Early on in the summer B told me in great detail about the family of mice that had made their abode behind our patio step. There was Mama mouse and several baby mice that, to B's amazement, had traveled down our gutter and ran in guinea pig fashion (one after another) to their newly formed nest against our house. I told B we needed to relocate our little neighbors before the fall or they would move inside when the weather cooled. Agreed.
Well, it's Fall now and the mice are no longer behind our patio step. Nope. They evidently moved into our basement. Michael protested to sharing his space with a rodent(s?) and demanded we get a mouse trap. I think the gnawing sound was freaking him out in the middle of the night. After finding proof of the said mouse (chewed books that I've had every intention of reading since bible school) we bought a live mouse trap and placed it downstairs just prior to our four day getaway to Columbia this past weekend.
Upon returning home we discovered mice "pooh" along the perimeter of each room in our house, the letter "z" from the kids spongy alphabet set had been partially eaten and one little boy dress shoe lace was nibbled on but no mouse in the trap we had left in the basement. The mice made themselves right at home so last night we baited the trap with peanut butter. Before I had even re-tucked the sleeping kids in bed I heard the trap rattling like crazy. I grabbed B and we got downstairs to check the trap. I should explain that B, good homeschooling parent that he is, told the kids we would keep the mice. AH!!! I asked for a guinea pig - not a mouse! Our Plan B is to catch the mouse family and relocate them to a field or somewhere far, far away. For now, we are collecting the family members one at a time or at least attempting to do so.
Back to my story...
We raced downstairs and then like idiots we thought we could dump the mouse into a tupperware toy container that had a lid. I stood poised with the lid half covering the container top as B opened the trap. A big, fat, gray mouse jumped clear out of the container, splatted on the floor and disappeared into our living room with lightning speed. After searching and listening to Brian retell the events of the mouse escape a half dozen times we re-set the trap and went to bed.
I woke up this morning with B mumbling he was going to be late for work. He had spent considerable time with the mice. Yep, we have more than one. B managed to dump one mouse from the trap into a container. He said it was rather animated with lots of jumps and chattering sounds. B thinks it was the mouse we caught last night as it was big and super jumpy. (Or, maybe all mice are like that...) As soon as he set the trap back on the floor another mouse shot right inside. B decided to deposit this new mouse in with the lively one he had just contained. As he popped the lid open the mouse that had been chattering at him leaped onto his arm, ran up his sleeve and bounced to freedom. Well, at least we had one. A baby mouse. I'm guessing the crazy mouse we caught (twice) is the mother. The baby was more quiet and nervous so B was able to plop it into the container without a problem. That is until the mother mouse came at him out of no where, attaching herself to his face...okay, not really, but isn't that what you expected??? I find myself watching over my shoulder this very moment. That mama mouse is big! I was shocked last night that we had captured such a big yet small animal that had been living in our house - eating and pooping right along with the kids. How creepy!!!
Today we've been observing the baby mouse. The kids smashed Honeynut Cheerios in the air holes for him to have a snack along with the blob of peanut butter Brian left for him. The mouse is cute. Remember, I am partial to rodents....just not ones roaming freely about my house eating educational toys and dress shoes. Tonight we will set the trap again to see if we can catch Mama and to see if there are any curious siblings we need can contain as well. I think we may set a live trap on each level of the house just to increase our odds.
Any guesses on how many mice we will end up with??? I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and my desire for a guinea pig is all but gone. Rodents chew on everything and poop everywhere!!! I already have kids that do that - why add more to the mix, you know?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Okay, I'm laughing until my ribs hurt. Have I ever told you our drugged mouse stories from our first trailer? Ahh, memories... Are you sure it isn't a rat? I hear that the big city rats move to the 'burbs for the winter. :) Ang
hey, they can be cute for a moment but.... Mouse story, one mouse can produce as many as 60 mice in a year, one, just one, they are not pets girl they are to be deadly gotten rid of, carriers of mites, fleas, and GERMS that make children sick. They eat your new furnature, and make nest and usually stay within 25 feet of their nest. They don't plan to leave. Nasty nasty little critters not meant to live within the reach of grandchildren. They chew the cords to all your appliances, and cause thousands of dollars of damage. Get D-CON and elimate. . Love MOM
Sheesh, Mom. It actually takes TWO mice to have babies (ha!) and our sources say a mama mouse can have up to 100 babies in a year...but we'll go with your lower figure.
I think you are a little confused about what we are doing with the little critters...
We are catching them in live mouse traps and then releasing them at an abandoned farmhouse in the country. We aren't letting the things roam free in the house, but we aren't on a killing spree either. Picking up bloated, dead mice from traps would be way more of a risk to our health than catching live mice and releasing them - and setting poison out in a house full of toddlers would be asking for an ER visit. What if a mouse with poison on it wandered into the playroom and died, or one of the kids' rooms???
So far we've caught two and released two. One we released was evidently the mother mouse. Days later Brian found a tiny baby mouse barely alive on our basement floor one night when he was taking laundry down the stairs for me. Rather than killing the baby, we had a little compassion and told the kids we'd nurse him back to health and release him at the farmhouse, too. So, that's what we are doing. He has doubled in size already, but it still very tiny.
I understand your disease concern, but from what I have read we have better chances of getting struck by lightning than getting the plague or any disease/sickness from this infant mouse. Also, our chances of getting sick would be higher if we had purchased a pet mouse from a pet store - one with several mice in one small location...but that's beside the point.
We are still keeping live traps out in the basement and at night to catch any extended family members. But, it seems all is quiet and no pooh is showing up along the walls. The kids see mice out along the back fence - in the wood pile - often. We just live where the critters roam, so if they happen to attempt to move in for the winter we'll be happy to help them relocate to this great farmhouse we know about.
I understand where you are coming from and next time you come for a visit I won't be insulted if you don't hold the baby mouse.
I have a funny feeling you've been listening to someone else's spin on this situation - so consider your sources lady!!! Get your information right from my mouth next time and not from an exaggeration of some sort. There are enough of those going around in this family as it is!!!
I have no idea how I came to love furry small animals with you as my mother, but God has a sense of humor I suppose. Love you Mom!!!I'll talk with you as soon as we get this phone fixed...hopefully tonight.
I have a good source, I googled MICE little critters that live everywhere. Dead mice usually dry up in the wall, the only smelly mouse was a time the mouse ran through the fuze box and was zapped and that smell was horrible; however D-CON is very effective. I just called you but you phone still isn't something. Love MOM
Post a Comment