fpb | (no subject)

Of all the things I hate about running your own house, mouse infestations are what I hate the most. Not the mice themselves, but the means you have to use to get rid of them. I had hoped two years ago to have seen an end to it, but recently I had evidence of more visitations. A certain amount of poison feed seemed to have dealt with that. But a few days ago I heard the distinctive rustle, and today I saw with my own eyes one of the culprits in the kitchen, which is of course the last place where you want to see a mouse. Unfortunately, the way I had available to deal with the problem - left over from two years back - is the cruellest of all the traps: the glue trap. There is nothing pleasant about having to take away a tiny, desperately squealing creature, stuck in a devil's brew and mad with terror. Mice, when helpless, are very appealing. But people like me are in no position to excuse them; if the place is not made unwelcome to mice, not only is your health and food at risk, but you are in danger of opening it to rats - which is plain ruination. And yet... if I could have seen a way to keep the pathetic robber in a cage without inviting any of his mates or finding out too late that it was pregnant (at which they are very efficient), I likely enough would have kept it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Borrow a cat for a few days? If it doesn't catch them, it'll scare them away.

I think they are running away from the neighbourhood cats. And another thing I have tried to do is to scare the cats off. The largest and most offensive of them found his way in once when I had fallen asleep with the door open, and left smelly crap in two or three places.

I wish this was so. We have a cat who has the run of the basement and every so often he comes up with a mouse. It's obvious he is around - it's where his litter box is - yet in they come.

Also - I like your user name!