That mouse I wrote about here finally made its error.

After I made several trapping attempts last month, it had laid low and stopped making any telltale sounds. Sure enough, it dropped off the priority list: Out of hearing-range, out of mind.

Until today, that is. Today, I comes out of the bathroom and there it is–during the day, no less–in plain sight on the floor, running around in little panicked circles! Like a squirrel, it couldn’t decide whether to try to run away or run to wherever it really wanted to. A whip from my wadded-up robe (which I had been preparing to put on) made its mind up…AWAY was quickly chosen!

Needless to say, getting completely rid of Mr. Mouse became Priority #1.

First, several new-style traps were set. But, along with them, an old wooden Victor was employed.

Then, I started playing my game. Every mouse that gets in here eventually realizes that when they hear the game du jour actively making noise, that the Human is definitely NOT coming, and therefore figures it can act boldly. This mouse was no exception. Within a few minutes…SNAP! The old wooden trap had been triggered.

The Dumb Luck Mouse did manage to get somewhat lucky again, in that didn’t get any parts smashed by the thing. It had managed to pull its head back in time to get a glancing blow from the Bar of Destruction, without actually being trapped. It was, however, quite stunned. This gave me the chance to slap an old jar over it and take it to the window for deportation. It managed to wake up for a few seconds and run up and down the jar like a living pinball, but soon lost strength and went back into a stuperous state.

Then I sent it flying out into the snow, where it slowly righted itself but then laid still. After about 1/2 hour, though, I looked and it had gone away somewhere. Probably into the garage *groans*.

Something seemed wrong with this mouse, even before getting its head pounded by a speeding trap bar. I’ve never seen one just run in circles; usually they know exactly what to do (run for a shaded/dark spot). So, it might not be long for the realm. And, of course, the bang on the head may still cause termination.

In any case, I hope it doesn’t come back into the living area. A helping of “green grain” (mouse/rat poison) awaits it if I detect it again…

Current Mood: Erm…

Every fall, some mouse or other will think it’s a good idea to go inside for warmth. While, on the face of it, it does seem like a logical move, the fact that they want to make their winter home IN HERE is a problem!

So, every year, out come the traps. Last year, we found these great plastic jobbies that have a lot less chance of snapping on my hand than the old-fashioned wood ones. The principle of them is a little different: Instead of putting the bait right on the trigger, the bait goes on a little “ceiling” above it. Then, the mouse, in order to reach the bait, puts his foot on the lever…which triggers his journey into the next realm.

But, this year I’ve got a dumb-luck mouse. Apparently, he’s too dumb to realize that it’d be a much easier reach to the bait if only he’d use that handy little step that’s been so graciously provided. Every day, I wake up to find the peanut-butter smear has been licked off the trap “ceiling” without so much as a mouse hair left behind.

So now, I’m trying to think of ways to encourage him to step on the trigger. I’ve tried putting the peanut butter a bit farther back this time. If that doesn’t work, I’ll put it WAY back–maybe if he’s too dumb to use the trigger as a step, he’ll also be dumb enough to just blunderingly clod into it if it’s in the way of getting to the bait!

If all else fails, I’ll have to resort to the Green Grain. Rat poison. I use rat poison for mice, because “mouse” poison comes in overpriced little packs, and is usually underpowered, too. The reason I call it the Green Grain is simple: The stuff is always dyed a garish green, I presume so humans know it’s not good to eat. The mice don’t know what the color means, or even that it looks really phony, so they go ahead and eat it. The problem with the Green Grain method is that, soon after, an unfindable dead mouse will start reeking up the place and keep reeking until it finally mummifies!

So hopefully Mr. Dumb Luck Mouse will just stumble into the trigger soon and activate the trap.