If you've been reading the blog you probably have seen mention of my pet mouse. Well, not a pet really, just a chronic houseguest. Sometimes I see him from the corner of my eye when I'm working on the computer, scurrying about the kitchen, for christmas I bought him (her?) a little hamster chew bar and hung it near the floor. I can now watch him cautiously poking out from underneath the stove, climbing and nibbling the chew.
Not that he needed it, but it's got to be a welcome relief from going through the garbage.
But I noticed the other day, as I watched him hanging on the chew bar, that there was still the rustling of the garbage bag, and a horrible thought came to me. And standing patiently in the kitchen, the garbage on one side, the chew on the other, it was confirmed.
No longer is it just mouse. It's mice.
And where I was reasonably laid back about having a mouse now I'm a bit worried. Because for anyone good with math there is at least a 1 in 2 chance that 2 will become a few, and those few will become many.
So there will have to be an end to the free ride. They were beginning to keep me up at night anyways, the nibbling of baseboards, the noise from the kitchen, the rustling, strange sounds as if of things being knocked over (although I've never yet found what they were knocking over).
I've tried the humane traps before, with no success. The idea is to catch the mouse unharmed and release him/her into the wild. But this mouse was a little too clever for it. Somehow he'd get the bait and escape. And when the boy and I were bored I'd assign him the task of building a better mousetrap from his K'nex set. None of them worked either. There is, however, another option. The toilet paper tube baited with peanut butter and set on a counter top, precariously balanced over a high walled bucket or vase.
This will probably be the way to go. I'll need to get a small cage to store them until spring before releasing them. And some seed so they have a good start on learning to forage. Soon the house will be mouse free....