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Mouse cleans man’s shed - 26th January 2024

A mouse was filmed cleaning a garden shed. Rodney Holbrook, who works in the shed, discovered the tiny cleaner. Peanuts that he fed to birds were disappearing. Holbrook wanted to find the thief.

Rodney Holbrook: “I noticed the nuts that was in the box that I had in there had suddenly disappeared. And I thought well I haven’t used them to feed the birds. So I thought I’ll put some nuts back in again. Next morning, the nuts were gone again. Strange. Someone’s pinching the peanuts.”

Holbrook’s hobby is nature photography. He set up his camera, which has a night time setting, in the shed. He was amazed by the mouse.

Rodney Holbrook: “When I looked at the uh– at the videos I captured, I thought that is amazing. Even though I’d seen it before, similar to it in uh, in uh, 2019. I could not believe this is happening again. I really could not. It was amazing.”

Holbrook had seen this behaviour before. A few years ago, a different mouse in England had cleaned his friend’s shed. So, Holbrook gave the new mouse the name “The Welsh Tidy Mouse”.

The Welsh Tidy Mouse is serious about cleaning. Every night, it picks up little items like paper and clothes pegs, which it puts away into the box with the peanuts. But why does it tidy the shed so seriously? Holbrook thinks that it wants to hide the peanuts.

Rodney Holbrook: “It’s picking up all the items on the deh- on the uh, on the uh top there, to hide the nuts. Hide the peanuts. I think it’s, it’s actually just hiding them from any other mice. So he, he’s kinda saying that’s mine peanuts. So you’re not– no one else is having them.”

The tiny tidier’s made the news in many countries. Mr and Mrs Holbrook are enjoying their 5 minutes of fame, and the mouse has no complaints either. For its hard work, it’s paid in peanuts.

Rodney Holbrook: “It’s a bit of a joke to say this, but I pay him peanuts. Which ain’t a lot. But I pay him peanuts.”