As I am writing this, we are on day four of a mouse-watch in my kitchen! Of all places!
It’s a smart mouse because it knows where the food is. And we have set traps three nights in a row and all this mouse does is steal the peanut butter. Oh yes, it poops all over the place, too. That’s how we knew the mouse was there.
You might be wondering at this point, why is it that two fairly intelligent people have not put a sticky trap out? More about that later.
Because of the mouse, I don’t want to be in the kitchen at any moment of the day and that’s hard for someone who’s in charge of making the food. We have everything else put away in cabinets, but then who knows where the mouse is hiding? It could be in one of the cabinets and my biggest fear is that I will open one and it will come bounding out at me. I’m not really afraid of mice. Oh well maybe I am, but it’s more the surprise factor of the animal running around my house!
I have a very close female relative who doesn’t mind picking up mice or emptying those traps whether the mouse is dead or alive. But don’t let her see some big spider or even a little one – she goes wacko.
Of course, as soon as I mention this situation to anyone, they also have a mouse story, some of them really gross!
This whole experience reminds me of one that took place several years ago in another home. We had a large walk-in pantry and as I entered it in the middle of the day, down from one of the top shelves at full speed came a mouse! I had slacks on and had always heard a mouse could run up your pants. I ran out of there and into the kitchen as fast as I could. My next move was to try to get up on the kitchen counter as quickly as possible and that was really hard to do, since I’m short. It ran around the floor in the kitchen with me screaming. I don’t think anyone else was home. That was the worst part.
The mouse disappeared for a few days and that’s always bad since you don’t know where it is. Then we found droppings on the dresser in the bedroom. Oh no, now it was in my bedroom – are you kidding me?
We set traps, but couldn’t catch it. Maybe there was something wrong with our trap setting technique. However my husband Dan (I’m calling him my hero at this point) did finally take care of the situation.
It went like this. I was getting ready for work one day and from the mirror I could see my bed and there at the foot of the bed was the mouse! This was a brave mouse. It was morning and after all I was just in the next room. I panicked and quickly finished the morning routine of hair and makeup and was out of there so fast, vowing not to return until the mouse was captured.
I was gone all day and when I came home the trap was still empty. Oh what a disappointment. As I started to exit the bedroom I looked back and there at the top of the bed was the mouse actually washing his face with his paws!
I tiptoed out of the room and then quickly yelled for Dan to come to the rescue. He grabbed a pan and lid then chased it around the bed and caught it in the pan, putting the lid on top! He ran out the door to release it into the woods. Now that was good, but I did think that this guy might find his way back in the house. Thankfully that never happened, but the whole experience is recorded in my mind as my most harrowing one with mice.
Now, several years later, we have this new event. I’m dealing with a small invader again.
Update – A column is several days in the making. There’s writing and rewriting and as I finish my final draft before submitting this column, here is my report. The mouse was finally captured with the traditional trap. We actually did put out some sticky ones, but trapper Dan hates to empty those since the rodent is usually still alive. Hence they are used only as a last resort.
We also switched trap positions just in case one was faulty. That may have been what got him. I’m grateful, for that trap has made my life a little calmer. For a few days we left the traps in place and I’m happy to report that he seems to have been a “lone wolf” attacker.
You know how they always say there’s never just one mouse. Well maybe this time that is wrong. Oh, I sincerely hope so!
(Melanie Behrens – melb@marysvillejt.com)