Small Calamities

Your Calamities

It's a War of Attrition
October 11, 2005 | permalink

So, ever since the bastard subletters left, I have had mice- definitely in the plural. I quickly became sure there were six of them, and I have been trying to get rid of them ever since. They would scurry around all over, day and night- they were quite brazen.

Of course, the first step was to clean the place and make sure that all the food in the cabinets was mouseproof. I was hoping that if the available food was gone, and the place stank of cleaning products, that they would move onto greener pastures. Unfortunately, the little bastards had been eating like kings in my kitchen, and were not inclined to be so easily discouraged. And since I didn't really want to kill them (I'm not a big fan of killing things if it can be avoided) I had to come up with other strategies. So the campaign stretched on...

One died trapped in the empty garbage can while I was out of town for a few days. Rooting around in the trash was their favorite trick- I caught two of the others in the trashcan and set them free outside. Another I caught in a plastic bread bag, nibbling on my future sandwiches. He went outside, as well. That left two.

Clearly cleverer than the others, the last two eluded me for months. I tried to block up the hole I thought they were coming from, but I either wasn't doing a good enough job or there is another hole I can't find. I cleaned neurotically. I tried reasoning with them, appealing to thier rodent brains. I set out humane traps- but, being too big to be placed in their usual paths, they avoided them. I finally decided if I was going to be mouse free, I was going to have to resort to snap traps.

I got two, and left them out for two weeks, disarmed, near the path, but not in it; this way they would get used to them. Then last night, I armed them and put them in strategic places along the Rodent Highway that the far wall of my kitchen and living room had become. I had them both within 4 hours.

I feel a little bad- like I said, I'm not a big fan of the killing. But I tried to warn them; I made it very clear that I was not sharing my kitchen with them, but they just wouldn't listen.