The cold snap enveloping much of NSW at time of writing won’t help regional communities battling the mouse plague, such unseasonably low temperatures emboldening even the most timorous rodent to migrate from the dusty desolation of the paddock to the heated haven of the farmhouse, to march straight past the ‘No cheese kept on the premises’ sign in the kitchen and to set up home in your doona just in time to give birth to this month’s litter.