in the words of Marvin Gaye...

[habanerocat]

Is that a mouse dropping among the gravel?

A mouse with constipation......

[MikeT]

A mouse with constipation......

We have field mice in the garden, and every now and then get one (or more) in the house. The droppings are always hard, I presume to minimise water loss. If the Lobivia is 2cm, then the 'dropping' is about 2mm, so size would be right. Tricky to gauge the texture from the photo. Certainly can't see any mouse teeth marks on the plants.

[JonNo]

A mouse with constipation......

We have field mice in the garden, and every now and then get one (or more) in the house. The droppings are always hard, I presume to minimise water loss. If the Lobivia is 2cm, then the 'dropping' is about 2mm, so size would be right. Tricky to gauge the texture from the photo. Certainly can't see any mouse teeth marks on the plants.

Eek! My other half is obsessively house proud and always looking for reasons to do away with my little collection, which she hates with a passion... If she got even a whiff of your theory that would undoubtedly be that..!

We too get the occasional field mouse in the garden, but I'm absolutely sure none have made their way into the house. Even so, I will investigate the "suspect" bits of stone a little further just for peace of mind..!

[MikeT]

Eek! My other half is obsessively house proud and always looking for reasons to do away with my little collection, which she hates with a passion... If she got even a whiff of your theory that would undoubtedly be that..!

So why would you want to remove a plant that gives warning of mice being about? It would be like getting rid of a smoke detector because it lets you know there's smoke, and you don't like smoke. The detector doesn't cause what's it's warning about. If there do turn out to be any mice, it proves that you need more cacti as your early warning system.

Along with all the other reasons for needing more cacti.

[JonNo]

Eek! My other half is obsessively house proud and always looking for reasons to do away with my little collection, which she hates with a passion... If she got even a whiff of your theory that would undoubtedly be that..!

So why would you want to remove a plant that gives warning of mice being about? It would be like getting rid of a smoke detector because it lets you know there's smoke, and you don't like smoke. The detector doesn't cause what's it's warning about. If there do turn out to be any mice, it proves that you need more cacti as your early warning system.

Along with all the other reasons for needing more cacti.

An excellent argument - that would be dismissed in seconds..!