The nerve of them!

I lived in a communal house when I was in my late teens, and we had mice. They were cute, but their turds really weren't nice in our dishes. No one wanted to do anything about them, but I was the brave stupid type then. I went out, got a trap like the one pictured above, baited it with cheese of all things, and went to watch TV. Not long after that, we all heard the 'SNAP!' of the trap. I foolishly had pictured the mouse with it's tail caught by the trap.

It wasn't caught by it's tail.

I've never set another mouse trap since.

That's what our mouse looked like as well. Still a lot quicker than a cat tho!

They have these fancy plastic ones now with hoods, so you don't have to see the boo hoo when you empty it.

Oh, my goodness, Echoes! We now have politically correct mouse traps! As far as I'm concerned, a quick snap of the neck is a much better way to go than poison. The mouse poison causes internal bleeding... not pretty, if you are the mouse... and as mentioned, they crawl off to die somewhere you can't find them. How can something so small exact such vengence in the form of a fume!

Between the foxes, owls, hawks and barn cats next door, we have had much less of a problem the past few years. With Hanta virus, I'm very nervous of emptying traps, although I never did want that job.

ROFLOL, I just fround this thread, and you guys are hilarious. Mice are not, by any stretch of the imagination, "cute" to me. I hate them and can't stand to see them "scury" accross the floor. I used to have dreams about them whenever we moved to a new house, before I was sure there wasn't any mice there. BUT, I cannot set a trap or empty a trap. That's why God made men, as far as I'm concerned, well, besides the obvious reason. ;-)

Uh, they run the lawnmower?

LOLOLOL!! tears running down my face here!

Shannon this is for you. We bought a used car from some city folks this past fall. DH figured it had had mice in the heating ducts, but he couldn't get the dash apart or somewhere he needed to go to clean it out properly. Tonight he made me come out and see after he found a way to really get it apart to vacuum it out. So proud of himself. They had eaten right through the plastic way inside to make a nest. The car wouldn't produce heat inside, and he knew we wouldn't make it through a winter the way it was. Probably why the guy's wife made him sell it. This would have cost big bucks if you had to pay someone to do for you. Thank goodness they didn't get to the wiring. I hates meeces to pieces!!!

This message was edited Dec 11, 2004 1:54 PM

If mice were about 12 inches taller and had not those little black bead eyes and soft fuzzy coats, we'd not feel guilty at all about extinguishing them. Why not bemoan the death of the common housefly, but for the fact that he doesn't resemble anything soft and cuddly. How about the humble garden snake? He even eats mosquitos...more than I can say for the mouse. One mouse is charming, but 20 are an invasion.

LOL, everybody.... It was a valiant effort to turn me off my breakfast but I'm still here! :-) Weez, I try not to cause prolonged suffering to any animal, cute or icky (and who am I to judge? :-). I'm just looking for a quick death - for them, that is. Heck, for me too, but hopefully not quite yet, God willing :-). Looks like traps are the way to go for this place...either that, or the sonic things if they're cheap enough.

I've been enjoying everyone's stories & advice - thanks!

I wonder if the sonic things are really inaudible to dogs & cats, or just not aggrivating enough to make them run for the hills. What if it is just like listening to bad polka music for 24 hours a day. You just don't know.

I've got 2 dogs and the sonic things have never bothered them. I've had them about 6 years or more.

So I brought this back up, because the 'service technitian' (mechanic) saw mice droppings on my motor when it was in for work today. I park outside, on the street, and there are lots of cats that run around freely, and not catching my mice. Those sonic thingys that were talked about... do they have to be plugged in, or will I be able to tie one in with my engine?

Linda

I had forgotten about this thread too. If I hated mice before, it was nothing compared to what I feel now. My spa sits empty outside till spring, thanks to the mice. They ate through a hose/pipe and the water all started to leak out on Christmas Eve. DH slipped on the ice and wrenched his back as he was pumping it out. Then he really wanted a nice hot soak. To top it all off, on Boxing day, the heater in the hot water tank went.

Sorry, don't need any cheese to go with my wine.

Touch luck, Echoes! Hope things brighten up for ya. I don't think they could get any worse!

They can always get worse. That's why it's no good complainin. By the way, Winnipeg is going to be snowed in for New Years. Sure glad I'm a stay-at -home body.

I was wonderin how you were doin echoes......lots and lots of the white stuff here too! :b Puter finally enabled so we're not totally cut off.

p.s. I think we should tell the southern states to take back that mass of warm moist air that's sitting over us......who said all the storms come from Canada???

Does that mean you'll be keeping me company tomorrow night?

Don't think we're going too far! Besides rotten son has planned a party here.......so yup I think I might be available. ;)

This message was edited Dec 30, 2004 11:13 PM

How much has fallen at your place? Notice Regina closed most public buildings down but here we were at work along with 3 patrons.........looooooooooooooong day. :(

Ok. We'll celebrate by starting a new thread. If you get here before me, feel free to get started. I'll be along.....

To get this back on track


http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/412151/



a thread just for you Shannon! ;)

Purrrfect Pam, just purrrfect. I love it.

That sure is a great poem, Pam....thanks!
Brenda, I feel for you....had quite a time getting around in southern Manitoba yesterday. A real odyssey. I hope your hot water heater is back on track now, and you find a solution to the mouse problem.

If you do, I'll be interested to hear about it. Our car is back in the shop already - they chewed through the alternator wires, and the car died while DH was driving to the airport to pick me up last night. rrrrr.....

I'm going to look into that sonic thing.

Shannon

Ouch. My beloved VW is on holiday in Victoria. Hope the mice haven't got into it. Echoes, so you don't have any heat in your car that you bought??

I'm DG -less for a few days, wow, what a lot happens.
inanda aka Ginny

You're tellin' me, I had about 20 watched threads to catch up on, not even counting all the new ones. It's great! :-)

No Ginny, we've got heat in it now, Miracle Man fixed it all a few weeks ago. And the hot water tank, he went to town and bought the element and fixed right away. I am so thankful that if I have to live broke all my life that I got one that's good with his hands. Hee hee hah......

Oh Brenda, you left yourself soooowide open on that one. It took all of my self control not to respond. As a matter of fact...I had to delete. Hee hee hah...

No........

You guys are b...a...d! I like it.

Shannon, thank Heavens your out of here and home. Started snowing again today and I think we're getting a lot more than what was predicted. When it starts blowing it's going to get ugly. The puffy white blanket over the prairies will keep our 'pushin the limit' perennials nice and cozy. And the septics from freezing. Course that would never happen. (laughing hysterically). Guess it keeps those cute little beady-eyed critters warm too.

Thanks Brenda. Of all the years I've been travelling to Saskatchewan and Manitoba at XMastime, this is the first time I've had any trouble at all, so it's not been too bad in the long run.
Yikes - sounds like you're getting a real dumping. Well, the fields need the moisture, right?? That's my story 'n I'm sticking to it.

My step-father in Wawanesa says that in order to eradicate the mice from our garage, we have to first clean out the garage (hee ha ho ho) in order to get rid of their nests..... and he also says the mice could actually be living in the car! Good grief.

Also, the Pest Control Canada website doesn't seem to place much faith in the electronic devices. Too bad, as it sounded like a humane and non-icky solution! I'm still willing to give the sonic one a try, tho'.
http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Questions/electronic_pest_devices.htm

Edited for fingers overrunning brain and leaving out words. :-)

This message was edited Jan 1, 2005 11:39 PM

And do be careful if you have any risk of Hanta virus there. You need to wear masks and sterilize with javel water.

Excellent point - thanks. We heard a lot about Hanta when I was living in Edmonton, but not much here so I kind of forgot about it. At any rate I'll dig around on the internet before I dig around in the garage :-) The websites of Ottawa and Gatineau should have some info. Thanks for the reminder!