BS: Mouse in the House!

Subject: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 11:45 AM

Well, our nocturnal adventures continue. Yesterday we had about 3 inches of rain which probably caused great distress to the rodents that are resident in the outer margins of our estate, in what we refer to as "No Man's Land Jungle." Our two cats patrol the Jungle on a regular basis.

Late last night Tilahun, our black long-haired Bumese cross, brought in her catch for show-and-tell. We were awoken about 3 am to pouncing sounds alongside our bed, and sharp little squeaking sounds.

I leapt out of bed and dashed to the kitchen to procure a yogurt container to re-capture the mouse. I then turned on the light and locked out the very proud but indignant cat.

Judy reported that she had last seen the tail of said mouse disappearing into the pile of magazines, books and pillows that were resident in the corner between the bed and the wall. There's also a forced hot water baseboard running along that wall to add interest to the hunt.

Well, I didn't see anything under the first book I lifted up, nor the magazines, but then there appeared a small grey body, an old catnip mouse which I thoughtfully held up by its tail to show Judy who jumped about three feet (well, maybe only 2.5 feet) off the mattress.

I continued the search, removing all the rest of the pillows, books, magazines and dust bunnies, until I saw a live small brown mouse cowering behind the end of the baseboard heater. Fortunately for him, when I presented the yogurt contained he ran right in and I was able to complete the capture, take him out the front entrance door, and release him out into the night.

Then we let Tilahun back in, thanked her for her gift, and went back to sleep.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 11:51 AM

Heheheheee! I love it!

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 12:04 PM

The conventional wisdom is that mice should not be captured and released unless you're willing to take them a looooooong ways away. However, since this particular mouse seems to have been captured outdoors and brought in instead of having invaded your house looking for food, and since its experience inside the house was doubly traumatic, it probably won't come back. But, you never know. The little bugger might be off in the woods right now telling his friends "Damn! That was fun! I'm gonna do it again tonight!"

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 12:34 PM

Or, he could be a suicide forward recon scout who let himself be captured to gain valuable information for the formulation of logistics necessary for a subsequent foray by a crack covert insertion team.

You should have checked him for a camera or drawings or the like... you konw, showing the locations of wires to be chewed and the like. I suggest you immediately perform a sweep for bugs and explosives.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 12:37 PM

And keep an eye on the cat. After all, he did bring the mouse in the house... maybe he has made a better deal?

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 12:37 PM

My neighbours, before I repatriated from Australia, had lots of trouble with possums in the attic,

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 01:48 PM

Hmmmm?

The mouse was intact rather than nibbled. Maybe Tilahun did make a deal. She's usually the one who gobbles 'em up, leaving behind assorted tails and claws.

Stay tuned for tonight's episode. Maybe she'll bring in a hamster!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 01:50 PM

Are you sure they weren't voles?

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 02:26 PM

Deal: I let you live. You breed. I eat your babies. Yum!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 02:53 PM

The best way to prevent mice from getting into your house is to dig a trench about three feet deep and three feet wide all around it. When the sun goes down and the moon comes up, flood the trench with gasoline and light it. Turn off the gasoline in the morning when the sun comes up and the moon goes down.

Another way is to take a hint from the moorings of ships and put a mouse/rat guard over your house. Not only will this keep the rodents out, it will also protect you from the secret rays They are beaming down to turn your brain into microwaved mush.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: maeve
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 05:44 PM

When I was little our cat brought us captured deer mice, usually alive and unharmed. We'd mark their white bellies with a magic marker and smuggle them back outside. Had quite a few repeat visitors, according to the number of green/purple/red-marked deer mice on subsequent nights.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Peace
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 05:51 PM

DON'T LET PETA KNOW.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: jeddy
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 05:51 PM

the only thing my cat ever brought me was an old peice of charcoal from the BBQ, thank god it was old!! mmm flame grilled cat!!!

the other cat only brought us one spider. he presented it then ate it, even the dogs now love chasing spiders, i am sure one of them is phycotic and sees them everywhere.

take care all

jade x x

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Peace
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 05:53 PM

You have to get your cat to stop bringing them home. Ya kill one and hundreds go to the funeral . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: ranger1
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 06:12 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 06:45 PM

Tami.... mouse set the trap and got away or what?

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:07 PM

My cat Friendly Good-fellow never brought a mouse into the house. However, as he left on a hunt one day, he heard my four year old grandson say, "I would like to see Friendly eat a mouse." Not wanting to disappoint the child, I explained that Friendly had always eaten in private. Half an hour later, I looked out the patio door and told Gareth, "Well, Friendly must have heard you!" He was eating a mouse right there on the doormat. This is not the only story of a cat responding directly to human conversation. It would behoove us all to let our cats know our expectations/hopes.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:15 PM

FLUFFY! Kill that yappy lap dog next door when he starts barking at 7:10AM.

Hope that works.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:25 PM

Only if it's one of those tiny furry footballs of a dog.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:27 PM

I miss Fluffy. He was a hairless white cat with one eye. Here is a pic of him on the front lawn in a snowstorm...


                  *


... walking away from the camera.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:38 PM

It is, Rap... mostly hair and yap. He's sooo cute, isn't heeee... yeeees... who's cuuuute" You are! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

I was talkin at Ches over the fence. Yappy started up. Ches hollered BE QUIET! It kept up and so did Ches. I said, "Kick it." Ches said, "I'd like to."

And the old girl said, "What's the matter you cute little doggie? Yer soooo cuuuute."

Ches said, "That's not all I'd like to kick."

So, when yappy starts at 7:10 and yaps til dark with some breaks, I think of Ches and know his stress is more than mine. It gives me the strength I need not to put on my issues and kick ass.

FLUFFY.... KILL! you fuckin pussy.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:45 PM

A bit of ground beef with a bit of ground valium....

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 09:17 PM

I see it too.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 04:31 AM

One of my intrepid hunters (Koh-i-noor by name) once brought in a pork chop... I often wonder what she did with the rest of the pig.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 10:03 AM

Sautéd in butter, breaded?

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 10:46 AM

One of my fondest memories of my old cat Geraldine was when I say her jump up on the porch of a neighboring house and then disappear from view via an open window...We held our breath!

She soon reappeared carrying a well-cooked hamburger (cooled) and proudly brought it back to us, mewing softly.

No signs of further mice last night, a much more peaceful sleep.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 12:12 PM

Wow, what a great morning of laughter from those posts! I'd like to see what this true story elicits:
Birthday party for a human. presents being opened. "Kitty is sad because she doesn't have a present for carol!" Exit kitty. A few minutes later, Kitty returns with mouse for Carol. Took it right to her.

Honest!

Well, there was the dog who brought us our duck, DEAD. It was at the top of the (outdoor) bed when we awakened. Gifts out animals bering us are sometimes as unwanted as some of those Christmas ones humans give us!

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 12:26 PM

Charley... they wouldn't attack the first night... they'd figure you and Mrs were on sentry by shift, sneaky little squeakers that they are.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 01:11 PM

Gnu-

No doubt you're right.

But they don't know about the elephant trap between the bed and the wall, where the floor grate for the old furnace system was. Won't they be surprised!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 01:56 PM

Oh my. If a mouse falls into that trap and startles the elephants, you could be in deep shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 03:06 PM

WARNING! The following link is to a "Progressive Rock" song from a long ways back. It is not to be clicked upon if you don't like rock, don't like avant garde music, don't like... you get the pic... some mice may not like Elephant Talk.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: robomatic
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 03:17 PM

King Crimson - one of the greats.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 03:35 PM

If one person appreciated the link, it was worth it.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 04:39 PM

"Elephant Talk" Awesome!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Cats
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 05:27 PM

It's that time of year! Last night I had a live mouse at about 3.45 am which I captured in a pot and took over the field to free, a live one at about 7.30am and another dead one at about 9.30am. I never had mice until I had a cat. At least it wasn't the pygmy shrews in the flower bed.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 05:42 PM

Never had mice until you had a cat? It's an obvious conspiracy!

Glad you liked the tune, Charley. It is my all time fav. I am an Irish Trad man, but I appreciate any good tunes.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: open mike
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 09:25 PM

i just brought my cat back to where i live...
since a forest fire destroyed my house a year ago
i have been house sitting at other peoples houses
when they have been gone and also in a motor home
in town and also parked in the yard of a house where
there were 2 dogs and 4 cats, so not a good place for
my cat to call home. Now i have finally parked the r.v.
back near my former house site and have brought her
home from the kennel where she has been for 6 months.

I hope she finds (and enjoys...yum, yum...) the mice
that have taken up residence in the motor home in her
absence. Her name is cinder, and she was named long
before the fire -- her mother, Lucinda died in the fire...

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 09:02 AM

It's not good for a cat to eat mice. Mice carry parasites that can make the cat sick. Tapeworms, for one.

Back when I let cats go outside, my cat and two foster cats all had tapeworms. My new punkin, who never goes outside, has never had them.

I believe in mousetraps instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Cats
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:02 AM

Mine don't eat mice, they just bring them as pressies for me!

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Tig
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 06:38 PM

Ours have the habit of bringing whole (luckily usually dead) mice to us when they feel the standard of cat food has not been up to their liking!

We also get a fair number of shrews but I drew the line and told them NO MORE when they chose to bring in a rat. I think it was SOFA (Stupid Orange Furry Animal or any other 4 words that fit) as for a tom he is an excellent hunter.

Shadow's favourite sitting space? On the bird table which is now almost overgrown by hedge. You can't see her because of her colouring. However we have very few birds caught.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 04:49 PM

My Freddie did the same one night, Charlie, except he put the live mouse on my pillow. Then the squealing started. Poor thing took refuge under a canister vacuum cleaner on wheels. The cats moved the vacuum and the mouse moved with it.
I wheeled the vacuum into the bathroom. Got a cottage cheese container. Caught the little guy and after giving him a lecture on stupidity and a warning that next time I would give him to the cat, I let him go outside.

Fred manages to grab blue jays out of the air, chipmunks on the fly and even brought home a crow. It all beats his initial forays into the wild which produced huge nightcrawlers.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 05:22 PM

Sinsull-

What them cats do bring in!

One joy was the pigeon they brought in through the cat door. We found lots of feathers scattered about but no pigeon. A day or so later I was rummaging around in the entry closet for some boots when said pigeon exploded from the corner with his remaining wing feathers. I said something the equivalent of "Drat!" He was one game bird, and after finally cornering him, I released him to the wild where, no doubt, he amused his pigeon friends with the tale of his great escape.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Tangledwood
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 06:26 PM

Mine don't eat mice, they just bring them as pressies for me!


Don't eat them.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: number 6
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 07:20 PM

Mouse in the house

how about going into your apartment and finding a deer


Deer trashes apartment

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 08:54 PM

Bill-

Deer can be a problem as can moose! There are several videos on line which show moose cavorting in swimming pools.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Gurney
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 06:26 PM

Gnu, I have carefully studied your photograph of Fluffy, and I can't tell for the life of me how you can be sure which way he's walking.

I think he's approaching and squinting.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:23 PM

I know fluffy...

Subject: Mouse in the House! Humane mousetraps
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 06:06 PM

Well, Grisabella has been known to catch many a mouse and even eat them (I've seen and heard the tell-tale evidence -- such as a tail sticking out of her mouth, blood drops on the bathroom floor, and a crunching sound). I rescued 2 mice from her a while back and kept them as pets in a terrarium (with exercise wheels, etc.) until finally one died and the other escaped when I was cleaning their 'house'.)
But it seems I now have a serious mouse problem -- i.e., the problem is; the mice themselves may be pretty frivolous-- either because Grisabella's reflexes are slowing down now that she's past 11 years old or because my house just plain has too much stuff and too many places for mice to hide (cf. the Decluttering threads).    When I move certain boxes or open certain drawers or move books off of shelves, I see the unmistakable evidence of the meeses. (Did you know they eat paper too?)   

Soooo, I'm continuing my mammoth decluttering and housecleaning project (which will probably take me the rest of the summer), but I think I will need more help with mouse control than my moggy can handle right now.

Anyone have recommendations on humane (and affordable) mousetraps?   I've seen several advertized online, but I'd be interested in your experience and opinions. I've tried to 'invent' my own, but so far the rodents have outsmarted me.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 06:35 PM

A five gallon bucket to which you affix a rod across the top through which you mount a tin can that can rotate freely to which you apply peanut butter. You provide a way for the mice to get within four inches of the can. They jump to the can, which rotates, and fall in the bucket. You extricate the mice and relocate them.

It is cheap, home made, and effective.

There are past threads on this subject. Filter it.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 06:54 PM

thanks, gnu.

I did find this thread thru the filter.

As for the bucket thing, I've found that my mice can not only jump very high, but they can climb the walls of lots of surfaces.    One thing I might consider though is putting some cat food in the bottom of a 5-gallon carboy that I have in my kitchen (left over from my winemaking days). If the mice would climb into that to get the food, maybe they wouldn't be able to climb out?

I'll check out the other mouse threads too.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: GUEST,Bizibod
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 06:57 PM

We've used, with great success ,on several occasions ,the tilting humane trap baited with a square of chocolate. They cannot resist! Situate it running alongside a wall. As they enter the square tube, their own weight tilts the trap so that the little door closes securely and they are face to face with the chocolate as consolation.
House mice, field mice - but not the young rat who obviously couldn't fit into it! I had to flush him out by taking the kickboards off the kitchen units and channel him using sheets of chipboard towards and out of the back door.I don't know who was squealing the loudest!

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 07:00 PM

Plastic bucket. If they can jump that high... you need a very big cat. It they can climb it, you need a shotgun to protect the cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 10:02 PM

I'm going to try to rig some sort of trap using a 5-gallon bucket and another using a gallon-size wide-mouth jar.

The monkey wrench I suspect might get thrown into the mix would be a feline one.   I can just picture the meeses falling for my traps and ending up at the bottom of a bucket or jar in the middle of the night -- and then Grisabella taking this caged-beast phenomenon as some sort of new cat toy I've provided for her, playing with it, and in the process setting the meeses free.   Now the meeses might regret it if she freed them only to then have them as a snack. But, as cats do love to play with their food, they might also escape again -- with or without serious injuries.

Genie

PS

As for the poison and snap traps, not good ideas for my situation even if I could accept the cruelty involved.   (I can accept the cruelty of a cat killing the mouse if she does it quickly and then eats the critter, but I also don't want her just tormenting and torturing the poor critters.)   If a mouse gets away and then dies, say, inside my walls, I have to put up with the dead mouse smell for maybe weeks.   And if a poisoned mouse should be eaten my my cat or some other neighborhood cat or dog, that would be bad.   The snap traps pose a risk of catching my cat's paws or my own fingers -- not to mention the prospect of a very slow, painful death for a mouse that didn't get snapped properly (and maybe just got a foot caught).

We have some wooded areas a mile or two from where I live, where I think I could release meese and they'd maybe be happier than in my pantry.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 08:05 AM

Well, Teji brought a new candidate in for show and tell last evening, releasing it in the kitchen. This little mouse is more agile or more experienced than the previous one or perhaps we were more impaired by the bottle of wine we'd consumed. We began with mouse trapped behind baseboard heating unit which it successfully escaped to pile of shopping bags in corner. Next it escaped across the room to between the refrigerator and the stove where there is a portable storage unit/cutting board. When we rolled the storage unit out the mouse fled behind refrigerator. When we moved refrigerator out he successfully eluded capture and scooted under the stove, and then disappeared somewhere inside.

We gave up.

Maybe Teji or Tilahun will catch it today and eat it!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: gnu
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 09:36 AM

Told ya! He was able to use the intel from the recon to elude and evade.

Check your keys for signs of soap.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 01:32 PM

Most people don't realize that the refrigerator and the stove were originally designed primarily to provide shelter for escaping mice.

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 04:41 PM

Grumble, grumble!

I almost caught by his long tail but my claws (nails) weren't sharp enough to hold him.

Maybe we'll set him out a dish of Cheerios. Our pet mouse used to love them.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mouse in the House!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 05:45 PM

There's one surefire way. suspend all the furniture in the house from the ceiling by ropes and pulleys. Erect scaffolding if necessary, but the feet of the scaffolding must be sitting inside buckets of kerosene, gasoline, or naptha. The mouse will not enter the buckets. This will basically clear the whole floor, but the spaces on the scaffolding must be wide enough apart that you can run through them to any part of the cleared floor.

Now shut all the doors.

Now plug all small openings...except ONE...in the floor or at floor level and empty all closets and cupboards. Stuff taken out of closets and cupboards must be thrown outside through an open window.

Now shut window.

Place bait in middle of floor. Peanut butter and bacon bits work great.

Wait till after dark. Mice get active after about 10PM or midnight.

The mouse will soon emerge through the one opening you left and head for the bait. IMMEDIATELY plug the opening from which the mouse emerged!!!

You now have the little rascal where you want him...trapped on a bare floor with nothing to hide under. Heh! Heh!

Now destroy that mouse! Armed with your trusty sledgehammer, shotgun or flamethrower, you can pursue the vile rodent around through the house and hound him to his doom.

Be careful not to strike any of the scaffolding or buckets while swinging the hammer at the mouse, firing the shotgun or activating the flamethrower. I know one guy who did that, he broke a section of scaffolding in his living room, and was he crushed under a china cabinet full of Royal Doulton that he'd been collecting since 1932.

Not good.

And the mouse escaped too!