A mouse in the house

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

mice are quite clever at avoiding them too

Houses need to breathe?

I've never felt the classic snap-close mouse traps were too inhumane, the damn things die in less time than it takes to say 'dead mouse.' They do go through a more hellish experience dying while getting batted around endlessly by the capricious killing machine known as the domesticated kittycat.

Mice in my house once ate some of my oil paints and part of a bar of Ivory soap. If you ever see mice blowing colored bubbles, you know they've had a slumber party at my pad.

I just totally killed a mouse in the MOST GRISLY MANNER. Opening the basement door, I saw a mouse. It was running toward the door jamb. Because I am me, I screamed at the top of my lungs, freaked out, and shut the door ON THE MOUSE. Half of it was inside and the other half was outside. OMG. I killed the fuck out of that mouse.

Eeee that's grisly all right.

On one hand, I'm horrified by what I've done (even though I did it accidentally). On the other hand, bisecting the mouse in the door jamb was swift, decisive, and effective at removing the mouse. Today, I am a killer of mice.

Well, hopefully just one.

MOUSE KILLAH

No mercy. NONE.

Sphincter-less freeloaders unwelcome in my house, whatever the species. None for ages - I hope the mouse grapevine is full of news about the many perilous glue traps to be found in my flat, should one of their number ever cross my threshold.

ratatouille

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

This is definitely not true.

What did seem to work was being infested with rats instead. Regular mouse invasions stopped dead after that one. Happily about a year ago my landlord decided to replace my kitchen cupboards and while the old ones were ripped out the workmen blocked up all the holes the bastards were getting in through so we haven't had either kind of vermin since then.

i've been slaying mosquitoes, or at least trying to. they have a weird ability to be squashed 'neath hand and then spring up unaffected

have sworn off killing any other species for now, even if they do sit athwart a particularly exposed branch

haha

On one hand, I'm horrified by what I've done (even though I did it accidentally). On the other hand, bisecting the mouse in the door jamb was swift, decisive, and effective at removing the mouse. Today, I am a killer of mice.

― no fomo (La Lechera), Saturday, August 17, 2013 6:14 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is awesome. I applaud you on the dwindling mouse population in your home.

I tried the bisection method with a shovel when I had to put a severely injured hamster out of its misery last fall (posts on this somewhere in the parenting board). A shovel is NOT a good tool for swiftly and decisively bisecting small mammals and everybody would have been much better off if I had just smashed its head with a hammer.

I can definitely say with absolute certainty that if I had to mercy kill a small mammal, I would call Jesse and have him come over and do it for me.

He wouldn't like it and we'd probably have to undergo couples counseling after, but he's one of the few people I know with enough pragmatism and steely reserve to get the job done swiftly and humanely.

It's definitely not easy. I was a teenager he first time a cat of mine half-killed a mouse, and I waited like 15 minutes with it just twitching and dying in a bucket for my dad to get home to do it. He was quick and decisive and effective about it. Got some mouse guts on my shirt though. <3 you dad.

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.

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.