Rodent or other creature identification

redoctober

Hi there,

I hope this is the right forum. The other night I got up at about 2am to find some small chunks of cake on the kitchen floor. A rectangular shaped cake (oxford lunch) had been removed from the wrapper on top of the kitchen counter (adjaced fruit bowl was untouched). The wrapper seemed to be pretty much untouched (unlike sometimes where a mouse would have gnawed through it for example). Also, the waxy paper which supports the bottom of the cake had been completely taken (not shredded). I took everything else off the counter leaving only the remaining chunk of cake (about the size of a box of twinings tea) and the wrapper. When I came back in the morning all the cake was gone.

There was also a small pool of water/urine in the adjoining living area (it's open plan). We've had plenty of mice over the years and this all looked very weird so I thought "rat" straight away. There were no droppings anywhere. It all seemed a bit too much hard work for a mouse to do and there weren't loads of little crumbs/shredding anywhere. Also, mice had never got up on the counter before. There was a cable from the adjacent fridge leading over to the counter top which the creature probably used to reach the counter.

A pest controller came out today and he said he wasn't convinced it was a rat. I find it hard to think it could be a mouse. Any input appreciated. Thanks.

Additionally, something that may or may not be related: we had some creature outside attacking a food waste bin which is like the old fashioned hexagonal bin shape but made of plastic not metal. The lid is sometimes removed when i go out in the morning. I had put this down to possibly a fox or something like a polecat/similar.