# Strange acting mouse--cause for concern?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318 "2003-07-05T00:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/1 "2003-07-05T00:35:20Z")
It’s my understanding that some diseases in wild animals cause strange behavior, e.g. rabies. I just saw a mouse out back that was acting oddly. I was walking around back to the cellar and as I began to take the first step down off the back patio, I saw a mouse sitting there on the cobblestone path. It didn’t move. I said, “Hey!” and it didn’t move. I moved around, trying to look imposing, and it didn’t move. I thought that maybe it was dead, although that would be _really_ strange since it was in a standard live-mouse position. (From my limited mouse experience.) So then I bend over and look more closely, and I see that it is breathing (heavily?) and shaking. So I grab a tall (3’) piece of grass and poke at it. It doesn’t move. It just breathes and shakes. So I swat at it lightly with the long grass and it moves a few steps. I harrass it a little more and it runs for about one foot and then stops, sits, and shakes. I’m thinking that:[ul][li]My dad would want me to kill it. But it is cute, and there ain’t no way that I’m gonna be left cleaning that thing off my shoe.[_]It should be running off, scared shitless by the giant monster swatting it with a 60’ tree branch.[_]This seems really odd. Could it be sick? Should I call animal control? Would they want to know about a strangely behaving mouse?How am I gonna keep this little bastard in place?[/ul][/li]So I stand there for a minute making up my mind, and I decide that I’ll up-end a bucket over the little guy. It takes me a couple minutes to find the bucket, and by the time I return, he’s gone. So, I ask you, was this mouse behaving strangely and in a manner that should cause me some concern? If so, is this the sort of strange behavior that the Authorities should know about? Please, no Terrorist Mouse Jokes. Unless it’s a really good one. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/2 "2003-07-05T01:43:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by js\_africanus \* > \*\*I said, “Hey!” and it didn’t move. \*\* Maybe in mouse language “Hey!” means “Don’t move or I’ll step on you.” ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/3 "2003-07-05T05:22:35Z")
I believe that mice, like other rodents, don’t get rabies. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/4 "2003-07-05T05:54:43Z")
“Please, no Terrorist Mouse Jokes. Unless it’s a really good one.” What about thread title jokes? “A strange, acting mouse? Did he have a SAG card?” ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/5 "2003-07-05T06:29:03Z")
Defense mechanisms vary widely throughout the animal world. For the very smallest of animals, freezing can sometimes pay off as an avoidance strategy. Many larger (mouse hunting) animals have poor eyesight. Movement can often trigger a prey response much quicker than remaining motionless. Notice how your cat expresses little interest in a motionless toy. Now wiggle that same toy intermittently, so as to give it rodent-like movements, and watch your kitty get all crazy on it. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/6 "2003-07-05T07:08:47Z")
…and I thought this was a computer problem - I was all set to tell the OP to clean the gunk off his mouseball or change the batteries in his cordless mouse, as appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/7 "2003-07-05T12:00:34Z")
The mouse is (according to my limited experience) dying from the common mouse poison Warfin (Spelling?). This stuff is commonly used as mousebait and kills by (wait you really don;t want to know this.) (really) … By causing the blood-clotting mechanism to fail. It is therefore a slow-acting posion and so even the most supsious rodent will get a leathal dose before he realizes it. Anywho, it seem the blood leaks into their little mosy eyeball, making their world go black. When they can’t see, the move into the light and then stop moving entirely. I find them waiting outside my bedroom door some mornings. See, I told you you didin’t want to know. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/8 "2003-07-05T12:27:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MLS \* > I believe that mice, like other rodents, don’t get rabies. WHAT? ! ! Please! They are a prime vector of rabies! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/9 "2003-07-05T14:00:27Z")
You should have killed it with a stick and put it in a plastic bag. The mouse is very likely ill with a disease of some sort. Maybe [hanta virus](http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/Virology/16/), and now you’re going to die becase you did not dispatch bit quickly and it pooped it’s hanta virus stuff everywhere. > [@](#): > > Reservoir and Transmission: found naturally in various species of small rodents, dependent on the type of strain, transmitted to humans via aerosolized excreta causing either HPS (Hanta Pulmonary Syndrome) or HFRS (Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome) depending on Hantavirus type Hanta virus _everywhere_! ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/10 "2003-07-05T15:05:02Z")
Mice are NOT a major vector for rabies. Prophylactic treatment is generally not recommended. [Postexposure guide](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Professional/ACIP/00001706.htm) [CDC 1999 Recommendations](http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056176.htm) [CDC 2001 survey](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Professional/publications/Surveillance/Surveillance01/text01.htm) > [@](#): > > Small rodents (e.g., squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, and mice) and lagomorphs (including rabbits and hares) are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans. _From 1999 recommendations_ ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/11 "2003-07-05T15:14:51Z")
\>\> Mice are NOT a major vector for rabies Ok, I stand corrected, but they can get it. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/12 "2003-07-05T18:23:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DarrenS \* > \*\*… I was all set to tell the OP to clean the gunk off his mouseball \*\* Maybe that’s why it was acting so funny. it’s balls were… WHAT?! okay fine [goes into corner and sulks] ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-acting-mouse-cause-for-concern/186318/13 "2003-07-05T22:20:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peri \* > **Mice are NOT a major vector for rabies. Prophylactic treatment is generally not recommended.** Since I first heard this, I’ve wondered why rodents are not rabies-carriers. In the case of mice, I imagine that if anything bites a mouse it will probably kill it, anyway. Other than that, is there a reason why?