Speak Up Saturday – A Better Mouse Trap

Speak Up Saturday

Patricia Franklin

Patricia had been guest blogging this summer sharing her diary of the robin family. Now the robins have left the nest and a new critter is moving in….. Onisha

Well, now that the birds are raised and gone we have another critter to deal with. We have been trying to catch a mouse that has been living in our laundry room for two months. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But, we have tried everything to catch him–peanut butter, Cheetos™, honey, and a combination of these, which usually gets them right away.

Last night we set three traps — two of them with honey and Cheetos™. This morning he had those traps looking brand new, clean as a whistle, to the last drop of honey, but he did not trip the trap. We thought he was too small and light to set them off at first, but after two months of eating all that good food, we figured he ought to be big and fat enough that we could almost catch him with our hands, but he never sets off the trap.

Two years ago, our neighbor brought his trailer house down from the mountains. He said he was going to clean it up and take it to Texas. He also said it was full of mice. It was, and we have had mice ever since.

The black cat from across the street got fat on those mice. He spent a lot of time in our shed (with the broken board in the door so he could get in.) I can hear him prowling around in there at night. The cat stole the old traps that worked from the shed. He took mice, traps and all. He is a good mouser, but there are still a few mice around. Yes, he is the same one who goes after the birds, the one I put rose branches around the yard to keep out. I can’t get too mad at him, though, because I like the way he takes care of the mice.

Our laundry room guest, besides being a smart mouse, may be a “Smart Mouse” (you know like a Smart Phone – with a computer chip in there to tell him how to eat his fill without being caught.) We got a couple of new compassionate traps or whatever you call them, with sticky on the pads so you can catch them alive. Aaaghh! However, unless he is disguised as a beetle bug, we have not caught him yet.

Last month our neighbor sold his house and took his trailer to Texas, but he obviously left at least one mouse here.

Are mice now more intelligent than humans are? Is there not an engineer or inventor out there who can design a trap for a modern mouse? Or do EPA regulations forbid them to design one that can harm the little critters?

Beats me, but then, I’m not the first person to be  beaten by a mouse.

Leviticus 11:29

Related articles

• One of my cats is a mouser. Is this a feature or a bug? (ask.metafilter.com)
• Of Mice and Moms: Someday Poop Won’t Bother You Anymore (blogher.com)
• M-i-c-k-e-y (oracletales.wordpress.com)

Tags: Mouse, Mouse traps, Rodent