Yet another MOUSE story!

Yes, sad but true!  You see there was this little itty bitty space at the corner of a door and because the back patio is not poured yet, the little space is there, so I wadded up a napkin and stuck it in the corner.  Now I know what you are thinking...a napkin?  But a mouse will surely chew through a napkin.  Yes, I know, but that gives me the warning and guess what?  It worked!  The napkin was shredded and pulled away, so I got right on trapping that little guy.  And what I noticed was that he not only shredded the napkin he/she also started on the rubber tubing on the threshold and even on the wood!  All to get out, or to get in...I am not sure!  But I was ON IT!  So the first thing I did was set that electronic trap again and two other traps...I did NOT have any more of those "V" traps that snap your fingers off...but I was willing to go with these for the night.  Well, about 11:30 I get out of bed cause I am just so nervous about a mouse traipsing through my house...and guess what!!  The electronic trap was FLASHING!!  I caught one!!  OMG!!!   OMG!!!  I was beside myself, what to do?  I gingerly picked it up and sure enough, there was the tail...OMG!  It twitched!!  YIKES...I quickly put it back down on the floor.  I was beside myself what to do with it....so I stayed up an hour to keep my eye on it and it stayed in that trap...I wasn't sure how long it took to really give that guy a good enough "jolt" to kill it. 

Well, I finally decided I would put the whole thing into a plastic bag and leave it for Scott in the morning...he did say he would take care of any mouse in the electronic trap...So the next morning I get up and tell Scott he needs to get rid of this mouse and I open the plastic bag and .....the mouse is GONE!! YES!!  Gone as in NOT there!
However...the other trap had a mouse....Now is it the same one who was foolish enough to still go for more food for nourishment to get out of this house?  I don't know, but at least I caught one!  The next night I set all the traps again and once again I caught the bugger in the electronic trap!  Now I have had three nights free of mouse...am I done?  NOOOOOoooooo!  I live in the country..however I think I will set some traps outside the doors to get them before they get into the house.   Don't you think that is a good plan??

A Mouse in the House

I know...my new home and there is a mouse living in it!  Can you believe it?  I think it was because I have been rather 'smug' about Dina having all the mice in her house (my 'old' house!) and just saying, "sorry, Dids, it is now your problem and I am soooo glad to pass it off to you!"  Well, the reason I was feeling particularly 'smug' was because Scott had told me that he "buttoned" up this house good, there was NO way, NO how any creature was getting into this house, it was sealed up good!

Well, surprise, surprise, the first place we saw 'evidence' of this little guy (aren't they so cute on the cartoon channels??) was in the guest bathroom, he/she started to chew up my bath mat...leaving little empty places here and there.  OMG I am thinking that SHE is getting ready to build a nest ( ?  is that what mice build when they are preparing for mice birth?) and is using the really nice soft cotton threads from my very nice bath mat!  Little black poop right where our feet need to be when sitting on the "throne"!!  Hah!!

So you know that I have set many a trap at the other house and have been very successful, however I have been scared a few times when the trap accidentally goes off and smarts the old fingers.  So I am sooo done with setting those traps.  But, will DH set a trap?  NO!  Will he release a trap once it has done its job?  NO!  But I have to get this mouse out of my house and NOW!!  I go to the store and buy two kinds of mouse traps...the cardboard tent kind that has icky sticky stuff on it so that once the mouse sets foot on it, it is there for good!  And just to be on the safe side, I bought two of the traditional traps that catch the mice in the act of going after that yummy peanut butter.  Of course I try the easy tent version and put a couple in the bathroom.  It has been two weeks and I still have NOT caught that little creature, but he/she is still nibbling away at my rug and leaving its evidence behind!  And NOW I start to notice mouse poop in my pantry!  I have plastic drawer bins, but they are not mouse proof, a big gap to allow those guys in and eat at their hearts content!  So I clean out my pantry and discover all sorts of places that he/she has been getting into.  I get containers with lids to seal up my packaged food to prevent the mouse from getting to more food.  I set two of the traditional traps in the pantry, HOWEVER....they were NOT the brand name, they were from Freddies.  And what did I discover the next morning?  Oh Yeah, the mouse had a great time eating that yummy PB (peanut butter!) and did NOT set off the trap!  DEFECT!!

Scott goes to True Value and comes back with an electronic mouse trap (are you laughing your head off now?)  Hey, I am up for anything!  So we put the PB in place and turn on the switch....we are good to go!  the next morning the light is flashing!!  Yeah!!  That means it worked!!  I lift the lid and what do I see...mouse poop and NO mouse!  Scott's theory is that the mouse was 'zapped', but not quite all the way electrocuted (yuck!) and managed to stumble out of the trap and is probably rotting away someplace in the house!  Now isn't that a delightful thought!!

So on it goes, the traps are not trapping any mice and I am still seeing evidence of a mouse in the pantry.  So I go out and purchase the brand name mouse trap, I have Joe set it before he leaves for the day...he puts it just inside my craft room ....oh yeah, I forgot to mention that two mornings there was mouse poop on top of my counter in my craft room!  Now that makes me MAD!  Scott and I go to bed that very night and we are in bed only about 10 minutes when we hear a big "SNAP"  I had to jump out of bed and check cause I was just positive that we caught the little bugger!  And guess what???  WE DID!  We caught him in my craft room!  It has been two full days now and there has not been any evidence of a mouse in the house.

But remember friends, I do live on acreage and mice do live down in the field, so I know they are all around me.  That is fine, they can stay in the field and I am happy about that, just NOT in my house!

P.S.  I placed the mouse in the trap inside a plastic bag and set it outside the front door to have Joe remove it. Later that day, I went to check on it and the whole thing was missing...bag, mouse, trap everything!  That is still a mystery!