It’s no longer a big deal for Dan or me to stop what we’re doing, grab the bug catcher, and perform a swift “catch and release” move. Sometimes the cats beat us to it, and it becomes more of a “dispose of the murdered corpse” move. Last night, for example, Snafu saved me from one of those weird flying bugs that look like gigantic mosquitoes. Mayflies? Swatted it down behind the headboard and (eventually) sentenced it to Death By Pawing. If I could have reached the fluffy orange menace I would have tried to rescue his victim.
Unfortunately, our unwanted house guests aren’t limited to the insect/arachnid kind. We also have an annoying amount of experience with rodents. Up until recently, the furry varmints were restricted to our unfinished basement. Not ideal, but much better than finding an unauthorized visitor upstairs where the humans and felines reside. Until I met Dan, the only traps I had experience with were the old-fashioned Tom and Jerry snap traps. Quick, clean, and deadly. Hazardous to mice, brooms, bare feet, and librarians who don’t know what they’re doing.
Dan introduced me to the concept of live traps. Well, I mean, I’d already heard of live traps of course, but never used them for fear of getting bitten. But now that I have a big, strong, brave, truck driver in the house, I was willing to give them a try. So when we started having mouse problems at my house, Dan got a live trap and set it up in the basement. Over the past year we’ve caught a couple of mice and a handful of voles. If you’re friends with me on Facebook you are probably well aware of the saga of Edmundton, Volentino, and Vole Demort. And if you aren’t, e-mail me and I’ll tell you all about them.
Once the cats came along, I figured I had a couple of furry little rodent deterrents who could patrol the perimeter (aka the kitchen and immediate environs) and do bouncer duty. I reasoned that even if they didn’t actually catch a mouse, their very presence would be enough to deter them.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
We have almost daily mouse sightings in the basement; the most memorable being the six brand-new mouse pups Dan found in my jack-o-lantern. I channeled my inner cat and stalked a mouse with a stick and a coffee can, cornered him, and promptly chickened out when he launched a frontal attack on my foot. I fully expect to find one watching me pedaling my exercise bike, or supervising us as we build shelves. Still, I told myself, at least they aren’t upstairs in the household itself.
Two points if you can guess what I’m going to say next.
Yep. Sunday afternoon I pulled open a kitchen drawer and there were mouse poops. This was about three minutes before I needed to leave for work, so I gleefully left Dan in charge of sanitation and bleaching duty. Thank goodness for dishwashers. Dan did the requisite scrubbing, cleaning, and (I’m sure) cursing while I was gone. He also set up the live trap in the drawer and shamed the cats for not doing their duty. I’m sure they were embarrassed.
As of this morning, we had fresh mouse poops in the drawer again. My options at this point are somewhat limited. I can’t use poison or glue traps because A) I think it’s cruel and B) I’m pretty sure my cats are too stupid to leave them alone. We have a couple of snap traps, but I don’t know if the drawers are deep enough to allow them to snap properly. My friend, Mary, suggested I borrow somebody’s pet snake and let him/her crawl through the cabinets and the drawers. The scent will deter the stupid little rodents. Not knowing anybody with a snake (that I know of), we’ve decided to try mothballs. If this doesn’t deter them, I’m going to suggest we take out all the drawers, block the openings, and set out the dreaded snap traps.
If I’m already seeing mice inside at this point in the year, I’m wondering if this means we’ve got a brutal winter ahead.
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