Thursday, April 29, 2010

Eradicating unwanted house guests

When I was a nipper I loved Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Mighty Mouse. But I don’t love mice in my house. Where there are at least two right now. They’re the first mice in our house since we moved in 7½ years ago. I’ve no idea how they got in. Until now I considered our house mouse-proof. But clearly now it’s not. Unless, as I surmise, they entered through a temporarily open door. I’ll never know. I first became aware of them a week ago – via visual and olfactory cues in the pantry. Sweetheart Vivienne says there are always more mice than you see. She also told me poison’s the first line of attack. So a week ago I put down four bromadiolone [1] bait blocks. And I also removed all food from the pantry, leaving only canned and bottled food. But the mice continue nibbling at the bait blocks. So yesterday I upped the ante and bought a couple of mousetraps. Not your common wooden ones, mind you. Rather, safe n’ sure ones [2]. The box blurb says it’s ‘Truly a better mousetrap!’ – because stealing bait’s impossible, it snaps shut with more force than a wooden trap does without breaking the mouse’s skin, you don’t touch the dead mouse when releasing it, and after rinsing the trap in warm soapy water it’s ready for re-use. The best mousetrap bait? I don’t know. But I’m trying peanut butter first. This is work in progress, folks. Click on the Comments (below) for updates.

7 comments:

Tony said...

wE HADN'T HAD MICE IN OUR HOUSE EVER. lAST WINTER WE WERE INVADED & WE TRAPPED 12 OF THE LITTLE SUCKERS IN ABOUT A WEEK. Oops, I had the caps lock on & just noticed & can't be bothered re-typing. Cheers from Launceston

farmdoc said...

Thursday afternoon 29 April
What happened in the first 24 hours:

Both traps activated. One dead mouse (now enriching the compost). Both traps reset.

farmdoc said...

Friday afternoon 30 April
What happened in the second 24 hours:

Both traps unactivated. Bait blocks not nibbled at.
I'm beginning to think that all the mice are dead. I'm aware this is probably wishful thinking. Time will tell. I remain vigilant.

farmdoc said...

Saturday afternoon 1 May
What happened in the third 24 hours:

Ditto. I'm becoming more optimistic. But I'm leaving the traps and bait set for another few days. And I'm not yet replacing the food I removed from the pantry.

farmdoc said...

Sunday afternoon 2 May
What happened in the fourth 24 hours:

Nothing new in this 24 hours, folks. All's quiet on the pantry front. I can't believe I solved the problem this easily. Are the little blighters playing games with me? In the next few days I'll find out.

chris said...

Try Tomcat we live in Mole creek too and have had mice in the house this last week, however one nibble on this (they love it) and they are dead. Been following your blog from South Australia and now we are here !!! loving it in South Mole Creek.

farmdoc said...

Tuesday afternoon 4 May
What happened in the fifth & sixth 24 hours:

Nothing happened. I'm hesitant to write it, but I think it's all over, folks. But I'll give it a few more days before I reach a firm conclusion.