Why Wales' tidy mouse loves 'mousekeeping'

It has gone viral, captured worldwide attention and been dubbed Welsh Tidy Mouse after being spotted on camera keeping a shed spick and span.

But why is this meticulous mouse so keen on keeping things squeaky clean?

Experts say it is probably enjoying building a nest, dragging items back to somewhere it considers safe.

So we could even say the domestic little creature captured on camera by Rodney Holbrook in Builth Wells, Powys, is doing a spot of mousekeeping.

The retired postman repeatedly found objects he had left out tidied away overnight and said the tidying ritual had been going on for two months.

"It might be that the mouse is actually finding this rewarding," said Megan Jackson from the University of Bristol.

"It does look like maybe the mouse is scouting out its environment to find things that it think might be useful for a nest and bringing it back to a place that seems to be safe," said Dr Jackson.

She studies motivating behaviour and uses mice in her research.

Rodney Holbrook, 75, couldn't believe he had captured the mouse on camera in his own shed

Mr Holbrook believes the mouse is using the objects to hide away nuts.

The camera captured it picking up clothes pegs, corks, nuts and bolts.

"Mice are like the magpies of the rodent world," Cardiff-based pest control expert Gareth Davies said.

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"They just collect things and hoard them because they think they're prepping for the future and hard times," he added.

Mr Holbrook has nicknamed the decluttering rodent Welsh Tidy Mouse, to avoid confusion with another mouse spotted keeping a shed in order in Bristol in 2019.

Mr Davies said he did not believe the mouse was tidying, but rather making a "secure area and hoarding everything that could be useful in the future".

"They'll collect anything," he said, adding he once found 40 metal bottle tops in a box.

The mouse places all the bits and bobs back into a pot on the workbench

Dr Jackson said mice were "really cognitively complex".

"They can learn loads of new things and this mouse has clearly learnt something because it is making that association with the box," she said.

In her research, she has looked at foraging behaviour in mice for nesting material and seen very similar patterns, with mice collecting nesting materials and dragging them back to a box that seems safe.

"That behaviour is really robust, really intrinsic to mice. We see it repeated a lot," she said.

She did acknowledge the case of Welsh Tidy Mouse was "definitely an interesting one".

"Some of the objects that were described don't really sound like things that would be good for building a nest," she said.

"Typically a mouse would want something that forms a really good structure and then something that would help keep it warm," she added.

Mr Holbrook said he thought it was possible that the mouse enjoyed putting the objects back in the box.

The mouse seemed indeed to be exhibiting rewarding behaviour, Dr Jackson said, as the behaviour was being repeated.

"The mouse must know the nest - if it is a nest - is being disturbed every day, but it is still enjoying taking the objects back to the box," Dr Jackson said.

While the tidying arrangement is currently working in Mr Holbrook's favour, Mr Davies said he would advise him to seek professional help as mice can breed quickly.

"You don't want them to start chewing electrical cables and water pipes and causing mayhem," he said.