House of Mouse

Here's a mouse update......
So I had the humane trap set in my pantry; a mouse got in there, took some bait, and managed to find his way out again (he must have had a buddy there to hold the door open for him). They left a cheese nip behind- guess their pockets were full. I replaced the trap under my sink. Eventhough I'd tried filling in the holes around the plumbing to keep them out, they were still getting in and throwing parties down there- and leaving their poop for me to clean up! How rude! I checked the trap again yesterday- it looked empty. Completely empty; even the cheese nip was gone! That was the last straw! I tried to be nice and capture them without killing them, but they chose to nibble my tortillas, steal the bait, and not get caught! I bought some glue traps. Just for the record, I do not like glue traps.
My first experience with a trap like this was back in high school. There was a mouse running rampant in my parent's house. I set out a glue trap thinking I could just peel the little fella off and let him go -in case you haven't picked up, I don't like killing things. Even most spiders get a pardon in my house (I throw them outside). Back to the traumatizing trap story.....I had every intention of saving the tiny intruder. Little did I know the calibur of adhesive on these glue traps -hey, I should use on to catch me a man. Ha!- Just a few hours after setting it out, I had caught one. I tried to use a tissued hand to free it from the glue, but the more I tried, the harder it struggled and panted, and the more stuck it got. Finally, I realized in horror that the mouse would not be freed. What did I do with it now? The mouse was still alive, but it's death by starvation was inevitable! All I could do was gently place it at the bottom of our garage trash can and hope that the image of it's writhing little body didn't haunt me that night.
So here I am, some 13 years later preparing to relive the whole experience. I can't very well have a mouse getting into Maysie's room or go scurrying across the floor when potential buyers are viewing my house, though. I opened the under-sink door and removed the failed trap only to find it wasn't empty after all. The plastic is tinted mouse color. A frightened little mouse was hangin' out in there, half soaked with his own pee. I guess he'd been in there since yesterday. I immediately walked him down to the field at the end of my road (luckily, Mom was at my house watching Maysie while I did some chores). As I walked back to my house, I began to feel guilty about the glue traps since the humane trap had worked afterall. Nonetheless, I set out two sticky plates: one under the sink, and one in the pantry. Just hours later I was in the kitchen when I heard a pitiful little squeak. Oh no! I almost hated to look. Sure enough, a tiny- I mean tiny- mouseling was stuck but good to that trap. Oh great- a baby. Once again I felt a wave of dread as I thought about how to dispose of the terrified creature. Once again I resorted to my garage trash can. I looked him in his beady black eyes, told him I was sorry, and dropped him in. I'm going to pretend that he died of fright on the way down.
**Sigh.....I set two more traps out. I must be a glutton for punishment.........