A mouse in the house

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Cats are fine as long as they don't bring rodents into the house instead of driving them out. I grew up in a hose that backed on to a large field, and we always had cats. The only problem we had with mice were the ones the cats brought in, stunned, which they would then release so they could have the pleasure of chasing them around the house. Not just mice, either: shrews, gophers (one of which bit my sister), moles, snakes, and birds, as well. There was always great excitement when my mother would chase the rodents around with a broom, trying to whisk them out the back door, while my sister and I did our best to block the doorway to keep the cats out. They liked best to bring them in at dinnertime. Their contribution to the feast, I suppose.

Then, of course, there were the various animal parts that were left all over the house.

Robert J Myers (moriarty), Thursday, 22 September 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

That was a house I grew up. I lived in the hose later.

Robert J Myers (moriarty), Thursday, 22 September 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...
i got one a few hours ago. ughhhhhh. i knew they were crawling around behind the refrigerator because i saw one last week there, but this morning i woke up and was getting dressed and one darted out from behind my monitor (i have a desktop but no desk so it's all on the floor). i chased him for a while then got the genius idea to put one glue trap on either side of him and then chase him into it. it worked! but it was so sad, he just hopped right onto the trap and got stuck and he's still twitching around, dying slowly. i tried traditional traps before but he wouldn't go for them so it had to be the glue traps. so like an hour ago i saw one of his friends. i don't know where he is now. i'm scared. there's a live mouse hiding somewhere within 10 feet of me. i don't really know what to do about this.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 25 February 2006 19:59 (twenty years ago)

guys? he isn't going to die is he. i'm going to suffocate/hypothermize him in the freezer. i feel awful. but it was so easy.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 25 February 2006 21:06 (twenty years ago)

my great-grandmother made a book about the house she lived in, in georgia. she wrote it and made pen illustrations, too, that she augemented w.watercolors and she bound it in a rough cloth cover. it was beautiful and funny. one page shows the pantry area between the kitchen and the dining room and the words at the bottom of the page say "this is where the mice like to run." and if you look closely you can see little ears behind the cupboard.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 25 February 2006 21:10 (twenty years ago)

Dude, you must put it in a paper bag and drop a rock on it. I am very serious about this. You use a glue trap, you finish the job by hand.

Jimmy Mod: The Prettiest Flower In The Pond (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 25 February 2006 21:11 (twenty years ago)

UGH i did not want to crush it. the thought made me gag. he will be dead soon. hypothermia is a nice way to die.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 25 February 2006 21:12 (twenty years ago)

our apartment has turned into something of a mouse charnel house in recent weeks. a series of traps laid strategically along the routes most traveled resulted in a rapid succession of tiny mammalian executions. so then the other day, my wife had cause to delve into the recesses of one of those closets in order to retrieve a couple of suitcases. and under one of those suitcases, huddled together on a sweater long since fallen to the floor, were five small, gray, very dead mouse babies. our mice had nested and taken root here with us. and, we assume, with the dispatching of both mama and papa mouse, the little fuzzy ones were left to starve to death, orphaned beneath the suitcase.

it's a cruel world, don't let nobody tell you otherwise.

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 25 February 2006 21:17 (twenty years ago)

he passed out pretty quickly in the freezer. sweet dreams little guy. i'll miss you.

i wish i could find the other one though. i just threw out whatever was under my bed so there's no more hiding places. waiting for maintenance to come seal up the hole, wherever it is.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 25 February 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

DON'T SQUASH MR JINGLES!!!!!!

john clarkson, Saturday, 25 February 2006 22:02 (twenty years ago)

gypsy mothra that is so sad. ugh.

I'd like to read Tracer's great-grandmother's book.

sgs (sgs), Saturday, 25 February 2006 22:29 (twenty years ago)

i'm afraid i might get the hantavirus

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 25 February 2006 22:54 (twenty years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/mouse4.gif

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 25 February 2006 23:13 (twenty years ago)

i finally got the other one the same way, ughhhhhhhhhhh so sad. he broke his leg right away when he got stuck, i think. he squealed very loud. i feel bad. there are probably more somewhere. i'm so tired of waking up to these things crawling around at night.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 26 February 2006 03:26 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

i just got a humane trap and they haven't even gone near it

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:16 (sixteen years ago)

probably snickering at your good-heartedness

rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:19 (sixteen years ago)

Put it hard up against the skirting board - they tend to creep along the foot of the wall for cover.

Enemy Insects (NickB), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:21 (sixteen years ago)

maybe i should have used something other than aged gouda and a skinny latte as bait?

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:22 (sixteen years ago)

We had one recently, but had to reset it a couple of times when visiting kids stole the raisins from it.

Enemy Insects (NickB), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:22 (sixteen years ago)

Lol @ yuppie mice. Maybe try a PBR and a street hot dog, Tracer?

But not someone who should be dead anyway (Laurel), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:25 (sixteen years ago)

Someone told me mice are mad for chocolate. To test if that was a joke I put some in a trap I had in my previous house and it worked!

StanM, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:26 (sixteen years ago)

attached a poisoned glue trap to the humane trap. That may work.

dan selzer, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:33 (sixteen years ago)

mice are ppl too

♥/b ~~~ :O + x_X + :-@ + ;_; + :-/ + (~,~) + (:| = :^) (Lamp), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:34 (sixteen years ago)

is that the logic that causes ppl to use humane traps to catch them?

♥/b ~~~ :O + x_X + :-@ + ;_; + :-/ + (~,~) + (:| = :^) (Lamp), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:34 (sixteen years ago)

you know what doesn't work? Those electronic noisemakers. And yet we have two going in the kitchen non-stop for the last year and a half.

Also try peppermint oil, the hardcore stuff, not the stuff you cook with. Fill cotton balls and place everywhere.

And the only real solution? Find the holes and plug them up. Foam and/or steel wool. If you find one, there's 6 more hiding. If you kill one, there's 6 more still hiding...and mad.

dan selzer, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:37 (sixteen years ago)

And the only real solution

A cat still works too. Even a lazy cat drives them away with pheromones or something.

StanM, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:38 (sixteen years ago)

Find the holes and plug them up.

i heard that this stops the house from "breathing"

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

houses are ppl too

♥/b ~~~ :O + x_X + :-@ + ;_; + :-/ + (~,~) + (:| = :^) (Lamp), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

"breathing" is a euphemism for "being stuffed with mice"

suddenly, everything was dark and smelly (HI DERE), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:40 (sixteen years ago)

Sounds like you need a humane house trap too then.

Enemy Insects (NickB), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:40 (sixteen years ago)

hahaha tracer u should get a pied pipe and lead them all on a merry dance across town to an orphanage and tell them never to return

♥/b ~~~ :O + x_X + :-@ + ;_; + :-/ + (~,~) + (:| = :^) (Lamp), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:41 (sixteen years ago)

Open a window. The house doesn't need a dime-sized hole next to the stove pipes or radiator to "breathe".

dan selzer, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:18 (sixteen years ago)

A cat still works too. Even a lazy cat drives them away with pheromones or something.

This is definitely not true.

We got an electric rat killer, it's zapped about 15 of the fuckers (mice, not rats) over the last 2 weeks, at least the rate has slowed down now but they're still around I think.

Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:21 (sixteen years ago)

i live in a big apartment building so i'm very dubious of my ability to plug all the holes - can't remember where i heard the "breathing" thing, it sounds pretty bonkers

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:22 (sixteen years ago)

THERE'S AN ELECTRIC RAT-KILLER?? Holy fucking technology, that would have CHANGED MY LIFE at my last apartment.

But not someone who should be dead anyway (Laurel), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:23 (sixteen years ago)

It rules, you just hear this BZZZZZZZZZT noise from the cupboard, then just go and tip the mouse in the bin, reset it, and back in the cupboard.

Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:24 (sixteen years ago)

You need a smellier cat! (xxxpost)

StanM, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:25 (sixteen years ago)

That would have saved my roommate having to beat a rat to death on the bathroom floor.

But not someone who should be dead anyway (Laurel), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:25 (sixteen years ago)

cats are great for mice since they like to toy with them for hours before going in for the kill which means you can usually snatch up the mouse while theyre holding its tail and let it go outside relatively unharmed.

I wish I was the royal trux (sunny successor), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:26 (sixteen years ago)

But I fear the actual solution is as said above, to block wherever they're coming in. We can't actually do this, since we're just renting. We'd have to tear out the cupboards/floor to get to where they're coming in I think.

xpost I had to kill a few mice before we got it, cos the cats just carry them around for a bit til they get bored then let them go.

Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:26 (sixteen years ago)

if you're renting, your landlord is responsible for taking care of pests.

dan selzer, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:46 (sixteen years ago)

Well yeah, he paid for the electric rat trap.

Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:46 (sixteen years ago)

mice are ppl too

yes! ppl who steal food and leave shit in what they don't eat and keep you awake at night with scuffling noises at all hours and never move away voluntarily or learn more polite habits. iow, the kind of ppl you want to strangle with your bare hands and nail their carcass to your door as a warning to others of their kind.

Aimless, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:46 (sixteen years ago)

there was a mouse (and then about 5) in my house a few months back. someone (who doesnt like mice) killed all 4 with a brush. but then we saw one that somehow escaped the next day and it was so out of it it didnt seem to know what it was doing at all so i managed to capture it in a jar and then took it to the park. i wonder what happened to it. i dont hate mice, i just dont want them anywhere near me.

titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 17:13 (sixteen years ago)

A biologist friend of mine once referred to mice as "Nature's popcorn".

Aimless, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 17:18 (sixteen years ago)

Tracer you sucker, the humane traps don't work. If you eat meat, surely you can kill a mouse.

going vogue (suzy), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 17:20 (sixteen years ago)

DOWN IN ONE

suddenly, everything was dark and smelly (HI DERE), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 17:21 (sixteen years ago)

Humane traps work just fine, but positioning is critical. You folks are just meanies.

Enemy Insects (NickB), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 17:27 (sixteen years ago)

mice are quite clever at avoiding them too

titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 17:28 (sixteen years ago)


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