Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Mouse arrest.

Since Saturday night we've apprehended two more of our invader mice. This brings the total to three this "season."

While we had one in a tub outside, our dog tried to eat it, so we're extra careful to keep the lid on now. We've shown the prisoners to our curious daughter, and she gets a kick out of that. Of course, she wants to interact with the mice, but we tell her that they're not pets (like Baby, the hamster). The tub I'm using for confinement has clear sides, so the dog can stare at the mouse in it...and paw at the tub, and jump around when the mouse moves, and scare us into thinking he's going to tip the thing over.

In confinement this time, I got some good pictures with the good camera. Here's one.


Mouse mug shot

I'll note here that last season the live traps worked a lot better than the death traps. I set out baited death traps only to find them the next day still cocked but without the bait. No mouse has ever stolen the bait from a live trap and escaped. The best use I found for the death traps was just to put them in the path I knew they used. I put an unbaited death trap in an often used escape route, and it killed a mouse who didn't even know he was in danger when he was making his escape.

The problem with live traps is you have to tend them. The house was empty for a weekend last winter, and a mouse starved to death in a "live" trap in that time.

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