|
Eek
Last night we discovered that, unbeknownst to us, we've been sharing Apartment 12 with a squatter. A singular mouse (and don't even comment on how mice breed quickly and never occur by themselves. I've seen one mouse; therefore, we have one mouse) has apparently taken up residence in our walls or behind our stove due to the outrageous cold we've had recently.
My parents had a similar problem in North Carolina, and they purchased standard-issue mousetraps, but none of us relish the idea of having a dead mouse lying around. At least with a live mouse, there is still the possibility that it will leave on its own accord once it finds a better place to live (such as Apartment 13). A dead mouse isn't going anywhere unless we remove it, not a fun job.
Luckily for us, Rachel has agreed to research ways to de-mouse Apartment 12 humanely (although our idea of having her loan us Elliott seemed humane enough to me).
I therefore respectfully submit this list of ideas to Rachel:
-Build this trap, which is not only humane but will do us the additional favor of catching any hamsters or shrews that we have roaming around. And it definitely works, as evidenced by this gallery of caught mice.
-Obtain PETA's cute and cuddly "smart mousetrap" that even looks like a wee little house. Blood for hurling onto mouse-fur coat-wearers not included.
-Train Elliott to chase the mouse out our front door. Although perhaps by the time said training occurs, we will have an army of mice that could overwhelm a single cat.
-Leave a trail of cheese from our front door to that of Apartment 13, although this may have the unwanted effect of bringing Apartment 13's resident mice to join ours.
Comments
I failed to mention one small caveat when volunteering to capture the mouse humanely: If it is not a white mouse, I will not rescue it, I don't think. Also, if it has red eyes, I'm afraid I have no desire to save its life.
I think michael actually did the research for me, and he found a decent trap that will catch up to 30 mice humanely. Picturing 30 mice crammed into a trap, or snuggling, as I prefer to think, has kept me from doing any work in the last hour. And also, if the trap/Elliott/I catch the mouse, I might keep it as a pet at work.
Posted by: Rachel at January 29, 2004 4:14 PM
As long as it's at your work and not in our apartment, you can do with it what you wish. You might want to check with your coworkers first though, to make sure they don't have any pet elephants at work that might be scared by the mouse. I'm quite positive the mouse was brown, although I'm not sure of its eye color.
Posted by: Chris Hill Festival at January 29, 2004 4:28 PM
Wait. Which residents of Apt 12 has the mouse taken behind the walls?
Is this some sort of hostage situation?
Posted by: light at January 29, 2004 4:59 PM
There are also some sonic rodent repellers that we could try.
Posted by: david at January 29, 2004 5:02 PM
apparently we arent alone in our mouse troubles. amy s confessed today that apt 13 had a mouse-sighting a while back. it seems to me (following chris' one-mouse logic) that apt 13 is trying to pass their mouse off on us. I think its only fair that once we humanely capture it, we should return it to them.
Posted by: michael. at January 29, 2004 5:16 PM
That sounds like a fantastic idea. Or maybe we should share the wealth with some of the other apartments since they haven't had the pleasure of sharing their living quarters yet?
Posted by: Chris Hill Festival at January 29, 2004 5:19 PM
Hey, I have the game mousetrap in my apartment! We just have to wait for the mouse to get under the cage, hope the shoe actually kicks over the bucket, the ball triggers the weird hand thing, and the constipated diver guy lands in the right place.
And who the hell designed these absurd mousetraps? What is with the gable roof on the PETA one? Bamboo kebab skewer bent and secured with tape!? What? Come, on, people! I could design a better mousetrap...
Posted by: Eileen at January 29, 2004 6:52 PM
Is it wrong that the phrase "bamboo kebab skewers" makes me hungry?
Posted by: Rachel at January 29, 2004 7:02 PM
If the mouse is looking for warm places to live, it is definitely not OUR apartment. Our place is pretty chilly, especially in my room if I don't turn on my space heater. No doubt the mouse decided to travel south (i.e. Apt 12) for better climates!
Posted by: Amy at January 30, 2004 1:01 AM
Why did you fix it?? Now my comment appears to be nonsensical!!
Posted by: light at January 30, 2004 4:24 AM
|
