Not a year goes by...

without a new entry from me!

I haven't been on here in forever. I see my last post was about catching mice. I didn't realize it was that long ago. Funny that it would be about that topic.
  • anne
    How shocking to see your name lit up! You must be between projects.
    by anne at 08/31/11 8:56AM
  • whipsmile
    Nice to see you back on here!
    Keep Pleo alive!!!
    by whipsmile at 08/31/11 9:07AM
  • frances
    Welcome back! We missed you!
    by frances at 08/31/11 11:17PM
  • planethead
    You got it, mom!
    by planethead at 09/01/11 1:12AM
  • bigjstout
    You've got three days to post
    by bigjstout at 08/28/12 9:20PM

And the grand total is...

8 mice. In about 4-5 days. They started going in the bedroom. Caught two there, the rest in the kitchen. Then it stopped.

Sticky traps are awesome.
  • anne
    You're making my skin crawl.
    by anne at 10/25/10 5:05PM
  • frances
    The mice population is fast diminishing -Hurray!
    by frances at 10/25/10 10:48PM
  • mjintexas
    WOW... that's crazy!
    by mjintexas at 10/26/10 12:15AM
  • missy
    Ick ugh gross nasty.
    by missy at 10/26/10 12:38AM
  • cbonk
    My folks live near a big field (although they live in town) and get a lot of mice in the garage when the weather changes. I think it was worse when they had a dog (dog food was there), but they've never come in the house. My mom is terrified that they will... Glad you got them!
    by cbonk at 10/26/10 12:14PM
  • heatheronthehill
    My MIL was telling me about a girl that worships with them in Manhattan who has caught 13 mice in her apt. this week! ACK! She said it's better than rats!

    This is one of the perks of having a cat. (Though, I admit, there are many drawbacks, at least she earns her keep this way!)
    by heatheronthehill at 10/26/10 11:30PM
  • missy
    Heather, I'm allergic to cats or there'd already be one in here! :-)
    by missy at 10/27/10 9:09AM
  • whipsmile
    Ok, normally I always feel sorry for the mice that get killed.
    But if there were 8 mice in my home, I would have declared all out war on them.
    by whipsmile at 10/29/10 10:19AM
  • frances
    Happy Birthday, Grandson! We love you!
    by frances at 02/21/11 10:57PM

The Competition Continues

So, last night I set up a variety of mousetraps, because I heard, then saw mice under the oven the night before last.

We didn't have any mousetraps on-hand when I saw the mice, so I took a 2 liter bottle, cut the top curved part off, flipped it over, inserted it into the bottom part like a funnel, then taped them together. Then I put peanut butter inside and laid it on its side near the oven. This was the "Preferential Flow" - it's easy to get in, hard to get out.

The next day I thought they had not paid the peanut butter any attention until I got back from the store with sticky traps and one that has a trap door they walk over and closes behind them. When I looked closer at the bottle, I could see they had been snacking on the peanut butter, and for further proof, there was dust, etc in the bottle and it looked like there were footprints where they had been tracking the peanut butter (or coke residue, now that I think about it - I didn't wash out the bottle) in the bottom - so, they had figured a way out.

I set all the different traps up, and within half an hour, I had caught one on a glue trap (I had put peanut butter in the middle of it and placed the trap near the cabinet, where there was fuzz on the floor from the mice. He squealed a bit, and I finally decided to take him out so he wouldn't scare off others (I thought I might have heard them squeal, but it may have just been that one (he? she?) squealing more quietly.

I set up another trap and within half an hour of turning off the kitchen light and going to bed, I heard another. I left it until morning, then disposed of it, placed another glue trap with peanut butter, and left for work.

When I got home, I disposed of number 3. It had its head hanging off the trap, so it could push down with its chin and scoot around that way.

I set the last of the sticky traps. If I catch another, I'm going to have to get some more. They are working very well. The traps, that is, not the mice.
  • anne
    I just saw an ad today for a plastic one that the mouse goes into and can't (?) get out of. The owner throws it away, never having seen or touched it. That may be your trap door one. So...what is a sticky trap? I'm only familiar with the snap traps.

    Sure glad this is going on while Missy is gone.
    by anne at 10/12/10 10:14PM
  • aleta
    Oh! I get it!
    by aleta at 10/13/10 12:12AM
  • planethead
    The sticky traps are just a shallow plastic tray with a very sticky goo in the bottom. The mice get on and can't get off.
    by planethead at 10/13/10 1:30AM
  • split_rock
    I prefer the snap traps -- the sticky traps seem cruel to me. Of course, this is from someone who thinks mice are cute (just not when running free in my house!) and who had mice as pets for years -- like some have hamsters, etc.
    by split_rock at 10/13/10 3:56AM
  • kernel
    I used to set up a bunch of the snap traps (plastic) and they worked very well. Peanut butter works quite well for mice.
    by kernel at 10/13/10 8:50AM
  • aggieman
    thank you for explaining your "parable" rabbi
    by aggieman at 10/13/10 10:14AM
  • missy
    I am a million times glad you're dealing with this for me!
    by missy at 10/13/10 11:01PM

The Great Competition

Preferential Flow got off to an early and good start by allowing flow in one direction, but apparently didn't shut if off too well in the other. The exit losses around the protruding nozzle were not sufficient. It did keep good records, though. Without a refresher, I'm not sure how well it will perform tonight. The question is whether or not to send in reinforcements.

Trap Door may be promising, and is more efficient than Glue in the long run, but only if it can do the job.

The first one to score, however, is Glue, with an excellent time of somewhere around 1/2 hour! It has the opponent calling audibles, and it's possible there is some confusion down the line!


No fair guessing, Missy.
  • aleta
    Ah, come on, let Missy guess...or at least whisper a hint in our ear - like, of what you're talking about!
    by aleta at 10/12/10 8:01AM
  • split_rock
    I don't know about confusion down the line -- I'm confused already.
    by split_rock at 10/12/10 8:19AM
  • janice
    Me too!!????^^^^^
    by janice at 10/12/10 8:37AM
  • frances
    You lost me in the first sentence!
    by frances at 10/12/10 4:30PM
  • anne
    I'm sure glad you know what you're talking about. There are places where they put people who talk like that and don't.
    by anne at 10/12/10 5:40PM

Taken out of context...

It sounds pretty funny.

W: "It's kind of like the electrodes on my head. I didn't feel anything."
  • anne
    W is a very interesting person.
    by anne at 08/27/10 12:30AM
  • kimsisco
    ha! loved the conversation b/t you and missy! i have been known to be reclusive at times...
    by kimsisco at 08/29/10 2:26PM
  • mjintexas
    Nice. :)
    by mjintexas at 09/17/10 2:30AM