posts, there are many mouse tales there). Nevertheless, it bears mentioning.
I went to work yesterday in order to do a bunch of maintenance. Basically, it was stuff that can’t be done while people are actually using the network - rewiring, neatening up cabling, moving routers etc etc.
So I was in the server room, ripping out heaps of useless DEC cabling. The server room is on a raised floor, and all sorts of cables come into the rack from underneath this floor. The tiles are removable, if you have a special suction-cup doodad. Which of course I didn’t have. So my efforts were limited to yanking on cabling and hoping it would come loose.
So I’m yanking on this crappy cabling, and finally it comes loose. I start to reel it in (it was long!), and finally the bottom of the rack is free of cables. And then, I see it.
“Hmm. That looks awfully tail-like.”, I thought. “In fact, it looks awfully mouse-tail-like.” Now, my recent experiences with mice have led to my becoming somewhat… inured to their presence. The concept of hand-to-paw combat is not unknown to me, nor am I uncomfortable with it. So, I hefted up my pliers and readied myself for another battle of epic proportions.
But the tail didn’t move. It was at that point that I lifted the rest of the cabling and discovered the rest of the mouse. Mummified.
See, a single cable on its own is pretty light. But reels and reels of cable can be quite heavy. I don’t really know quite how it happened, but it seems this mouse became caught underneath a large bunch of cabling, and I presume, starved to death. And the heat generated by the rack, although not excessive, led to the mouse drying out, as opposed to decomposing. For this, I am very glad, because after my last experience with a decomposed mouse, it is not something I’d care to have happen in my server room.
Over time the cable must’ve worn away at the mouse’s fur, because the mouse was not exactly intact. The fur between its front paws and the bottom of its jaw was gone, exposing tiny, tiny mouse bones. I saw the underneath of its lower mandible, some vertebrae and the beginnings of its rib cage.
I know this probably sounds morbid, but it was very cool. Although I don’t like looking at the insides of humans, I am somewhat intrigued by the anatomy of animals, and I found this experience to be quite educational.
Anyway, just thought I’d share 
Max.