Caught a mouse :-)

We keep some boxes with potatoes in our shed, and I noticed some had bits eaten out. Droppings confirmed it was the handywork of a mouse. The cat in our house is worse than useless for catching mice, :nana: so I put up a trap to catch the little bugger(s). And being the animal-friendly person that I am, got a trap to catch 'm alive, relocate 'out of range', but give 'm a chance to make it out of our shed alive. Anyway - using some peanut butter as bait, just hours after I caught this one:



(photo is clickable)

Upon transfer to a plastic container it took a dive in our toilet (dumbass ) but I got it out & where I wanted it. Will be off in a minute to drop it somewhere in the woods, should be a good occasion to play with a few of my flashlights...

FYI: catching them alive actually makes sense for me, as there might be more. I've read mice or rats can smell when one of their kind has died in a trap. Which might make a common mousetrap a use-once device. Poison isn't a good option with a housecat wandering around. So I can re-use this trap as often as needed. And since there's not an infestation of mice here (that I know of), our potatoes should be safe for a while after the shed is cleared.

Mmm, peanut butter and potatoes.... Where is this shed you speak of?

Hmmm, takes me back to my youth when we actually had a ton of rats. mice and what not at home. We'd catch em in those cages and then drown em. I never liked doing it but I was young and had no idea what to do with em. They caused all kinds of damage at home.

I can tell you from personal experience that a trap is not a one time deal. Many years ago I lived in a rental house that was almost overrun by mice when a nearby old warehouse was torn down. They got so bad that I was putting traps out in pairs and I would "run the traps" a few times each night before going to bed and each morning before going to work. If there was a market for mouse fur I would have been rich!

I'm glad that experience is behind me :green:

Well, we have a couple of cats and they're both extremely good mousers. One of our places is in farm country with lots of agricultural fields outside the door - so mouse control is important.

Recently, I was reading an account of Tombstone Arizona during the time of the Old West. (Location of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral with Wyatt Earp, his brothers, Doc Holiday and some local cowboys). Rats were a big problem back then and cats were very prized and in short supply for this reason. The book told of one local Tombstone merchant finding a rare stray cat and grabbing it. The animal clawed his arms, bit at him, and made a terrible noise. All the while the merchant had a big grin on his face, anxious to let loose his new 'pet' into his home and after those pesky rats !