A mouse in the house

you are a good person to have around! now that i've met you, i can confirm that you have a thorough mastery of calm during chaotic circumstances.

My call to action is usually the sound of a stinkbug on patrol somewhere over our heads after we've turned out all the lights.

I emailed Jesse to tell him I was talking about him on this thread and why and he responded (posted w/ permission):

But you're WRONG - I WOULD like it. I would like it so much that I don't know if I could stop killing, and the factors of mercy, swiftness, and humaneness would soon become unimportant.

So basically it's all on you to protect us from this madman by killing the mice your own damn self.

The last time Jeff and I had a mouse in our house, we trapped it in a measuring cup and released it outside by the dumpsters. I am not a reliable killer of anything I might possibly find even remotely cute. I don't even like killing bugs.

My preference for killing small mammals when necessary is to gas them. IMO it's far and away the easiest way to go. Last time I had to do it was a few years ago. My cat had maimed this adorable little mouselet (if he hadn't been hurt, I'd have released him down the street), so I put him in a jar and sprayed butane from a canister I bought to refill my BBQ lighter. He went to sleep and it was very easy and peaceful.

When I was in high school I had pet rats and one of them was dying, so I put him in a plastic bag and filled it with propane from my dad's homemade flame thrower (for burning one of our horses' and mules' grazing areas before winter).

omg

i was wondering why no one suffocates unwanted animal intruders though, so who am i to talk

I caught a rat in a pair of overalls once.

on hols in spain a few months back i had to hold a cockroach down while my mate throttled it, it was that big srsly

i go to great lengths to let other creatures live tbh

are you sure it wasn't a british expatriate?

Cockroach news of cockroack britain

feel like drowning is also a good option

8 years ago I opened up one of the drawers in our hutch and a little mouse stared up at me all 'SUP'

Without thinking I bolted to the front of the house, opened the front door, stood on the porch and then hollered to Mr Veg (still inside the house) that there was a mouse and could he please get rid of it

I never thought I was afraid of them but, wow hey turns out I am weee :(

Let me amend my previous statement. I would lose my shit and also gleefully take a shovel/boot/rocket launcher to a rat if I found a rat in our house.

http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/food1.jpg

L to R: Rats, me

I don't have anything against your garden variety Norway rat trundling down an alley or slinking in and out of dumpsters, and I am all for fancy rats as pets kept contained in the house, but a Norway rat in my house and it's war.

one time a giant rat or possibly a possum was staring at me through my open barred basement bedroom window and the only thing i could think of to do when i opened my eyes and saw its disgusting red eyes staring back at me is to hiss and scowl and tell it to get away from my bedroom window.
it did!

Did it introduce itself as Jody?

I was sleeping and I opened my eyes and there it was staring at me. No introduction whatsoever.

I had a mouse visitor once and drove it away w cottonballs doused w some peppermint oil. They hate peppermint oil and will stay away from anywhere that has that smell. Cayenne pepper too iirc

oooh, I love that kinda shit. "why am I dumping all this cayenne pepper behind the stove? because FUCK ROACHES!"

:D

one time i opened a head height kitchen cabinet and found a mouse staring back. fuck knows how it got in there, cuz while i was thinking of how to get rid of it it made its own way out by jumping in the direction of my face, landing on the kitchen counter, jumping off of that, landing at my feet, and scurrying into a hole.

Mice can squash themselves very flat and squeeze through some very tight cracks, if scrumptious food awaits them as their reward.

Humane traps work fine (though get one large enough for your pest) with the right bait. Peanut butter works well. I walked the three I caught a few blocks away to cower under some rocks, but I suspect they met the same fate as this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VyQipO4miw

As I once mentioned on a thread long ago, biologists sometimes refer to mice as 'nature's popcorn'.

we have RATS aieeee

they came because of the birdfeeders, sorry birds but no more food for a while

full on war has begun with snap traps, cayenne, and anything else we can do besides poison. don't want them dying in the walls, shudder.

we live like 500 yards from a river, so there have been sightings outside over the years, but this is the first time they have made a real takeover kind of move.

I am the master of dealing with small critters in the house without mercy or squeamishness. Cockroach in the sink making my daughter scream? I'll take care of it. Cricket in the laundry hamper? No problem. This past spring a baby squirrel ran into my daughter's room when she had her door open to take advantage of pleasant temps. I cornered it in her closet and crushed its little skull with one poke of a walking stick. If I can eat a bacon cheeseburger knowing what I know about factory farming, now's not the time to go all faint with a rodent in the house.

― cops on horse (WilliamC), Monday, 19 August 2013 13:37 (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"congratulations, you are ready to sitemod ILX"

^^ the addition of the quote marks creates an air of drama and mystery

Got to watch my cat wolf down a mouse today! He had been stalking that thing for about an hour while I was getting ready for work. He caught it right when my son came downstairs to get ready for his first day of school. He was squicked out by it, but the cat worked so hard for that thing, I just told him we would wait until he was done eating to pick up the pieces. But he ate the whole thing! Just left one little organ or piece of tissue or whatever. I hope he doesn't puke it all back up for my wife while I'm at work.

put some putty in a crack in the skirting board. little fucker's not been back. he was getting p f'ing cheeky. coming out at day, staring at me from under my desk. something had to be done.

Once found a mouse petrified in terror next to a flaming gas burner on the cooker. Didn't know what to do and felt sorry for the wee fella so just nuged it away till it came to its senses and scurried off.

there are really not enough 'hoots mon' references on this thread

God, I think there's another one. He's on the prowl again this morning. ; \

My toddler's been eating a lot of crackers all over the place these days. It's probably a smörgåsbord for these little guys.

Somehow a mouse got into our wall the other night. Woke up at 3am to the sound of something clawing at the inside of the bedroom wall. It continued until I had to get up. Little sleep was had. My wife is terrified of mice. Eventually the sounds stopped later than morning. I'd like to think the little critter found his way out, but more likely he perished.

put some putty in a crack in the skirting board. little fucker's not been back. he was getting p f'ing cheeky. coming out at day, staring at me from under my desk. something had to be done.

there was an amusing bit where he was scampering across an open bit of floor, and like a nazi guard I shone my reading light on him, and he paused, mid-step, leg hanging like a dog's paw, looked over, and then hot cha-cha'd behind the plastic storage boxes.

it was charming, but then I remembered suzy's key word "sphincterless" and got the putty out.

Real bold little fucker is making his way around this kitchen - I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye the other day, now it's confirmed

I had shoved some aluminum foil in various holes behind the cabinets (very old building), and he chewed his way through - so I cut up a beer can and nailed little barriers

Put the pasta in the freezer, cereal & crackers in sealed jars.. but I'm out for blood

(the weather has been wet & cold, maybe he's just looking for somewhere warm to sleep... I've seen no evidence of this particular mouse tearing into anything)

plz have mercy! i vote give the mouse a cookie 🍪🐭

I've been reading up-thread about using coarse steel wool to fill in the cracks.. apparently they won't try to chew through that

And I ordered some kind of ultrasonic repeller thing off eBay.. I'm a little doubtful but it was only $5

At the end of a long day, there’s nothing better than to reach for some pasta from the freezer

plz have mercy! i vote give the mouse a cookie 🍪🐭

― The field divisions are fastened with felicitations. (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 23:08 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

hmm, i think we should wait to hear from poster 'cat' to get a more balanced picture.

ulrasonic things do nothing. coarse steel wool is the way to go. i think we sealed it with insulating foam but rat bastards can chew through that. we were terrorised by a rat last winter. chewed through a thick plastic container of oats, my new handbag, all the food. i can still hear the scratching in my sleep, ugh.

Deflatormouse, do not read this entire thread!

you'll want a rat zapper, owltra mouse trap or some other electric trap if you want to catch and kill. load up with some peanut butter filled pretzels and you'll get your guy.

condolences to Deflatormouse, but the deed is done. Old fashioned Victor snap trap and a little piece of swiss cheese

I discovered that he'd invaded the pantry and pooped and peed everywhere, he had to go

I'm still gonna get some steel wool for the gaps & cracks

hmm, i think we should wait to hear from poster 'cat' to get a more balanced picture.

i (belatedly) second the motion to give a mouse a cookie. this will make the mouse plump and juicy, perhaps even cookie-flavored.

but srsly since our cat died in september word has gotten around the rodent community that it's open season on our asses and i've caught like 20 mouses since then? we use the little clear green plastic humane traps, smeared with peanut butter at the far inside end. then we sneak them to a nearby goat farm. i just released one there two days ago, in fact! its name was lil' bit. and i've heard its compatriot rustling in the walls, so once the weather warms again i'll snatch that one up as well. its name will be glimbo.

r.i.p. 2 mousie the grasshopper 🪦

I'm gonna invest in a live trap for future invaders, but I was desperate and had the old guillotine on hand

AYO IT'S YA GLIMBO

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_social_share_1200x630_center,f_auto,q_auto:best/streams/2013/August/130806/6C8538891-tdy-130806-AT-skateboard-mice-tease.jpg

(^ not actually le glimbeau; yr man don't care for the paparazzi)

i put out the guesthouse last night, and this afternoon glimbus maximus sauntered on in. a while ago i released him at the little hippie goat farm where he'll have lots of space to run and play! just kidding, he'll probs die tonight, cold and scared and alone.

i am becoming too enamored of these feculent plague vectors :( i've been without a real pet for too long and now i'm catching feelings for anything furry & smaw. i want to keep the mice. i want to build them tiny hice. i wanna gather sticks and grass & constuct adorable fairy cottages for them, and cozy little beds of milkweed silk where they can cuddle together, warm and safe, while they dream of mousy things. i want to give them elaborate jungle gyms to play on, and miniature trampolines, and tiny castles of cheese, and and and and

but i cannot. i must not. there are many excellent unarguable-with reasons why this cannot be.

it is kind of bullshit that life has so many inescapable cruelties and u can't really opt out (bar going full jain or etc)

here are a few more nicknames for my lost glimbus:

glimbert
glimbergher
glimmy

I found more tiny turds in the pantry today.. i scrubbed the shelves with vinegar, it was gnarly

I think I have things more or less sealed off for now, but these little bastards...