Man Places Camera in Shed to See Why Things Keep Moving Overnight, Discovers a ‘Tidy Mouse’

Helpful animals tidying up or making clothing is a regular occurrence in many animated movies, but while they may not be able to help you make a dress in real life (…that we know of), they can apparently still help keep things clean.

On night vision camera footage that has gone viral, retired postman Rodney Holbrook caught a tiny mouse picking up odds and ends in his shed and placing them nicely in a little box on his workbench.

The 75-year-old resident of Builth Wells, Powys, Wales, set up the camera after noticing things weren’t where they’d been left the day before. It wasn’t a one-off, either. It’s been going on for two months.

After video footage showed who was responsible – a little rodent putting away items like clothespins, corks, nuts, bolts, and even cable ties – Holbrook decided to name the clean intruder Welsh Tidy Mouse.

Welsh Tidy Mouse’s presence has saved Holbrook some cleaning time.

He told the BBC, “Ninety-nine times out of 100 the mouse will tidy up throughout the night. It is incredible really that they put them all back in the box, I think it’s possible that they enjoy it.… I think he would tidy my wife away if I left her in there.”

He believes the mouse is moving these items around to hide away some stashed nuts in the box.

Apparently neat freak mice are an epidemic, too, as one of Holbrook’s friends asked for some help with the same issue in 2019 when he lived in Bristol, England. The story of that shed-cleaning rodent got some legs, too. With this happening in two countries now, maybe they’re migrating…

To watch the cute footage, check out the video below!