squeek

[jwg]

Yesterday I saw a mouse in the kitchen on the stove (nothing was cooking at the time). This confirms that the little black specks are mouse shit and not caraway seeds. I checked the two traps under the stove and they both had dead mice in them. I don't know how long they've been there. They are the kind that entrap the mouse inside and are supposed to be discarded when done. In the past I tried old fashioned traps but they seemed to just be mouse feeding stations since the cheese or the peanut butter disappeared each day.

Last night I had a long discussion with Burningbright and Daniel, our two tigers, who were watching the Sox game with us about their responsibility as cats. They claimed that it was Miss Griggles' (a more classic cat) responsibility but I explained that with her exalted status she was exempt and besides she was currently upstairs where there are no mice. They also protested that why were we picking on them when there were many other cats? I tried a bit of torture as a means to convince them otherwise but it had no impact whatsover. This morning Xerxes, one or our lions, said that Guinevere, our long deceased cat, had explained to them that mice were her territory and no-one was to interfere and this lesson had stuck.

So, I guess I'll have to buy some more traps today.

A Google search about traps revealed this clever trapless solution which is from our very own chrisglass.

Comments

[fj.livejournal.com]

I tried that one, but I found the tube in the trash the next morning. I think it just fell off.

[phornax.livejournal.com]

You're the third person in my friends list today to post about having mouse-trapping problems at home!

[bitty.livejournal.com]

grendelgongon also suggests using chunky peanut butter, and wedging the peanut chunks in deep places so that they really have to worry at it to eat it, which increases their time on the trap and the likeliness of its success.

[homorphus.livejournal.com]

A quick google suggests mice can jump 1 or 2 feet (I suppose this varies by "authority" and mice variety). I expect you need a very smooth sided trash can as well, so their weeny nails and light weight do not help them climb out.

If you catch and release into a residential area, all you have done is make it someone else's problem. Their disease carrying behavior remains. About the only good thing I see in this trap is it allows you the chance to kill them and dispose of them quickly rather than discover them a week later.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I had one of those no-kill traps that I forgot about when going on a trip, and then came back to a horrible smell, because the mouse was basically rotting and liquefying inside instead of drying up. Anyway, good luck -- mice and stuffed animals are two things that definitely do not mix.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

This winter it was worse - it was a rat.

Traps of several kinds didn't work; poison did. There was some smell in the walls for several weeks - it wasn't too bad and it was in little used space.

Michael is still on the waiting list for skin grafts; he is still bandaged.