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17 April 2007

Hey, hey, I saved a mouse today ... [More:]Last night as I was watching TV I saw out of the corner of my eye a mouse - one of the big fat field mice from the forest - scuttle across the floor. He saw me, went 'eek!' and ran back behind some furniture.

Luckily the cats weren't in the room so I was able to investigate a little further. I pulled out the sofa and he'd started to make a nest behind there, shredding a tissue. He hadn't been there too long, there was very little mouse poo.

So I dug out my Trip Trap, baited it with some raisins and put it behind the sofa.

This morning, no sign of the cats on my bed (uh oh!) so I went into the living room and the trip trap was no longer behind the sofa, the cats had managed to move it out into the middle of the room, and it had a little furry occupant, who was paralysed with terror.

This was obviously the worst thing that had ever happened to him, and I have no idea how long the cats had been trying to open the thing (fortunately they are difficult even for humans to open, so cats have no chance).

I moved him out of their way and after I was dressed I took him outside and released him into the forest. After I opened the trap, he wouldn't move at first, he was so scared, but I gave the box a little shake and he was gone.

So, although being caught in the trap was probably a horrible experience for him, it was also probably the best thing that could have happened, because the cats would've got him eventually if he hadn't been trapped.

He was sweet. If I'd had time I'd have taken a picture.
Lucky guy. Cats can be about the cruelest animals I have ever seen when it comes to killing their prey.
posted by mischief 17 April | 01:42
You know who the cruelest animal really is?
Hmmmmm.
Man!

*nods as though he has said the wisest thing ever*
posted by seanyboy 17 April | 01:47
If I'd put him in a box with my two cats he would still be alive unless he froze in fear and one of them fell asleep on him and smothered him.
posted by arse_hat 17 April | 01:50
"You know who the cruelest animal really is?
Hmmmmm.
Man!"


Dude, you've obviously never pissed off a Koala.
posted by arse_hat 17 April | 01:53
arse_hat rocks my socks.
posted by Phire 17 April | 02:11
Oh, and Bailey was furious with me after I'd let it go.
posted by essexjan 17 April | 02:24
onoes! KITTY GLOWERING!
posted by By the Grace of God 17 April | 02:50
GOOD ON YA, JAN!
posted by shane 17 April | 07:39
Every time I open my door and a bug flies in, I'm like, "Your funeral."
posted by mike9322 17 April | 07:46
Good on you. How expensive are nonlethal traps?

We get mice in the winter, and my dad brought glue traps from the hospital. I only managed to "accidentally step on" (and thus ruin) the traps for about two weeks before he threatened to take the car away from me. The last straw for me was when I heard rustling in the trash can in the garage, and noticed that the gluetrap was missing from the kitchen. I absolutely flipped out on my dad for putting the poor thing to starve/suffocate in the trash. I'm against hurting harmless, non-delicious creatures for no reason (my only exception is ants/termites). I'd much prefer it if my dad used nonlethal traps from now on. Perhaps I'll buy him some for his birthday.
posted by CitrusFreak12 17 April | 11:15
The traps are very cheap, CitrusFreak. Just google 'humane mouse trap' for lots of suppliers.
posted by essexjan 17 April | 11:41
Yay EJ!

In spite of being an indoor cat all his life, Oliver is a good hunter. He goes nuts when he sees a bug and does his best to hunt it down, kill it and, usually, eat it. As far as I know we've had only one mouse invade our home (which was the RV at the time). The mouse was already dead by the time I the time I knew it was inside. Oliver was flipping it about like a cat-toy. I made the mister dispose of it.
posted by deborah 17 April | 12:43
Funny, I had a dream last night that my kitten had killed a mouse. I have a couple of mouse stories, if y'all don't mind...

1. I like mice. I even had a couple as pets. So I don't like glue traps at all. That said, we once lived in an apartment in which we had mice, despite having two cats. They were coming in up the stove, literally. I watched one come right up through the burner, scamper across the stove, and grab a small dog treat, and retreat. My mom was desperate and put a glue trap under the top of the stove. One day I came home from work to an awful squeaking coming from the stove. Of course, the glue trap had worked. Well, I couldn't just let it starve, so I took it outside, and very carefully, using the eraser end of a pencil, I peeled the mouse off of the board. I'm sure he got right back in the house, anyway.

2. This past week, I took my boys to my aunt and uncle's farm. My aunt was telling me about a new kind of kitty litter made from corn, and how good it is for the environment, etc. The only problem is that the mice eat it. Well, about 15 minutes go by, and the boys come running in to tell me they saw one of the inside cats eating a mouse. The cat had been sitting still by the litter, and we were wondering why. Now we knew.

3. Same farm, twenty five plus years ago...a family reunion. I was sleeping in a borrowed camper with two older girl cousins. We left the door to the camper open, because we liked the farm cats to come in with us. I woke in the morning to find a dead rat in my bed. Apparantly, one of the cats really liked me, and brought me a gift. I must have really rated, because I moved a pillow I wasn't using, and found a dead mouse, too. The cat got a bit upset when we tossed out the dead mouse (after praising the cat, of course), and took the rat outside to eat it. I could have gone my whole life without hearing those sound effects!
posted by redvixen 17 April | 15:14
He brought you a mouse and you didn't eat it? He must have been devastated.
posted by arse_hat 17 April | 16:08
Yeah, well, the look I got was one of "Sheesh. I bring you a nice fat mouse, and all I get is a couple of pets and then you toss it out the door?! Last time I do that for you! Ungrateful kid..."
posted by redvixen 17 April | 17:46
Way to go jan. And redvixen, you 'peeled the mouse' off the sticky trap? Was he just not that stuck?

When I was a kid my sister's cat, Camper, used to kill voles and snakes and bring them to the hallway outside my sister's bedroom.

When I lived in my last apartment I had little brown field mice that came in during the winter. I got some humane traps and baited them with peanut butter and bird seed. When I caught the mice, I kept them in a popcorn tin with some food and water until I could get them to a field far away from the house. They were so cute...

Lastly, when I was a teenager I had two grey mice. They were stinky, but I loved them. I was devastated when my dog broke into my bedroom, tore open the cage and ate them. RIP my mice.
posted by youngergirl44 17 April | 18:59
Reallybadjokefilter: || PaxDigita, if you don't ask that girl out next dance class...

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