Really. If you only have a limited time to do your tg reading, go elsewhere and read this later, if you wish. I won't be insulted. I will notice however. :D
Occasionally, I have a problem with mice in my house. I'll be sitting at my computer in the basement and I'll hear feet scurrying across the ceiling above me.
I tried glue traps. After catching a mouse I would carefully peel its little feet off the glue and put him elsewhere. Then one mouse sort of laid down on the glue and I had to drown the poor thing. No more glue.
Rather than torture the animal by leaving it in a glue trap, I bought a couple of snap traps. After I caught the first one, I mentioned to my wife that I caught one and I'll have to bag it and toss it. My sons looked surprised and said "why don't you just let it go?" I said "this isn't a Tom and Jerry cartoon."
I got rid of the snap traps too.
Then I found little cage traps. I had used them for squirrels but I didn't know they made them for mice. I put a little peanut butter in the back of each, put two back-to-back along a wall, and after a couple of false alarms I caught the critter. I brought him some distance from my house and let him go.
A couple of times a year, I'd hear the little footsteps in the ceiling and in a few days I had a mouse which I would take to work and let go in some bushes there.
A couple of weeks ago, the pitter-patter of little feet was back. I check the traps daily, but I forgot to check the trap on Sunday morning. Monday morning, I remembered to check the closed trap.
Mice weigh a bit less than nothing, so it's hard to tell if the trap is full or just closed. If I set the trap down, sometimes it will rock and I'll know it's occupied. But opening it might result in an empty trap or it might result in a little grey head with large black eyes and larger white teeth popping out.
I took the trap outside and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y opened the door just a bit.
A tail flopped out. Great. I killed a mouse.
I tried to turn the trap so the tail would flop back in. It didn't quite go back in and I didn't want to touch the mouse so I put it on the bench in front of my house, with the door almost tightly closed. It was sort of out of sight. I figured, after work I'll bag and dispose of the mouse.
When I got home I pulled out a couple of plastic bags, went to the trap, opened the door, and nothing flopped out. The trap was empty.
Apparently, I made a bad situation worse. A few nights later I heard a mouse in the ceiling. I didn't catch one and it stopped. But I still don't know if I have a mouse in my house, or if I have a zombie mouse in the house. But just in case, every morning I check the trap, and then I check to make sure I still have my brains.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
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Of course you could always get a cat
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure "Zombie Mouse" is one of new Saturday morning cartoons starting in September.
ReplyDeleteThe secret to keep mice out is to insure they cann't get in. I found here a hole (crack) in foundation which I sealed. haven't had problem sinces then.
ReplyDeleteGet an exterminator to show you where they're getting in. Then fix that. Otherwise you'll be doing this dance forever.
ReplyDeleteEvery spring and fall, I buy a box of mothballs and scatter its contents through the attic. Mice and bats do not like mothballs and will avoid inhabiting the area inhabited by the balls.
ReplyDelete--Zombies are cannibalistic. You don't have to worry about a zombie mouse gnawing at ya, but let me know if you happen to see some half-eaten mouse-brains. I bet you could sell the rights to Syfy.
ReplyDelete