So it turns out we have a small family of mice in our kitchen.
This is in fact really good, for two reasons. First, there seem to be only four of them, a mother and three kids, so they will be fairly easy to deal with, unlike the last time the place I lived in had a mouse infestation.
And second, since the mice have cleverly avoided the instant-kill traps we put down, I am filled with joy because I can write “get poison” on my to-do list.
Wait, what?
Just don’t get those so-called humane sticky traps. I had a roommate in Boston who did that, and one morning I groggied my way into the kitchen only to see the trap jerking around on the countertop. I looked inside, and there was the poor mouse, stuck fast to the trap, still trying to run, but managing only to slide the trap along the counter while he got more and more stuck. There was obviously only one course available to me at that point: I banged on my roommate’s door and went back to bed.
We had the best luck with old-fashioned snap traps baited with a smear of peanut butter and placed along the edges of walls or counters, where mice are wont to run. Poison is appealing, but you are likely to cause the mouse to die in a location that is inaccessible to you, and while it may die without sound and fury, it will probably not die without stench.
Oh, come now. Are we really supposed to believe you *haven’t* written that on your shopping list before?
You also can write, “Buy humane cage-trap” on your list. Then you can catch them and let them go in a nearby park.
If you must kill them, at least you’re not using those cruel glue traps.
No, no, Jess is wrong–house mice and field mice are different species, and if you release house mice in a park, they won’t survive.
I must officially object to killing mice. But if you insist, snap traps–poison is really cruel and painful. Or you could get rid of that useless dog and get a cat.
Yes, snap-traps are the ONLY way to go. You’ll end up ripping the house apart to get to the decaying body, since they don’t have the courtesy to die in the middle of the room. The stench is staggering bad. Trust me on this, I used to run movie theatres.
There’s never such thing as only four mice.
No…no…no…as an avid rodent lover (with the exception of mice with white fur and red eyes…hey everyone has their limits) I vote for a no kill trap. You can then take them to the park and free them. Believe it or not but mice/rats are very good pets once they are trained. I myself have two hooded rats (Pancake and Pepper). Faustus please do not kill them even though I know it would bring joy to your life buying poison. I just saved a baby mouse at work who was drowning in a cup someone left on their desk. I have named her Baby Jessica and she is now the talk of my work.
You could do what I did and get kittens! Cats are better for the environment than poison.
Paul, if mice are climbing into coffee cups and drowning at work, perhaps you should consider a new job at a more hygenic location.
Omigod! get rid of them ASAP!
Paul
Will, this is not an every day occurrence. As we have a park/trees behind our building there is a chance for a mouse to get in the building. Our building is very hygenic. Shit happens. Yes a mouse could even get into your “hygenic” work environment. They are animals and deserve to be treated with kindness. Would you leave a relative/friend to drown in a pool when you see them swimming to save their life? No I didn’t think so. If you could see an animal drowning and trying to save its life you would do the same thing I would hope.
The woman in front of me in the queue steps up to the counter and asks for some rodent killer.
“Try this,” says the shopkeeper, “It is 100% effective and guaranteed painless”
“To hell with that,” comes the reply, “I want the little bastards dying in unspeakable agony so word gets round not to mess with MY pantry!”
She has a point.
Humane traps are a nightmare, I mean who wants to deal with live disease ridden rodents; dead ones are so much less bother.
I have always had cats and I have never, ever had a mouse problem no matter how skeevy the apartment I was living in. They also help with roaches.
One would have thought you added “get poison” to you to-do list when you moved in with your boyfriend… For the same reason you buy maple syrup. You don’t really know when you’ll be eating pancakes, but eventually you will and it will come in handy.