I Would Not, Could Not With a Mouse...

As many of our loyal subscribers would already know, Lola and I have a little field mouse problem. I am hoping that after last night, it is now past tense and is considered that we "HAD" a mouse problem. It was a successful hunt last night.

The trap had gone off four times. The first time we checked the trap and saw nothing so I am not sure that maybe it just didn't slip off itself.

The second time the mouse set it off, which was only 10 minutes later, and he was caught by the hair of his chinny chin chin but before Lola and I could capture him he had escaped. And by him, I mean George (aka Mickey). This attempt prompted me to rig a new kind of trap so that once the mouse was caught by the trap he would not be able to run away. The trap was in a box that would allow the mouse in but he wouldn't be able to run out with the trap stuck to him. This second attempt also provided this valuable information to me....I am a wuss. Oh, I tried to act tough in front of Lola, but I did a terrible job.

So we reset both traps in my new invention and went back to the living room to wait.

Time ticks by...

So slowly, slowly...

And then around 11:00pm we hear what we thought was the trap going off. We checked the first box. Nothing. I picked up the second box and thought it was light and there was no mouse in it. We took it outside and I shined the flashlight though the hole I cut in my trap box and sure enough, dead mouse. For those of you who might feel bad, don't, because this mouse did not feel a thing. Granted he was cute, in a rodent kind of way, but he died a quick death and would have been dead before he knew what pain was.

I decide to keep the other trap set, just in case George's family came looking for him.

Time ticks by...

So slowly, slowly...

It is now about 2:20am, and I was in the computer room, when "POP", the second trap goes off.

Now this is the trap that had gone off before by itself so I wasn't expecting there to be a mouse for sure. I opened the cupboard and saw what I needed to see. Another mouse and my new trap worked like a charm. The mouse got trapped, tried to run away, but the box stopped him from pulling trap back through the hole. This mouse, I will call him Renaldo, was the Spanish brother-in-law of George, unfortunately did not die right away, but was dead a few moments later. The trap crushed his lower body and although he tried to run at first he died fairly quickly afterwards.

So where does that leave us. Well I am not positive that all the mice are gone but I at least know exactly how they are getting in. There was a small space betweem the pipe and the floor below the kitchen cupboard, so I will fill that with steel wool so the mice can not come through it again and then rebuild the cabinet base. Hopefully this will be the end of this issue for us.