I had a mouse.

He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.

I got some great no-kill traps from Home Depot. Small gray
plastic boxes with a gravity lid that stays open while the
trap is tilted forward, but slips shut once it tilts back.

Exactly these:

http://doitbest.com/shop/product.asp...386&sku=769878

Caught the little bugger twice, actually.

But not without some tweaking.

Originally, I'd heard scratching noises, like small teeth
on old pasta, coming from under the oven. And I saw little
black caraway seed-shaped rodent spoor under the sink.

That's how I knew I was being visited, and then I bought
the traps. Less than $4 for a 2-pack.

At first, I tried some Caciqe Asadero, terrific mexican
melting cheese, practically a cheese spread in its raw
form, really. Beautiful for perfectly smooth cheese sauce.

I put a few grams in each of traps and braced the baseboard
either side of the oven with them, so he couldn't miss.

Next morning, one lid had fallen, but maybe it just fell
on its own, because the cheese was inside and the mouse
wasn't. The balance on these was tricky and the slightest
touch would unset them.

And then I didn't hear him anywhere, so I figured he'd left,
so I put the traps away.

A couple of days later, I heard scratching noises again.

So I reset the traps, with Stilton, hoping that unlike the
mild Asadero it would have the aroma of rot and depth that
a mouse would seek out.

Half an hour later, sitting on the sofa, I heard a lid fall.

I went to the kitchen, lifted the trap and something jumped
inside.

But, curious like any cat, I wanted to see my prey.
So I grabbed a handy (dirty) 1-quart pyrex measuring
cup, and a heavy book (The Art of Eating, by MFK Fisher).
I placed the book over the cup, save an inch for the mouth
of the trap. I opened the trap. In the same motion, the
mouse fell from the trap, turned, and leapt out through the
tiny space remaining. He caromed off the toaster oven,
flew to the floor, tried the trash can as a hiding spot,
found no opening underneath, then turned and made for
the refrigerator. Total time to escape to invisibility:
about 0.7 seconds.

Left me standing, agape, trap and book in hand.

Damn.

There I named him. Zippy the Wonder Mouse.

I refilled the traps with store-brand cheddar (still
experimenting rather than just going with what works),
and this morning, one of the traps was sprung but empty.
I'd left the rather large chunks of cheddar an inch or
so from the back of the trap, so as to avoid having them
simply tilt themselves, but clearly, that was a mistake.
He'd reached in and got the bait, then had room to get
out without the lid dropping far enough to lock shut.

Bugger.

No more mister nice mouser.

I didn't hear anything, so I figured he had left again.
I looked through all the cabinets and drawers, and man,
mice can really make the jimmies when they want to.
My main gadget drawer was a mess. I unloaded everything
into the dishwasher, plus all the pans from one cabinet
that had several nodules in it, and ran a heavy-wash cycle
(3 hours of washing and rinsing in my Maytag MDB7600).

Then I took the Chlorox Cleanup to the drawers and cabinets.
One thing desert folk need to be careful of with rodents
is Hantavirus, so I soaked and let set before I wiped.

About dinnertime, I heard rattlings in an empty kitchen.

I went in and turned on the light, and saw the little grey
pischer run behind the microwave.

I got the traps, put just a pinch of Stilton in each, and
boxed him in.

Ten minutes later, I heard what could only be the long
wooden chopstick I'd set next to the sink. Ten feet from
the microwave.

Boshemoi! He'd walked right past the traps!

I went back into the kitchen, and he was nowhere to be found.

So returned to my movie, and waited.

Twenty more minutes, and aha! The sound of a lid dropping,
and tiny frustrations rising.

I tiptoed in, lifted the tripped trap, and sure enough,
it had a resident rodent.

Having no reason to care to see what he looked like a
second time, I slipped on my shoes and dropped him out of
the trap into the dark in the ditch beyond the backyard
fence.

Maybe the rabbits will adopt him before the snakes and
coyotes do.

--Blair
"This ain't no Habitrail."

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:31:16 GMT, Blair P. Houghton > wrote:

>I had a mouse.
<snip amussing saga>
>
>Then I took the Chlorox Cleanup to the drawers and cabinets.
>One thing desert folk need to be careful of with rodents
>is Hantavirus, so I soaked and let set before I wiped.

Caution for others: *my* mouse had been in the silverware drawer, so I
filled the sink with hot water, detergent, and some bleach, and dumped
all the silverware in there. Sterling does *not* like bleach! It's
been several years now, and I'm *still* trying to get the black spots
off.

> --Blair
> "This ain't no Habitrail."

Very funny. :-)

In article >, says...
> I had a mouse.
>
> He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.
>
> I got some great no-kill traps from Home Depot. Small gray
> plastic boxes with a gravity lid that stays open while the
> trap is tilted forward, but slips shut once it tilts back.
>
> Exactly these:
>
> http://doitbest.com/shop/product.asp...386&sku=769878

I just use the cat method. Three of them to be precise.

Mice don't stand a chance here - I've actually watched two of my cats
corner a mouse and proceed to play with it, then gut it. Fascinating.

"Blair P. Houghton" > wrote in message
...
snip mouse tail
>
> --Blair
> "This ain't no Habitrail."

I hope he appreciates your charity with his life and keeps his little mouth
shut. Some of them just can't help but brag about the cuisine and the next
thing you know everyone is stopping by for some Stilton. ;o)
Janet

Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> I had a mouse.
>
> He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.
>
> I got some great no-kill traps from Home Depot. Small gray
> plastic boxes with a gravity lid that stays open while the
> trap is tilted forward, but slips shut once it tilts back.
(snip)
> --Blair
> "This ain't no Habitrail."

What's the point of no-kill traps for mice? The cheeky little buggers will
just come back inside where it's warm and go after the Stilton (again). I'm
all for being humane, but these are invasive critters. Unless you want to
start breeding them to sell to pet stores to feed to snakes, you have to nip
the problem in the bud!

I had a mouse problem when they started digging up the field across the
street to build some houses. True, your regular mouse trap is a tad messy.
And after hearing the thing snap shut and emptying it about 6 times in an
hour I decided perhaps poison bait would be better. Put it well behind the
refrigerator so as not to allow the pets access. They ate it, gluttons that
they are, then wandered off to wherever they go when you can't find them and
were not seen or heard from again.

Jill

In article >, Blair P.
Houghton > wrote:

> I had a mouse.

(hilarious story snipped)

> But, curious like any cat, I wanted to see my prey.
> So I grabbed a handy (dirty) 1-quart pyrex measuring
> cup, and a heavy book (The Art of Eating, by MFK Fisher).
> I placed the book over the cup, save an inch for the mouth
> of the trap. I opened the trap. In the same motion, the
> mouse fell from the trap, turned, and leapt out through the
> tiny space remaining. He caromed off the toaster oven,
> flew to the floor, tried the trash can as a hiding spot,
> found no opening underneath, then turned and made for
> the refrigerator. Total time to escape to invisibility:
> about 0.7 seconds.

"Oh, what fools these mortals be."

> Maybe the rabbits will adopt him before the snakes and
> coyotes do.

Or maybe not.
"Here, kittykitty; here, kittykitty."
--
-Barb
12-23-03: Tourtiere pictures and recipe have been
added to my site: <www.jamlady.eboard.com>
"If you're ever in a jam, here I am."

>
>I had a mouse.
>

Nice story , Blair. This mouse definitly as good taste.
Rosie

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In article >, Blair P.
> Houghton > wrote:
>
>
>>I had a mouse.
>
>
> (hilarious story snipped)
>
>
>>But, curious like any cat, I wanted to see my prey.
>>So I grabbed a handy (dirty) 1-quart pyrex measuring
>>cup, and a heavy book (The Art of Eating, by MFK Fisher).
>>I placed the book over the cup, save an inch for the mouth
>>of the trap. I opened the trap. In the same motion, the
>>mouse fell from the trap, turned, and leapt out through the
>>tiny space remaining. He caromed off the toaster oven,
>>flew to the floor, tried the trash can as a hiding spot,
>>found no opening underneath, then turned and made for
>>the refrigerator. Total time to escape to invisibility:
>>about 0.7 seconds.
>
>
> "Oh, what fools these mortals be."
>
>
>>Maybe the rabbits will adopt him before the snakes and
>>coyotes do.
>
>
> Or maybe not.
> "Here, kittykitty; here, kittykitty."

I had a mouse. I saw it on Friday and told the Handyman to come and do
something. He put out several glue traps and the next day, yesterday, I
found its corpse.

I hope that this was the only one. Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.

Barbara, remember the sound you heard while you were here? Maybe it was
the mouse and not the alarm in the radiator or in the smoke alarm.
Debbie heard it, too, but now it is gone.

I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
kill a mouse.

This morning, I called one of the building's porters, to check on the
traps that are still here. They were empty and I hope that they stay
that way. Tandoora is still staying out of the kitchen.

Happy New Year, Margaret

"Blair P. Houghton" wrote:

> And then I didn't hear him anywhere, so I figured he'd left,
> so I put the traps away.

You are the optimist, aren't you?

> I didn't hear anything, so I figured he had left again.

Repeat after me: Mice don't leave.

> I looked through all the cabinets and drawers, and man,
> mice can really make the jimmies when they want to.

They are just disgusting.

> Ten minutes later, I heard what could only be the long
> wooden chopstick I'd set next to the sink. Ten feet from
> the microwave.
>
> Boshemoi! He'd walked right past the traps!

*******!

Now, I'm not saying this to be mean. If you had one mouse, you have
more. You need to keep your trap set, and perhaps think about
releasing the rodents *far* from your house. They will just come
back in. Me, I'm all for the death traps. I know that sounds mean,
but I can't have those things taking over my house.

Thanks for the funny story.

nancy

In article >,
says...
> Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> > I had a mouse.
> >
> > He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.
> >
> > I got some great no-kill traps from Home Depot. Small gray
> > plastic boxes with a gravity lid that stays open while the
> > trap is tilted forward, but slips shut once it tilts back.
> (snip)
> > --Blair
> > "This ain't no Habitrail."
>
> What's the point of no-kill traps for mice? The cheeky little buggers will
> just come back inside where it's warm and go after the Stilton (again). I'm
> all for being humane, but these are invasive critters. Unless you want to
> start breeding them to sell to pet stores to feed to snakes, you have to nip
> the problem in the bud!
>
> I had a mouse problem when they started digging up the field across the
> street to build some houses. True, your regular mouse trap is a tad messy.
> And after hearing the thing snap shut and emptying it about 6 times in an
> hour I decided perhaps poison bait would be better. Put it well behind the
> refrigerator so as not to allow the pets access. They ate it, gluttons that
> they are, then wandered off to wherever they go when you can't find them and
> were not seen or heard from again.

I've rescued a couple of mice from the cats. For instance, one night I
notice the smallest cat is acting a little funny so I call out her name.

She turns around and there's a mouse in her mouth. And of course when
she looks at me she drops the mouse. It runs into a corner so I grabbed
an empty plastic container from the nights Chinese take out, managed to
get the mouse in it and then took it outside and released it.

Now I just let em' have the kill. I just wish they'd leave the hollowed
out bodies in a place where I can find em' instead of having them later
deposit the now dried out hollowed out shell of a mouse on places like
my chair or the couch.

I have noted that the problem has gotten worse since they tore up the
old farmers market behind me and the old manufacturing sector that's
about a half mile to my west. And I'll mention that since the restaurant
downstairs converted once again the pest problem has gotten worse. When
the Italian and Japanese restaurants were in it's place they used to
bait like crazy and we didn't see any mice. Now I *NEVER* see the
exterminators truck. I've been meaning to talk to my landlord about
that.

Margaret Suran wrote:
> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>> In article >, Blair P.
>> Houghton > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I had a mouse.
>>
>>
>> (hilarious story snipped)
>>
>>
>>> But, curious like any cat, I wanted to see my prey.
(snip)
>> Or maybe not.
>> "Here, kittykitty; here, kittykitty."
>
> I had a mouse. I saw it on Friday and told the Handyman to come and
> do something. He put out several glue traps and the next day,
> yesterday, I found its corpse.
>
> I hope that this was the only one. Tandoora, my cat, acted like a
> true feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected
> there might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.
>
(laughing) Persia is terrified of mice! I was walking to the kitchen one
morning and she was ahead of me, hoping for some treat. She stopped and
uttered a squeak! I nearly tripped over her. She spotted a mouse (it was
dead) and would not enter the kitchen until I assured her it had been
properly disposed of. Sheesh, a cat afraid of mice. What will they think
of next?

Jill

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:31:16 GMT, Blair P. Houghton > wrote:

>I had a mouse.
>
(snip delightful story)

....and a gourmand, at that.

You will find that peanut butter on the traps is a cheap and effective
attractant. I cannot be lifted or snatched off the traps, but needs to
be licked, so the mouse comes fully into the trap.

I do understand your desires for humane trap and release, but you
should know that it is rarely one " Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous
beastie" about the place. They do pose a health hazard and if you do
not wish to do away with them, you might need to take extraordinary
measures to keep them out (it is next to impossible).

If you are going to release, you need to do so far from your home, and
you should understand that nature is not kindly to them out of doors
anyway.


Boron

Margaret Suran wrote:
>
> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> > In article >, Blair P.
> > Houghton > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I had a mouse.
> >
> >
> > (hilarious story snipped)
> >
> >
> >>But, curious like any cat, I wanted to see my prey.
> >>So I grabbed a handy (dirty) 1-quart pyrex measuring
> >>cup, and a heavy book (The Art of Eating, by MFK Fisher).
> >>I placed the book over the cup, save an inch for the mouth
> >>of the trap. I opened the trap. In the same motion, the
> >>mouse fell from the trap, turned, and leapt out through the
> >>tiny space remaining. He caromed off the toaster oven,
> >>flew to the floor, tried the trash can as a hiding spot,
> >>found no opening underneath, then turned and made for
> >>the refrigerator. Total time to escape to invisibility:
> >>about 0.7 seconds.
> >
> >
> > "Oh, what fools these mortals be."
> >
> >
> >>Maybe the rabbits will adopt him before the snakes and
> >>coyotes do.
> >
> >
> > Or maybe not.
> > "Here, kittykitty; here, kittykitty."
>
> I had a mouse. I saw it on Friday and told the Handyman to come and do
> something. He put out several glue traps and the next day, yesterday, I
> found its corpse.
>
> I hope that this was the only one. Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
> feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
> might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.
>
> Barbara, remember the sound you heard while you were here? Maybe it was
> the mouse and not the alarm in the radiator or in the smoke alarm.
> Debbie heard it, too, but now it is gone.
>
> I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
> every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
> building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
> had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
> play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
> kill a mouse.
>
> This morning, I called one of the building's porters, to check on the
> traps that are still here. They were empty and I hope that they stay
> that way. Tandoora is still staying out of the kitchen.
>
> Happy New Year, Margaret

Tandoora is probably afraid of the mouse traps more than the mice.

There is a standard method to keep cats off selected places. Get half a dozen
small mouse traps. Arm them and set them _FACE DOWN_ (very carefully of
course) on whatever surface you want to keep cats off. Cover with a newspaper.
The cat will go to that spot once and never more. The traps will not harm the
cat when they trigger.

My daughter just had a baby. The cat took a liking for the crib when the baby
was not there. After having to wash the crib linens once too many times we did
just what I described. No more cat problems.

Bert

wrote:
> Margaret Suran wrote:
>>
>> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>>> In article >, Blair P.
>>> Houghton > wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I had a mouse.
>>>
>>>
>>> (hilarious story snipped)
>>>
>>>
> My daughter just had a baby. The cat took a liking for the crib when
> the baby was not there. After having to wash the crib linens once too
> many times we did just what I described. No more cat problems.
>
> Bert

Why not simply close the door? No need to scare the poor cat to death. The
child will outgrow the crib eventually. You're going to make the cat
terrified to even go into the room with the kid.

Jill

Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> I had a mouse.
>
> He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.
>
[snip]
>
> Maybe the rabbits will adopt him before the snakes and
> coyotes do.
>
> --Blair
> "This ain't no Habitrail."


very funny story. i had a mouse. he knew all the tricks: we captured him
with glue. sorry for being cruel but i told my husband either him or
me... i was ready to move back to my mother. i adopted a cat
immediately. never had any more mice.

your story reminds me of a catch my cat did when i was living in an
apartament on the ground floor. he chased inside what seemed to be an
extremely large rat. We were watchig tv in the evening and i saw with
the side of my eyes a large mouse-like figure entering from the open
window, followed by my cat in a evident state of agitation.

i tought screaming very loud and repeatedly was the best thing to do at
the moment. my husband (scared as hell) didn't think so.... anyway, he
chased the orrible thing and at a closer look he discovered it was a
young opossum. he captured the thing and freed him in the garden outside
with great disappointment of my cat. the next day i saw the creature
hanging by the tail from a plant outside eating the flowers. looked at
me and ... well was not that ugly afterall....

ciao, anna maria


www.annamariavolpi.com

Mice also love gumdrops. Honestly! I read this tip years ago. They seem to
like the color and taste. The advantage is that the gumdrops last. They don't
dry up and fall off like cheese.

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:31:16 GMT, Blair P. Houghton >
wrote:

> I had a mouse.
>
> He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.
<snip>
>
> Caught the little bugger twice, actually.
>
> But not without some tweaking.
>
<snip>
> So I reset the traps, with Stilton, hoping that unlike the
> mild Asadero it would have the aroma of rot and depth that
> a mouse would seek out.
<snip>
>
> Left me standing, agape, trap and book in hand.
>
> Damn.
>
> There I named him. Zippy the Wonder Mouse.
>
> I refilled the traps with store-brand cheddar (still
> experimenting rather than just going with what works),
> and this morning, one of the traps was sprung but empty.
> I'd left the rather large chunks of cheddar an inch or
> so from the back of the trap, so as to avoid having them
> simply tilt themselves, but clearly, that was a mistake.
> He'd reached in and got the bait, then had room to get
> out without the lid dropping far enough to lock shut.
>
> Bugger.
>
> No more mister nice mouser.
>
<snip>
> Boshemoi! He'd walked right past the traps!

You sure it wasn't a baby rat? Rats are smarter than mice.
>
I use regular "kill 'em dead" traps on mice and bait them
with (drum roll) Jarlesberg... I've tried cheddar etc, and
even peanut butter, but I seem to have gourmet mice when
they decide to hang out at my house.

Fortunately, I haven't had to trap mice in years - due to
good mousers who make sure they don't step foot in my house.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments

Nancree wrote:
> Mice also love gumdrops. Honestly! I read this tip years ago.
> They seem to like the color and taste. The advantage is that the
> gumdrops last. They don't dry up and fall off like cheese.

Uh, are you trying to trap them or feed them treats?! LOL

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:51:02 -0600, "jmcquown"
> wrote:
> True, your regular mouse trap is a tad messy.
> And after hearing the thing snap shut and emptying it about 6 times in an
> hour I decided perhaps poison bait would be better. Put it well behind the
> refrigerator so as not to allow the pets access. They ate it, gluttons that
> they are, then wandered off to wherever they go when you can't find them and
> were not seen or heard from again.
>
The problem is you can SMELL them! I'd rather empty my
traps 14 times in an hour (yes, I've done that in the past)
than smell them for a week while they decompose.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments

anna maria wrote:
> Blair P. Houghton wrote:
>> I had a mouse.
>>
>> He was living in my kitchen for a week or so.
>>
> [snip]
>>
> your story reminds me of a catch my cat did when i was living in an
> apartament on the ground floor. he chased inside what seemed to be an
> extremely large rat. We were watchig tv in the evening and i saw with
> the side of my eyes a large mouse-like figure entering from the open
> window, followed by my cat in a evident state of agitation.
>
> i tought screaming very loud and repeatedly was the best thing to do
> at the moment. my husband (scared as hell) didn't think so....
> anyway, he chased the orrible thing and at a closer look he
> discovered it was a young opossum. he captured the thing and freed
> him in the garden outside with great disappointment of my cat. the
> next day i saw the creature hanging by the tail from a plant outside
> eating the flowers. looked at me and ... well was not that ugly
> afterall....
>
> ciao, anna maria
>
That's too funny!! Opossums are odd looking creatures, but not really ugly.
I wouldn't want one in my house, though.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
>
> anna maria wrote:

> > anyway, he chased the orrible thing and at a closer look he
> > discovered it was a young opossum. he captured the thing and freed
> > him in the garden outside with great disappointment of my cat. the
> > next day i saw the creature hanging by the tail from a plant outside
> > eating the flowers. looked at me and ... well was not that ugly
> > afterall....

> That's too funny!! Opossums are odd looking creatures, but not really ugly.
> I wouldn't want one in my house, though.

My dog caught an opposum once. Big whoop, the thing just froze in
its tracks, what's to catching it? This maneuver totally confused
my dog as she was not interested in actually catching it, she just
wanted to chase it. Thing didn't move for hours.

nancy

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:44:34 GMT, Margaret Suran
> wrote:

> Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
> feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
> might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.
>
LOL1 She doesn't like wild animals in your house any more
than you do.

<snip>
>
> I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
> every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
> building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
> had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
> play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
> kill a mouse.

According to what I've heard/read, cats need to be trained
by their mothers to catch and kill mice. Otherwise mice are
interesting playthings to them.
>
> Tandoora is still staying out of the kitchen.
>
LOL! Let's face it, NYC mice are brazen and don't scare
easily.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments

jmcquown wrote:
>
> wrote:
> > Margaret Suran wrote:
> >>
> >> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> >>> In article >, Blair P.
> >>> Houghton > wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> I had a mouse.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> (hilarious story snipped)
> >>>
> >>>
> > My daughter just had a baby. The cat took a liking for the crib when
> > the baby was not there. After having to wash the crib linens once too
> > many times we did just what I described. No more cat problems.
> >
> > Bert
>
> Why not simply close the door? No need to scare the poor cat to death. The
> child will outgrow the crib eventually. You're going to make the cat
> terrified to even go into the room with the kid.
>
> Jill

The cat is very fast and will outrun anyone to get to a barely open door. My
daughter has to keep the door open to hear the baby (he is less than two
months old) who is in an on-demand breast feeding schedule. It is best to
train the cat.

The cat, by the way, is an outside cat. She goes in and out whenever the
outside doors get open. She does not get terrified easily at almost anything.

Bert

In article .net>,
Margaret Suran > wrote:

> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> > Or maybe not.
> > "Here, kittykitty; here, kittykitty."
>
> I had a mouse. I saw it on Friday and told the Handyman to come and do
> something. He put out several glue traps and the next day, yesterday, I
> found its corpse.
>
> I hope that this was the only one. Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
> feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
> might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.

Once again proving her place on this earth. :-0)
>
> Barbara, remember the sound you heard while you were here?

I do.

>Maybe it was the mouse and not the alarm in the radiator or in the
>smoke alarm. Debbie heard it, too, but now it is gone.

Don't know. Do mousies sound like chirping smoke alarms? I never heard
what I would describe as the pitter patter of little feet.

> I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
> every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
> building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
> had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
> play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
> kill a mouse.

Those weren't real cats. They were PETA members in cats' clothing. You
needed Ma Cat, one of the country's finest mousers of the '50s. A
self-respecting girl. Ma Cat made mouncemeat out of more than one
little critter on our farm. Her ne'er do well son, Whitey, though,
wouldn't have known what to do with a mousie if it opened his jaws and
walked right in! The lout!

> This morning, I called one of the building's porters, to check on the
> traps that are still here. They were empty and I hope that they stay
> that way. Tandoora is still staying out of the kitchen.

What a chickenshit! LOL!!!
Love to eat them mouseys
Mouseys what I love to eat
Bite they little heads off
Nibble on they tiny feet.
-The Kliban Kat
--
-Barb
12-23-03: Tourtiere pictures and recipe have been
added to my site: <www.jamlady.eboard.com>
"If you're ever in a jam, here I am."

Nancree wrote:

> Mice also love gumdrops. Honestly! I read this tip years ago. They seem to
> like the color and taste. The advantage is that the gumdrops last. They don't
> dry up and fall off like cheese.

In my experience, Resse's Peanut Butter Cups are beloved
as trap bait by both rats and mice.

Unfortunately, squirrels seem not to care for them a bit.
Still working on that squirrel in my attic.

Mark Thorson wrote:
> Nancree wrote:
>
>> Mice also love gumdrops. Honestly! I read this tip years ago.
>> They seem to like the color and taste. The advantage is that the
>> gumdrops last. They don't dry up and fall off like cheese.
>
> In my experience, Resse's Peanut Butter Cups are beloved
> as trap bait by both rats and mice.
>
> Unfortunately, squirrels seem not to care for them a bit.
> Still working on that squirrel in my attic.

Raw peanuts in the shell, Mark!

Jill

Nancy Young wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>>
>> anna maria wrote:
>
>>> anyway, he chased the orrible thing and at a closer look he
>>> discovered it was a young opossum. he captured the thing and freed
>>> him in the garden outside with great disappointment of my cat. the
>>> next day i saw the creature hanging by the tail from a plant outside
>>> eating the flowers. looked at me and ... well was not that ugly
>>> afterall....
>
>> That's too funny!! Opossums are odd looking creatures, but not
>> really ugly. I wouldn't want one in my house, though.
>
> My dog caught an opposum once. Big whoop, the thing just froze in
> its tracks, what's to catching it? This maneuver totally confused
> my dog as she was not interested in actually catching it, she just
> wanted to chase it. Thing didn't move for hours.
>
> nancy

Hence the phrase, "playing 'possum"

Jill

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:31:16 GMT, Blair P. Houghton > wrote:
I had a mouse. - He was living in my kitchen for a week or so. <snip>

For many years I've lived at the edge of a desert residential area, with
no homes immediately across the street. There used to be just a burned
out cabin foundation directly across, but one day a big tractor-sort
cleared that away, in preparation for a pre-fab home being put there
now. Until the initial cleaaring came about, I had never experienced a
need for mousing anywhere I've lived.

Hah! One evening I thought I saw what I supposed was a dried up
cottonwood leaf blow in through the security screen that I have an 8x10"
section cut out of for the pup, though no leaf was to be seen about.
Some minutes later there was a wee mouse scampering across the room to
get behind the television. I had nothing at home to use, so I went to
the hardware store and chose those "sticky plates" to set at each side
of the TV's back for catching the little buggar.

Caught the pest, I did, but what to do next? I was some afraid of being
also stuck to, or even bitten while carrying the mouse-laden tray out,
and again, what would I do with the now screeching thing next? I
wrapped kitchen tong ends into paper towels (so the sticky would not, to
them) and successfully collected the papered tray into the garage trash
barrel. I figured a kinder gesture for the unwanted about me pest would
be among the local dump's terrain.

During the two days wait for trash pick-up, that wee mouse reminded me
he was there with scampering about the trash barrel noises each time I
passed by, and my little pooch didn't at all understand my trying to
tell him nothing of interest to him or of any danger to his mamma was
outside the home....

=A0=A0=A0Picky ~JA~

sf wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:44:34 GMT, Margaret Suran
> > wrote:
>
>
>> Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
>> feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
>> might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.
>>
>
> LOL1 She doesn't like wild animals in your house any more
> than you do.
>
> <snip>
>
>>
>> I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
>> every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
>> building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
>> had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
>> play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
>> kill a mouse.
>
>
> According to what I've heard/read, cats need to be trained
> by their mothers to catch and kill mice. Otherwise mice are
> interesting playthings to them.
>
>>
>> Tandoora is still staying out of the kitchen.
>>
>
> LOL! Let's face it, NYC mice are brazen and don't scare
> easily.
>
>

The mouse wasn't brazen, Tandoora either does not know that she is a
cat or she knows that she will get something tastier if she comes to me
and tells me to feed her. )

Ajax, a cat I had many years ago, would catch flies. She would catch
them between her two front paws, then open them in order to see whether
the little insect was really caught. Of course her prey would fly away
and Ajax would scream with rage. Ajax was my best hunter, so you can
imagine how good the other six were.

sf wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:51:02 -0600, "jmcquown"
> > wrote:
>> True, your regular mouse trap is a tad messy.
>> And after hearing the thing snap shut and emptying it about 6 times
>> in an hour I decided perhaps poison bait would be better. Put it
>> well behind the refrigerator so as not to allow the pets access.
>> They ate it, gluttons that they are, then wandered off to wherever
>> they go when you can't find them and were not seen or heard from
>> again.
>>
> The problem is you can SMELL them!

Nope... I never had that dead mouse scent in my house. I don't know if the
walls were particularly thick or well insulated or if the critters dragged
themselves outside to die. Never had that smell problem.

Jill

In article >,
says...
> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:31:16 GMT, Blair P. Houghton > wrote:
> I had a mouse. - He was living in my kitchen for a week or so. <snip>
>
> For many years I've lived at the edge of a desert residential area, with
> no homes immediately across the street. There used to be just a burned
> out cabin foundation directly across, but one day a big tractor-sort
> cleared that away, in preparation for a pre-fab home being put there
> now. Until the initial cleaaring came about, I had never experienced a
> need for mousing anywhere I've lived.
>
> Hah! One evening I thought I saw what I supposed was a dried up
> cottonwood leaf blow in through the security screen that I have an 8x10"
> section cut out of for the pup, though no leaf was to be seen about.
> Some minutes later there was a wee mouse scampering across the room to
> get behind the television. I had nothing at home to use, so I went to
> the hardware store and chose those "sticky plates" to set at each side
> of the TV's back for catching the little buggar.

When I was a kid I worked at a local hardware chain, and the store I was
at had a definite mouse problem.

Decided to use the glue traps at the time. Well, next day when I came in
there were two of the little critters stuck to it. What to do, what to
do.

Seems that week we were having a special on 2L bottles of Coca Cola
(Don't ask - it was a hardware store but we sold soda and TV's - go
figure - anyone remember NHD?) so I slipped the glue trap into a paper
bag, got the pallet jack and lifted an entire pallet of Coca Cola and
slid the paper bag underneath and hit the pressure release on the pallet
jack. Squish! Messy but effective.

Then of course when they started digging up the neighborhood where I
lived to put in new apartment buildings to give the animals from
Providence College a place to live we had a mouse/rat problem. Seems the
rats had taken up residence under the doghouse. Friend and I used to
take two shovels and a rock. Using one shovel and the rock as a fulcrum
and then tucking the spade end under the doghouse (A big doghouse - for
a German Shepherd, best dog I ever had but that's another story.) and
jumping to lift. As the rats ran out the other of us would hammer em'
with the other shovel. Once we knew they were dead we'd toss em' into
the nearby foundation of a new building going up.

Problem was that some people thought this wasn't so humane. Remember,
we're talking about rats here both the four legged kind and the two
legged kind. So we graduated to a live trap. Problem there is what the
hell do you do with the now ****ed off rat in the cage. First run we lit
it on fire - bad, bad, bad.

Fortunately I had a 10 gallon aquarium with a slow leak. From that point
on we simply filled it with water, dropped the trap containing the rat
in and voila - dead rat.

And my SO wonders why things like that don't bother me. I've been
dealing with it all my life.

In article .net>,
lid says...

> I had a mouse. I saw it on Friday and told the Handyman to come and do
> something. He put out several glue traps and the next day, yesterday, I
> found its corpse.

Mice very rarely come in onesies.

> I hope that this was the only one. Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
> feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
> might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.

Ah - mine are well trained mousers though the eldest cat isn't as fast
as he once was and the youngest is a bit large to be stealthy. But the
middle cat - she's the champion. We used to buy her the stuffed mice -
she gutted every one of them. Does that to real mice when she gets one
now.

> Barbara, remember the sound you heard while you were here? Maybe it was
> the mouse and not the alarm in the radiator or in the smoke alarm.
> Debbie heard it, too, but now it is gone.
>
> I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
> every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
> building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
> had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
> play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
> kill a mouse.

All mine are killers. It's one of the things I love about cats. They're
these cute little furballs and deadly to small things and quite painful
to large things should they desire.

jmcquown > wrote:
>
>Uh, are you trying to trap them or feed them treats?! LOL

You're a girl. You know there's no difference.

--Blair
"I'm a boy. Took me 20 years
to figure it out."

sf <icu2@pipeline dot com> wrote:
>I use regular "kill 'em dead" traps on mice and bait them
>with (drum roll) Jarlesberg... I've tried cheddar etc, and
>even peanut butter, but I seem to have gourmet mice when
>they decide to hang out at my house.

Y'know what?

I just realized.

The mouse didn't show up until after I'd bought
my first Stilton in months.

--Blair
"I should charge a cover."

In article >,
says...
> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:44:34 GMT, Margaret Suran
> > wrote:
>
> > Tandoora, my cat, acted like a true
> > feline, at least an apartment kitty: As long as she suspected there
> > might be a mouse in the kitchen, she hid in my bedroom.
> >
> LOL1 She doesn't like wild animals in your house any more
> than you do.
>
> <snip>
> >
> > I live on the 20th floor of an apartment building. Exterminators come
> > every week to make sure that no kind of creepy crawly things live in the
> > building, yet I have had mice several times before. At those times, I
> > had three cats living with me. The cats would actually catch the mouse,
> > play with it for a while and then let it go. Not once did one of them
> > kill a mouse.
>
> According to what I've heard/read, cats need to be trained
> by their mothers to catch and kill mice. Otherwise mice are
> interesting playthings to them.

That is probably true. Cats do learn from humans and other cats - for
example I believe in the case of the middle cat (Emily, a 6.5lb female
felid) who came into the household at a total of 6 weeks old, we
encouraged the mousing by buying her those little stuffed mice and
helping her play with them.

The youngest cat (Cosimo, 25lb male felid) learned mousing from her I
suspect.

So when the eldest cat finally gives up the ghost I'll have to get a
youngish kitten and go through the same routine. But that probably won't
happen for another 5+ years, the eldest cat (Randy, 11lb male felid) is
only 14 years old.

In article >,
says...

> What a chickenshit! LOL!!!
> Love to eat them mouseys
> Mouseys what I love to eat
> Bite they little heads off
> Nibble on they tiny feet.
> -The Kliban Kat

All three of mine are proven mousers.

I've always wondered though why they don't make mouse flavored cat food,
or for that matter, pigeon flavored, canary flavored, etc.

Living in the city doesn't help the poor things but when they do see a
bird pirched nearby they go nuts. The ack-ack-ack sounds and all.

In article >, says...
> Nancree wrote:
>
> > Mice also love gumdrops. Honestly! I read this tip years ago. They seem to
> > like the color and taste. The advantage is that the gumdrops last. They don't
> > dry up and fall off like cheese.
>
> In my experience, Resse's Peanut Butter Cups are beloved
> as trap bait by both rats and mice.
>
> Unfortunately, squirrels seem not to care for them a bit.
> Still working on that squirrel in my attic.

Plain old peanut butter. Has worked fine for years when I've used traps.

In article >,
Blair P. Houghton > wrote:

> sf <icu2@pipeline dot com> wrote:
> >I use regular "kill 'em dead" traps on mice and bait them
> >with (drum roll) Jarlesberg... I've tried cheddar etc, and
> >even peanut butter, but I seem to have gourmet mice when
> >they decide to hang out at my house.
>
> Y'know what?
>
> I just realized.
>
> The mouse didn't show up until after I'd bought
> my first Stilton in months.
>
> --Blair
> "I should charge a cover."

Try bacon rind...
That always worked on the mice up at the mountain cabin. :-)

K.

--
^ ^ Cat's Haven Hobby Farm ^ ^ ^ ^
>,,< >,,< >,,<

Boron Elgar > wrote in
:

> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 07:31:16 GMT, Blair P. Houghton > wrote:
>
>>I had a mouse.
>>
> (snip delightful story)
>
> ...and a gourmand, at that.
>
> You will find that peanut butter on the traps is a cheap and effective
> attractant. I cannot be lifted or snatched off the traps, but needs to
> be licked, so the mouse comes fully into the trap.

My husband used to mix some of our bird's seed with peanut butter and
bait the traps with that.
>
> I do understand your desires for humane trap and release, but you
> should know that it is rarely one " Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous
> beastie" about the place.

Yep - no such thing as a solitary mouse, in my experience! Did not try
humane trap and release as I knew they'd just be back.


Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

Katra > wrote:
>Try bacon rind...
>That always worked on the mice up at the mountain cabin. :-)

Nope. I'm sticking with Stilton.

HE CAME BACK!

Or his little sister did.

Shoulda known.

I heard and saw one on the kitchen counter tonight.

Set the traps out with a fingernail of stilton in each,
and about an hour later--clack! Rattlerattle...

He's so owned.

I dropped him out past the back fence again, this time with
a flashlight so I could see him split for the culvert.

Tomorrow I'm definitely getting a proper coverplate for the broken
cleanout on the outside of the kitchen wall. I'm pretty sure that's
their ingress.

--Blair
"Anyone rented Mouse Hunt lately?"