Plague of mice

[vilakins]

Due to all the unusual rain, there's a plague of mice here, and we're not the only ones* as I found out at the hardware store when I went today to buy a humane mouse trap. I brought it home and I've already got a mouse inside it, but I've had to hide it as the cats are far too interested. I plan to release the mouse in the country, well away from houses. Maybe I'll go there tonight so it's empty for the next one.

Ugh. I'm so over trying to chase mice around the house and trap them before Ashley kills them, having been a feral kitten once; Jasmin just plays with them, and Sebastian is totally uncertain what to do with them, just looking at them a but nervously.

Right, I'm off with this one.

* I know sallymn in Australia is suffering too, even getting mice running across her office desk. Bloody wet weather.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Oh no! Just what nobody needs. Good luck with dealing with them! :-/

[vilakins]

It was getting me down as they're so hard to catch - and if they've been killed and left as a gift, then ick. This trap should help, I hope. Though making runs to release them into the wild will be a pain.

us too

[rafiwinters]

It hasn't been especially wet here but Sandy and Smokey have been sitting in front of the stove, staring intently at Something Invisible underneath it, for weeks. Yesterday we found out why: they left us the gift of a (dead) mouse in the hallway.

We suspect a mousehole behind the stove. We'll be calling the Maintenance people today. Mice, no thank you.

Re: us too

[vilakins]

We had a rat getting in behind our dishwasher and had to block the hole. I've had the mouse gifts too; at least they're easier to dispose of than live ones.

[feng_shui_house]

Plagues of mice, eeeee!! I don't expect that conditions favor it where I live- that said, the neighborhood stray cats did leave a dead rat in my lawn a few weeks ago.

[vilakins]

We had the occasional one in Auckland, but this is the worst I' ve every experienced.

[pebblerocker]

We have tons of mice outside, being in a rural area, and luckily they have never come in of their own accord. We do have to rescue them from cats at times - they always carry their prey to the bathroom to play with, which is good because there's nothing the mice can hide behind - and we just return them to a pile of fallen branches at a reasonable distance from the house.

The ants, however, have come inside in a big way since the heavy rain, and we're still trying to get rid of them.

[vilakins]

The cats bring them in here too, but they're doing it so often there have to be heaps in the garden. Unfortunately the dining and living rooms and kitchen have no doors so I can't trap mouse or cat. I got the one last night because they cornered it by the dishwasher and I offered the humane trap as refuge.

I don't think they could get in on their own. Damn, but I need some doors! I have no idea why the weird previous owner removed them.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Mice! Ouch. *offers chocolate*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They'd eat it! A rat once got into my chocolate stash. We did get the occasional one in Auckland, but it's about 15 in the last month and up to 2 a day. :-( Mitre 10's had a run on traps, but the killing-type ones squicked the hell out of me.

The mouse I got today (maybe the one that was round last night?) has been released after it had a good feed of peanut butter (apparently the best bait).

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Can you get Nutella where you are? When garienos got a rodent problem it was mouse Kryptonite.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have Nutella! I imagine they'd go for any nut-based spread. Or do you mean Nutella actually killed them, chocolate being poisonous for other animals?

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

It didn't kill then, just lured them to the trap minutes after it was added. Seconds in one case.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

So even better than PB! I'll try it.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

My sympathies. Will remember peanut butter = mice bait.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Apparently nutella's even better!

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Lucky mice there! They even get delicacies before you release them.:-)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Make sure you go more than a mile before releasing them otherwise you will find the same mouse back in the house.

It's a brave mouse that moves into a house with 3 cats, even if only 1 knows what to do with them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The problem is the cats bringing them in! I wouldn't mind if they stayed in the garden.

Really? They'd travel that far to come back? Is that a family drive or something?

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Behavioural studies result. Less than a mile, the mouse can find its way home. More than a mile they don't.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The country's not far from here so that's easily doable, and I'll make sure I've gone a couple of kms.

[judo100]

I've had several cats over the years -- though none now and none planned for a while so facilitate travel with my husband -- and most would simply kill a mouse if they found one. My latest one, though, would play with the mouse and then lose it (or perhaps just lose interest in it) and let it go. I tried to explain that it was in his job description to kill the things, but he ignored me. I don't have any warm feelings for mice inside my house. If the cats can kill them, that seems like a good thing.

[vilakins]

Ashley's the one who kills them, a quick dispatch with a bite to the back of the neck, but then she leaves them for us to find. I don't mind too much, but I didn't fancy removing corpses from traps and the trap I bought is a great way to get hold of the ones being played with by Jasmin (Sebastian's just a spectator).

[tjoel2]

I can't even imagine having a mouse infestation! I think I would freak. I'm just trying to deal with the ants right now!

[vilakins]

It seems to have stopped now the weather's getting back to normal.

[tjoel2]

Really?! No more mice?

[vilakins]

Not so far. I think it was the very wet weather.