When we moved into this house, we had a definite advantage over most people moving in to a house they had just purchased- I had already lived here for many years, and knew the house's flaws and many charms. Or maybe that should be charms and many flaws. Whichever was the case, one of the things I knew about the house prior to moving in was that my parents had been plagued by mice in the past, and since it's an old farmhouse surrounded by woods, the many things they'd tried only seemed to work temporarily and then the mice came back.
We'd been here for a few weeks, in the winter, and hadn't seen any signs of mice living inside. That should read I hadn't had any mice droppings on the kitchen counter, and hadn't had any boxes of food with holes chewed into them, which were the biggest mouse-related incidents my mother had had to contend with. I thought perhaps my giant dogs were scarier than her beagle, and sort of forgot all about the rodent issues.
Then I actually saw a little mouse scurrying across the kitchen floor into the closet. The entryway closet is open with no doors on it, so there really wasn't anywhere for the little bugger to go, but alas, I was startled, and not quick enough to find him. I don't know where he went (but he must have been a he, as only males are that sneaky and a girl mouse would have stayed to face her fate), but he was just gone. I checked for holes in the walls, and there are none, but apparently mice are magical and have the ability to disappear into thin air.
This happened about two weeks ago. So the very next day, I went out and purchased mouse traps with the intent to kill the little pest and all his little friends. Because they were right next to the mouse traps, I also purchased a couple of those fancy little wireless transmitters that supposedly plug into a wall and keep all manner of pests from even entering your house.
I figured at this point, if the transmitter worked, I wouldn't have to deal with dead mice in the traps, which would be much more pleasant for me. It was really less about saving the mouse lives that it was about my own comfort and displeasure.
So I plug the transmitters in and set a trap or two, being very careful to try to put the traps in the line of the mouse path but also well out of the way of children and pets, and bait it with peanut butter. A week goes by and the traps do not get tripped. I'm thinking this is good because I also am not seeing any sign of rodent life.
Last week I think I saw something a couple of times when I went out to shut the lights off before going to bed, but I chalk it up to being paranoid about having mice. One morning I see what I thought were mouse droppings, but they were on the floor, and since it hadn't been swept the night before, it could have just been dust or dirt from someones shoes.
Then comes today. I go out this morning to the kitchen to pour my morning nectar into a cup, and there on the white tiled counter are definite mouse droppings. Since I remember distinctly wiping the counter down before I went to bed, and know there was no food left on it, I am positive the mouse is now just playing games with me.
I am sure if I left a camera on in my kitchen at night, he'd be doing a little dance in front of the stupid, worthless transmitter that clearly isn't working. Dancing and pooping and shoving the fact that he exists right in my face. The traps are obviously not in the right places, but I'd like to avoid trapping a dog's tongue as much as I'd like to trap a mouse's body.
There are several reasons why poison is out of the question- the children, the dogs, the stench of a rotten mouse when it crawls in the walls to die.
I'm thinking I just bought a cheap-o kind of transmitter, and I'm going to buy the name brand kind next, and if that doesn't do it, it's game on, and the mice will not like me when I really get my game face on.
We'd been here for a few weeks, in the winter, and hadn't seen any signs of mice living inside. That should read I hadn't had any mice droppings on the kitchen counter, and hadn't had any boxes of food with holes chewed into them, which were the biggest mouse-related incidents my mother had had to contend with. I thought perhaps my giant dogs were scarier than her beagle, and sort of forgot all about the rodent issues.
Then I actually saw a little mouse scurrying across the kitchen floor into the closet. The entryway closet is open with no doors on it, so there really wasn't anywhere for the little bugger to go, but alas, I was startled, and not quick enough to find him. I don't know where he went (but he must have been a he, as only males are that sneaky and a girl mouse would have stayed to face her fate), but he was just gone. I checked for holes in the walls, and there are none, but apparently mice are magical and have the ability to disappear into thin air.
This happened about two weeks ago. So the very next day, I went out and purchased mouse traps with the intent to kill the little pest and all his little friends. Because they were right next to the mouse traps, I also purchased a couple of those fancy little wireless transmitters that supposedly plug into a wall and keep all manner of pests from even entering your house.
I figured at this point, if the transmitter worked, I wouldn't have to deal with dead mice in the traps, which would be much more pleasant for me. It was really less about saving the mouse lives that it was about my own comfort and displeasure.
So I plug the transmitters in and set a trap or two, being very careful to try to put the traps in the line of the mouse path but also well out of the way of children and pets, and bait it with peanut butter. A week goes by and the traps do not get tripped. I'm thinking this is good because I also am not seeing any sign of rodent life.
Last week I think I saw something a couple of times when I went out to shut the lights off before going to bed, but I chalk it up to being paranoid about having mice. One morning I see what I thought were mouse droppings, but they were on the floor, and since it hadn't been swept the night before, it could have just been dust or dirt from someones shoes.
Then comes today. I go out this morning to the kitchen to pour my morning nectar into a cup, and there on the white tiled counter are definite mouse droppings. Since I remember distinctly wiping the counter down before I went to bed, and know there was no food left on it, I am positive the mouse is now just playing games with me.
I am sure if I left a camera on in my kitchen at night, he'd be doing a little dance in front of the stupid, worthless transmitter that clearly isn't working. Dancing and pooping and shoving the fact that he exists right in my face. The traps are obviously not in the right places, but I'd like to avoid trapping a dog's tongue as much as I'd like to trap a mouse's body.
There are several reasons why poison is out of the question- the children, the dogs, the stench of a rotten mouse when it crawls in the walls to die.
I'm thinking I just bought a cheap-o kind of transmitter, and I'm going to buy the name brand kind next, and if that doesn't do it, it's game on, and the mice will not like me when I really get my game face on.
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