MouseWatch 2009
So we're still waiting to catch that little bugger.Monday I blogged about how utterly creeped-out-nauseating it feels to have a mouse lurking beneath our dishwasher.
Am I over-reacting?
Absolutely.
But if I do see that thing, I will photograph the vomitrotious evidence.
Don't dare me.
So anyway, no sign of it.
The snap-traps are still out, but more likely to catch someone's toe first, I just know it.
Our household is full of clumsy feet.
So thanks to the smart people i've talked to, we hear sticky traps are best.
And peanut butter. *really!? um.okay.*
So I dollop this sticky pad with some PB.
Is that alot?!
Should I add some jelly and make the damn thing a sandwich while i'm at it!?
Better?!
I'm waiting to find nibble marks in it, either that or find the mouse with a cup of tea eating it for breakfast.
Does it have a family?!
Are there babies in there somewhere?
Ugh.
Maybe our outside cat should come have a staycation indoors for a little while.
You know what's going to happen?
Because there's a jar of Skippy on the floor in our kitchen, we'll get ants.
Just watch.
July 22, 2009 at 2:59 AM
BWAHAHAHA....OMG, I remember mice. Rats to...Don't like the wild ones but give me a domestic one everyday and I'll aww over it. Yes the PB will draw ants but it will work but the sticky will kill the mouse.. -sigh- I usually put out live traps for mice and rats and yes they have them that small.
July 22, 2009 at 4:39 AM
I think it is great y'all are going the humane way, but I think mice are too smart for all that stuff. You need to get the poison. Your mouse is most likely living under your home in the crawl space or basement, if you have one. Our mice would come up looking for food and water and leave a trail of poo everywhere they went. We even have dogs and they would go around the dogs. Shows how stupid and useless my dogs are. The guy put the poison under the house and we had two dead after that. We haven't had any mouse issues since last summer. We also had him make sure every hole under the house was patched. Good luck and I hope you catch the suckers. Take care.
-Kiki
July 22, 2009 at 4:45 AM
seriously- I know it sounds trivial- but I get it- I felt like I was in a living hell when we had those things. I was too freaked out by the ones that got caught on the glue traps- because they squeeled and my husband was never home... So we got the real traps- and cuz I wanted to kill the sucker! As soon as my husband left for work- SNAP! I cried as I looked at a squirming mouse with its head snapped and called my husband and asked him "what the hell do I do know? I can't let this thing sit here for 10 hours??!"
Then the polie came and brought it out to the dumpster for me (I guess they only made the call because of my husband, but still- I called the Police to get a dead mouse out of my kitchen!)
July 22, 2009 at 5:23 AM
Yes, peanut butter is about the best thing to use to catch mice. They love the taste & they can't really drag it away like a piece of cheese. Good luck!
July 22, 2009 at 5:29 AM
Oh my! We had one get in a place we lived a few years back (an older home surrounded by fields, go figure!). It took some work to get him, but we finally did. I don't think you want to hear about the concoction we had to make to catch him!
July 22, 2009 at 6:08 AM
Have you seen my latest post? Um coke's got the same problem, lol
July 22, 2009 at 6:42 AM
We had mice in out kitchen last summer and I was TOTALLY ready to move out over it. Ughhhhh. I made my husband check all the traps every morning before I would get out of bed.
July 22, 2009 at 6:53 AM
This made me crack up. We had a mouse in the house once. OhLORD did I go nuts. I put a huge dollop of PB on a trap too. The sticky trap caught him. Bastard mouse. He ruined an entire evening.
July 22, 2009 at 6:57 AM
Well - if the mouse got outside somehow - the cat may have already gotten it for you. But as for peanut butter - believe or not, yes, mice love it. I've trapped many a mice over the years with just peanut butter and an old fashioned spring trap. That's gross too. Good hunting!
July 22, 2009 at 7:20 AM
Good Luck! We found that the sticky traps work the best...but then they get caught...and you can hear them scratching and clawing to get away...mouse whining. It's worse than your children. Trust Me.
July 22, 2009 at 7:36 AM
Oh My... I couldn't help but laughing at the mouse having a cup of tea.
I hope you catch the little varmin!
July 22, 2009 at 7:59 AM
yup - high chance of ants. The other thing they like is the spreadable cheese - that's what we were using and caught quite a few in regular traps that way. In fact I keep an container of old expired spreadable cheese in the refrigerator just for mice, and so sad that one step child decided cheese and crackers was a good idea on her last visit ... ugh, not a good idea :-(
July 22, 2009 at 8:05 AM
That is an awful lof of PB, wonder if he'll be able to lean over and eat it without stepping on the trap? SO.... who gets to remove the "used" traps??
Happy hunting! Hope you catch that thing!
July 22, 2009 at 8:30 AM
We had a mouse in our garage last year and used the sticky traps. They worked but it was the grossest (is that a word?) sickest thing DISCOVERING that it worked!!! Ewwww I get chills just thinking about it! Make hubby check the traps!!!
July 22, 2009 at 8:37 AM
yeah, gross. Outside is one thing, but in the house? yuck. I think the indoor-for-a-while cat idea may help. Hate to break it to you, but there are probably babies, aunts, uncles, cousins, greats, and great-greats.
Just sayin
didn't you read Despereaux?
July 22, 2009 at 8:52 AM
peanut butter to catch...a pest. That's a new one. I'll have to try it here with our lab rat sized roaches. :( They'll prolly just eat it.
July 22, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Ok the peanut butter is great but you used too much. It can stand beside and eat away. Just put a little dab in the very middle and they can get out of glue traps and pull them all over the place. We deal with a lot of mice because we live in a big field with hay fields on both sides of us. DCon makes a trap they have to walk in to get to the bait. It is a black rectangular box and you can lift up the front part and empty it without ever having to touch a mouse and it is so easy to set. No more snapped fingers or toes for that matter.
July 22, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Oh yeah you should always set your traps up against a wall because mice don't see well, they go more by smell and follow along things like walls and use their scent to remember where they have been.
July 22, 2009 at 10:04 AM
These ladies appear to know what they're talking about. I just wanted to add that at least the ants should get stuck in the glue. :)
Good luck great mouse hunter!
July 22, 2009 at 10:27 AM
I'd let you borrow my cat, but he's old now, almost 18. The only thing he catches these days is a nap. He used to be a real good mouser, though!
July 22, 2009 at 10:42 AM
I hate mice, can you believe I let my oldest have a rat for his Birthday? At least I know he's in the cage.
July 22, 2009 at 10:51 AM
I have a mega-phobia of ants, so if you start posting about them, I'll cry -- I hate ants because there is NEVER just one -- with a mouse...maybe one.
Anywho...I thought of you last night with this whole mouse situation when I pulled my salad spinner out of the cabinet...opened it, threw the lid back on and screeeamed!!!
I thought it was a mouse.
It was an old cherry tomato that had morphed into a grey ball of mold the SIZE of a mouse -- eeeeek.
July 22, 2009 at 10:54 AM
We used a small amount after using a big one because the mouse would just come up to the side and snack on it. A small amount works better because they have to step up in there to it to get it. Dont worry about them not smelling it. They will smell the tiniest of anything.
Hope this works for you. It should.
Love and Prayers,
Tim
July 22, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Just wanted to let you know that we've had a huge amount of success using those little sonar thingys that you plug in. Keeps the mice and spiders away but doesn't bug our pets. Plus, the ones we got have little night lights on them! I think we spent $10 on a two pack at Walmart and haven't seen nor heard a mouse in a loooong time.
I feel your pain though! We stayed at a house on a goat ranch for a few months once and the rodent population was astronomical. Ick. I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it!
Good Luck! ;-)
Robin
July 23, 2009 at 5:24 AM
Please listen to me. I am a mouse expert. We have tons of mice every year due to being surrounded by fields. You do NOT want to use the sticky traps. Get them NOW and throw them away! You want your husband to set the snap trigger ones. Seriously. I used the sticky traps. The problems are numerous. One...you find the mouse. Still alive. Desperate to get off the sticky. But it just gets stuck in some abnormal position and dies a very s-l-o-w death. And just imagine you find it right after the husband has gone to work. What are you going to do? It's going to be ALIVE!! They are terrible. I won't even get into what happens when you cat gets stuck to one of those and drags it through the house, getting sticky on every surface in your home.
July 23, 2009 at 5:27 AM
And um, yeah. That dollop of peanut butter is bigger than the mouse. Tiny bit. Like less than a dime. They have little mouths. :)
July 27, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Did you ever catch the mouse? Not sure if i missed something!