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Aug 6, 2008

Cat and Mouse


We have a problem.

Last night, for the second time in four days, one of the cats caught a mouse. Inside. The basement, most likely. I didn't write about the first incident because it was deeply traumatic for me.

That first night, or actually morning, the culprit was Neighbor Cat. Yes, the one with no claws or teeth. I don't know how she managed it, but I came downstairs about 5am on Saturday to find her in the middle of the den hunching over a dark writhing thing. I ran to get my glasses and by the time I got back she had eaten some of the poor little mouse. I screamed and ran around in a little circle for a moment, then called upstairs to the soundly sleeping hubster, "SHE'S EATING A MOUSE! SHE'S EATING A MOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR!!!" Patrick, a man who takes his sleeping very seriously mumbled back, "Ew. Put her outside. ZZZZZZ."

By the time I returned from this enlightening exchange, the cat had, shall we say, rid the mouse of any higher thought processes. I scooped the cat up and tossed her outside, followed soon after by the remains of the poor mouse. Scarred for life.

To my horror, last night The Pickle, who is known for getting into trouble, came up from the basement very pleased with herself about something. Having seen this behavior before, I was immediately suspicious, but was too involved in reading New Moon to be bothered. However, after about five minutes of The Pickle's chirping and Sally's baying, I got up to investigate. Sure enough, another mouse. This one, however, was still quite alive and was hiding under my favorite chair, while The Pickle circled it and tried to catch it. Patrick and I sequestered all the Fur Faces, procured a box, and went in to catch the little guy and put him outside. He was just a baby mouse, about half the size of the other, more unfortunate mouse. Patrick let me take the reins, as he is afraid of "small, unpredictable wildlife". (I learned this last night. I told him that when the cat brought in a bear that he would be in charge of shooing it back outside, since it would be classified as large, unpredictable wildlife and would, therefore, not fall under this heading of things to be afraid of. I don't think he was very amused, but that could be because I was holding the box with the Terribly Frightening One Inch Mouse in it.)

We put the little guy back outside with strict instructions to keep out of our house because we harbor dangerous predators in here. This was not, however, before both of us thought about making a cage and keeping him because he was so tiny and fuzzy and adorable.

On the top of the Things To Do list today: humane mouse removal and deterrents. I was callous enough to spray the life out of the ants, but I don't think I could set kill traps or put out poison for the cute, fuzzy, little mice. Got any suggestions or ideas? I'm all ears.

5 Readers rock!:

XE said...

Ewwww. Poor little mousies. They have humane traps you can buy that work quite well, but what you probably need the most is just to find where the mice are coming from, and close up that hole before it becomes a huge problem. Good luck with it, and protect yourself and turnip from zoonoses please :)

How are you liking the book??

XE said...

Oh, and Kraft peanut butter seems to be the best thing to put inside of the humane mouse trap. At least that's what worked for the mice at my parents' place!

pennsyltuckian said...

You could get a boa constrictor....

~Ashley said...

to find said "humane mouse traps" you could go to southern states, or google "live mouse traps" usually, they have a door on each end, which is connected to the food holder thingy in the middle. When they step on the food tray, both of the doors close. We used to have some back home...I'm not sure why, because my brother would immediately go outside, put the poor things at the bottom of the creek, and watch until the bubbles stopped :( we were country kids...oh the things one can (but shouldn't) do...

Anonymous said...

AHHHHH!!! I had to protect a little mouse from my cat once. It was terrible because I was sitting in my parent's kitchen and out came my cat batting something small, a mouse. I jumped off of the chair I was sitting on and grabbed my cat and the mouse was able to get away. My mom (and my cat) weren't so happy, but I felt better.