I've got a wheely good mouse in the house

4:12pm Wednesday 12th September 2007

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WHEN I excitedly told my mother we had mice, she replied soothingly: "Don't worry - you'll have to call in someone to get rid of them."

I tried telling her that, actually, we had bought them from a shop and they were now special guests in our house. But I'm afraid the pest control method is most people's reaction to hearing about our new pets.

The general public has a fear and loathing of mice, which is a real shame because - as we've found over the last fortnight - they are actually brilliant, cute and clever creatures.

Rodents, I have to confess, were not my first choice. But we were spurred on by my son's favourite TV show, Tom and Jerry, and decided to take the plunge on Bank Holiday Monday.

The only trouble was that most pet shops don't seem to stock mice. After several frustrating calls, I asked one shop assistant why.

The answer was that snake owners often buy them for their reptile's dinner, and the shop in question didn't believe in selling live feed.

So poor old mice are really the lowest of the low. But it gets worse for them, as our research discovered. In the wild, their life expectancy is only three months because every predator eats them.

Even in captivity they generally only last 18 months to two years and are prone to all sorts of illnesses.

Nevertheless, we steamed in and bought two females when we finally found a shop that had them.

I've never liked the idea of caged animals, and I still don't. But somehow, it felt good to be sparing these creatures from being a snake's main course.

We bought a massively-expensive cage, complete with tubes which led to a giant wheel on one side and a see-through box on the other, where we were told they would sleep.

My son named them Alison and Sarah and we settled down to watch them.

I always imagined mice were merely dumb characterless vermin who scurried around aimlessly until they were eaten by the cat.

But our two have proved they do have completely different personalities. Alison is quiet, meek and sleeps a lot, but has no fear when humans come near.

Sarah, on the other hand, is monster mouse. She grows bigger by the day and stays awake constantly.

Her main hobby is the giant wheel. She pedals furiously all day long, often flying backwards with the sheer force of the momentum. I have never seen anything quite like it as her little feet pump up and down ferociously.

Alison, meanwhile, pokes her head in and watches but cannot match the power.

I never previously took much notice of rodents using wheels, and I still don't quite understand what they get out of it. Never mind, because it's awesomely impressive.

There is one downside, though. Whenever Sarah uses the wheel, she leaves unpleasant mementos all over it. I reckon the roller coaster effect turns her stomach upside down, making her go whenever she's on the wheel.

Her obsession is matched by Mrs Editor's Chair who spends all day taking the wheel off and cleaning it.

Our Wycombe District Council green bin now has organic matter of a very different sort.

But our love for our rodents leaves one nagging question. What would happen now if ever wild mice got in to our house?

In the old days, I would have taken my mum's advice and called in the pest busters, or I would have borrowed a cat.

Now, instead of a mouse trap, we'd probably buy another wheel and let them all line up and have a go.

To see Sarah the mouse in action on the wheel, click the video icon on this page.