Tuesday, January 6, 2009

EEEEK, A Mouse In The House

I’m always reluctant to admit that I occasionally have a mouse in the house as though it will cast aspersions on my house cleaning. (Don’t even go there) I know that it isn’t really any fault of mine. I’ve searched all over outside looking for the teeny, tiny space that they squeeze into in order to set up residence in the cupboard under my kitchen sink. Nothing. So I accept the fact that once in a while I will hear the tiptoeing of tiny feet making their way around the bottles of cleaners and the box of brillo pads, looking for even a speck of cracker crumb that isn’t there.

Long ago, (but not so far away) I lived in a house with a basement. Knowing that basements have a zillion places for little mice to run and hide, I always set up a few traps down there. Once in a while though, a mouse would make it's way upstairs to play in the kitchen drawers. Never actually seeing one walking up the stairs like normal visitors do, I assumed they made their way up through the walls somehow, and not wanting to set traps in the drawers on the chance that I would forget and reach my hand in…….I did the next best thing. When hearing a little rustling in the drawer I would call the dog. A little Yorkshire Terrier named Jiggs, who was the best mouser you have ever seen. Unlike cats who tend to play around with their catch, tossing it up in the air a few times, ewww, Jiggs got right down to business. All I would have to do is call him over, “hear that Jiggs? now get ready on three” and yank the drawer open as fast as I could so the mouse would be startled just long enough for Jiggs to grab him. Worked every time!! Of course, I immediately had to say “lets go outside Jiggs, and bring your new toy with you”.

But back to the present. No basement and sadly no little Jiggs anymore. Now it’s strictly trap times. And although mice don’t scare me and I don’t yell eeeek and jump on a chair, and I actually think some of them are kinda cute, that doesn’t mean that I want them to raise their family and their family's family in my cupboards. So….I set a little trap with their favorite cheddar cheese (hey, their last meal should at least be a good one) and put it in the right spot and wait.

The next morning I take the trap with it’s sad little addition and empty it on the back lawn so that at least Harry the hawk can benefit from the little mouse’s misfortune.
And no I did not take an after picture. That would be a bit much, even for me.

31 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

You are a trapper! Sometimes it is nearly impossible to find their entrance spot. Sounds like Jiggs was a heck of a mouser! :)

beckie said...

On occassion, I too have a mouse get into the house-the cat is too lazy to even pretend she is looking for them. But, I hate the trap thing so I set out poison. More humane-probably not, just easier on me.

Roses and Lilacs said...

I've noticed the last couple years my cats are getting old and missing a few mice. Since I feed the birds in the yard, mice think this is a paradise. Eat a picnic lunch and come inside to get warm;) Like you, I'm afraid to set traps in drawers or shelves--I know who would get caught and it wouldn't be the mice.
Marnie

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Eww! We're lucky that our mice stick to the garage & the basement. We got some new traps where you don't have to see the corpse. My sister was a premiere mouse trapper, after dealing with many at her office. She discovered that bits of Snickers bar worked better than cheese. Mice can sometimes get the cheese while avoided the trap. The Snickers is sticky, so the mouse has to work to get it & gets caught by the trap.

Anonymous said...

We get those little critters too, in the attic crawl space. Can't figure out how they get up there. I make Conrad put up the traps. I hate the thought of that spring snapping on me. Try a little peanut butter witht the cheese. That seems to work pretty good. Make Conrad take it outside so I guess he's the Jiggs around here. Haven't found any yet this winter but it's still early. Middle sis

flydragon said...

farside,
I looked everywhere for the entrance hole and could not find a single thing. Jiggs was definitely the best!!

beckie,
I did think about poison but if they're coming in the walls, they could also die in there, and I'd rather see the bodies than smell them:) Also couldn't feed them to Harry if they were poisoned.

Marnie,
You need a little yorkie:)

Dog_geek said...

We have little humane mouse traps (called "mice cubes") and I will actually drive little mice several miles away and release them in the national forest. Unless one of the cats gets them first, which happened a few nights ago.

Susie said...

We had mice come into our house last year. One thing I found was a brand new bag of bird seed that one of those little devils had managed to gnaw a whole in. That was in the storage room in the garage. They must of partied down in there every night until I found the mess.

A friend at work told me to use moth balls. I don't like the smell of them but I put them in the attic, in the garage and just outside the door to the garage. Let me tell you it worked like a charm, no mice.

flydragon said...

MMD,
Snickers sounds like a great idea, if I could convince myself to part with some of it:) I'll have to keep that in mind because they do sometimes get the cheese without springing the trap.

Betty,
As far as I know (maybe I don't want to) I don't think there any in the attic. Hope not because thats where they'll be staying if there are any up there. I actually have tried peanut butter with the cheese too. I like that, why not them.

DG,
Drive them miles away to the forest??? You're a much more humane person than I am. Or else you're just a little crazier than I am.

Susie,
I've heard that about moth balls. I tried using those around my outside shed to keep the chipmunks away but it didn't work. I didn't have mice in the house that year, so maybe it did work on them. I'll have to give it another shot.

Anonymous said...

Just the other night, Ditto (cat) brought me a tiny mouse. When I got up during the night to go to the bathroom, there the cute, dead little thing was! Thanks Ditto! My grown niece actually "cages" the things and SETS THEM FREE!

Lovethiscottage.blogspot.com said...

Oh how i hate dealing with mousetraps! Many years ago I caught a mouse by the hind leg. When I found it the next morning held by its poor little broken leg I felt like some horrible torturer and then I had to do it in, to put it out of its misery! I have felt so awfully guilty ever since. Thank God my husband looks after that job now. (He cant understand someone crying over a mouse.)

spookydragonfly said...

I don't want mice in the cabin and have never had one(thanks to five cats, I'm sure). It's got to be tough being a mouse...they are cute!

flydragon said...

Mildred,
LOL. What a nice little surprise in the middle of the night...not. I don't mind them outside so they're free to be free, as long as they don't try to come in!!

kathi,
Oh that would be sad. Not too bad to see it dead, but to see it hurting is another matter altogether.

spooky,
Yep, I'm sure 5 cats would do the job. And some are really cute. Not the brown ones so much, but I've seen the light grey with the big pink ears around here. Now they are cute!!

RURAL said...

Somehow I think if we got a mouse around here, Boots, or Zoe would be the one's eeeeekkking.

Boot's is definitely a scardy cat.

Jen

Anonymous said...

We had to get a trapper a few years ago (before we got Giacomo -our cat) It seems that they made a few condo's in our attic, quite a few. When the party got too loud to ignore we called a trapper. The trapper said everyone who feeds birds has mice. Birdseed = mice. Kudos to Dog geek for for his humane traps.

raccoonlover1963/Lisa Myers said...

Hi FD. Mice, I can handle. We have had centipedes in the house the past few days! I killed a rather large one in the living room Sunday and a baby one in the bathroom tonight! YUK! Trade ya! LOL
Take care
Lisa

KALI said...

eeeiiiiiwwwwwwww!

thanks for not putting the 'after' pics! just last night, i was watching fear factor, & somebody had to ate 2 of your catch!!!
and i still have some aftershock!

flydragon said...

Jen,
lol, I can just picture boots jumping up and yowling in fear:)

Di,
Condos in the attic, lol. Now you're making me wonder what's in mine.

Lisa,
I'm with you on centipedes. Yuck!!! Hate those things.

KALI,
I could never watch that program just because of the grossness of some of the things they had to eat. Makes my skin crawl.

Anonymous said...

You should get a Jiggs JR. It will give you something to do (as in dog doooo) in the winter (and summer) and give you something else to post about. And of course, help you keep out the unwanted critters. Just don't let it get near FD#1. Remember how Jiggs thought she was a mouse and always tried to bite her?

Fla Brat

flydragon said...

fla brat,
I'm really considering it. I think the big thing holding me back is the doggy doodoo.
I think Jiggs thought she was a big rat for trying to put him in the sprinkler. He sure had a long memory and carried a grudge for a long time, too HAHA

TC said...

Did you know you can buy traps like the one you used that don't need baited? There's a yellow scented area where you used to put the bait. I too have meece, and two cats who're lazy.

Nunya said...

yep, another jiggs is definitely in order. would you like to borrow emmylou? never mind, she just likes to play with them, too. and, there'd be no room for you on the sofa.

i'll bet my pretty, little, kitty witty could take care of the meeces, pronto. she's evil, i'm sure of it.

Rudee said...

Mr. Larger Than Life (aka my father in law) is pretty deaf and can't hear the shenanigans that go on in the walls of his house. The mice in his house are prolific.

Years ago, I had a friend who used a humane trap and caught about 100 mice in her mother's old farm house. I maintain she caught the same mouse 100 times. She would take the trap outside, open the door and fling the mouse as far as she could. He wasn't dead. Duh.

Rose said...

First time reader thanks to Rudee. Do you reuse your traps? I don't. I can set and throw away but I don't reuse.

flydragon said...

TC,
No, I didn't know about those traps. That would come in handy when I eat all the cheese and snickers bars first and there's nothing left to use as bait. I'll have to check into those.

NVAM,
If I borrowed emmylou, there'd be no roome for me in the house!! I'd be living in my car...hey, there's no mice in there...hmmmm..
And you keep the Evil Elsa, thank you.

Rudee,
Maybe Mr. LTL does hear all that racket and that's why he really shows up so early in the morning at your house:)
100 mice!! I'm with you. They're like homing pigeons and will return to the same house no matter how far you fling them.

Hi Rose,
I saw that rudee had mentioned my blog on her post. So you came over expecting to see something funny didn't you? Surprise!!
And yes, I do reuse the same trap over and over and over until it's so worn out the spring doesn't spring anymore. I'm just very careful where I touch it:)

Rose said...

I am so glad you didn't include an after picture:) The little pet mice in their cages are cute, but they're not so cute inside the house! I don't have any problem with mice anymore, thanks to my cats. So far they've caught them before they come in, so I don't have to see their methods of torture.

flydragon said...

Rose,
I actually feel sorry for the little buggers when they're snapped in the trap and could never take a picture of it to remind me. I'm surprised that they are around here though because there are a few cats that roam the yards all year. I would think they would catch them, but I guess not.

Anonymous said...

Eek, a mouse! I'll pass, thank you. We've had a few in the basement, but haven't found any in the kitchen. Yet. I wonder what the secret will be to keep my miniature rose thriving. Hmmm.

flydragon said...

Ms.Robin,
If/when you manage to keep it alive please let us know.

Anonymous said...

Thursday Update: Harriet says she would gladly pack her bags and come and keep you company since you have CREAM for the coffee!!!!!

flydragon said...

Whoo hoo, c'mon Harriet. I'll be waiting for you.