or Caution: This involves dead mouse talk
'Tis the season for field mice to come into our house seeking warmth. This is an occurrence we have every year and we've gotten used to. We usually find them in the same place--between a couple of studs in our coat closet. Apparently, they enter from somewhere above and fall into this area. Then, they are the ultimate, "I've fallen and can't get up" victims. We finally figured this out after Ward followed his nose and cut a couple of holes in the wall where he eventually found a stinky mouse graveyard. After that, he put a plate over the hole so it could be opened and he could rescue any fallen mice.
*
This seemed to work pretty well until this week. Then we got a smart and determined mouse. This one chewed it's way out of the graveyard and has been able to elude our four cats for a couple of days--an unheard of feat until now. The longest any creature (bugs, mice, moles, voles) lasts in our house is a couple hours before the cats have taken care of it. Just when we think that this mouse has escaped or is dead, we see the cats very attentively watching under a door or a piece of furniture. And there's only one thing that that can mean--there's still a mouse in the house. And as much as I hate to admit it, I'm scared of this little mouse. So wish me luck that today will be the day that this smart and determined mouse will be gone.
Update: I found the mouse and I think the cats won. Now to put on some gloves and toss it outside.
*We have an ongoing discussion about rescuing the mice or if we should let nature take its course between the cats and the mice. I vote for the cats because one, it is very natural and two, I don't want to handle the mice.
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Oh Lordy..... we had a mouse a couple of months ago. good Luck!!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Well, in honor of Sputnik VonWiskars (who is still hanging in there and doing quite well under the circumstances) I'll share my mouse in the house story.
ReplyDeleteThis was about 2 or 3 years ago when my two "boys" were still kittens. The two of them had been very interested in something behind the bookshelf, and I was hoping against hope that they'd just lost a toy or something, when suddenly Smokey lunged back there and emerged with a mouse dangling by its foot from his mouth. Smokey & his brother Jasper were about 3 months old at this point and were beside themselves with glee.
I stood there gasping in horror, not sure if it would be worse to watch him devour it before my eyes or if he let it go... then he dropped it and it scurried off behind the loveseat. I was pretty much standing there paralyzed in complete "eek, a mouse" mode. But there was no way I was gonna sit on that loveseat until I knew the mouse was gone, so I proceeded to start pulling furniture away from the walls.
So... out comes the loveseat, and then the chair, and finally as I'm pulling the couch out from the wall I see the mouse scurrying toward me. At this point the kittens were beside themselves with excitement. The furniture was all in a pile in the middle of the living room and they were literally flying around the room bouncing off of walls and furniture. The mouse sees me and heads back the other direction where it sees a kitten and turns around again.
At this point all of the excitement had roused Sputnik, the elderly lumbering fat cat, who had been sleeping in the basement. So I'm standing there in utter panic with absolutely NO idea what to do, and the kittens are bouncing off the walls, and this mouse is running back and forth against the wall, and Sputnik just saunters over, yawns and within about 2 seconds has the thing caught. He looked up at me as if to say "What's the big deal guys, it's just a mouse!"
Anyhow, he didn't even hurt it - not terribly surprising since he didn't have any teeth left by this point, but still, I like to think of him as a pacifist kitty. I brought a bucket over and he spit it out into the bucket and I took it outside and let it go - with explicit instructions to tell it's brethren that this was NOT the right house to visit!
I guess it just goes to show that at least where catching mice is concerned, experience trumps enthusiasm every time!
Good luck with your mouse!
First, I'm happy to hear that Sputnik is doing well. And second, I love a good cat story. My favorite part of this story is how Sputnik just sauntered over and dropped the mouse into the bucket.
DeleteGood luck with your mouse. I have learned to take mice as a part of life that just comes from living in the sticks in this part of the country and much prefer mice to roaches! Want to see me move fast put a roach where I can see it.
ReplyDeleteI agree about roaches. I have a lot of roach stories from when I lived in New Orleans but I'll save those for another time.
DeleteIsn't it wonderful that cats can just spend the entire day patrolling for you? They don't have to fuss with cooking, shopping for and wrapping gifts, decorating trees. They have all the time in the world to watch that mouse for you!
ReplyDeleteThey have all of the time in the world except when they are demanding to be fed and petted. They took care of the mouse, so I guess they can have whatever they want.
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