And the menagerie CONTINUES to grow.

[bluesilverkdg]

Why, yes, I am up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning, but believe you me, it's not because I want to be. No, I am listening to the melodious strains of Oreo running back and forth through the house, up and down the stairs, in and out of...places...at breakneck speed. The mouse is back.

Tuesday night (I think it was Tuesday?) I drank a Coke fairly late at night. This was a mistake, because (a) I rarely have sodas at all, especially caffeinated ones (b) I had it fairly late at night. Oh, well...that's the night I was up posting at 2am. Yeah! You remember that! Then later that night, I realized that both of my cats were hanging out a LOT downstairs. This is normal for Oreo, not normal for Misty. She rarely comes downstairs, so I figured something had to be up. And it was. We had mouseage.

For most people, this might be a mild inconvenience or annoyance. In my mind, however, I might as well have a disease-infested, sabre-toothed, flame-throwing monster hanging out in my bedroom, because that's pretty much what I think of mice, and rodents in general. I don't like them. No, let's be frank. I hate them. Loathe. Despise. Want to eradicate off the face of the earth.

I don't even like those so-called "cute" ones that you can put in a cage and feed carrots to. Guinea pigs? Hamsters? NO THANK YOU. I never even trusted the freakin' chinchilla they made me get for my five-year-olds when I was teaching pre-K. I was not an advocate of keeping a rodent in the room. All it did was lull those children into a false sense of security, that it or its cousins would not come into your bedroom at night and eat your eyes out. Because they will.

So, let's suffice to say, having a mouse IN MY BEDROOM is not my ideal situation. I'm normally about the biggest pacifist that you'll find. I don't even want to step on a spider. But a mouse? Heck yeah, I'd take that puppy out with an uzi if I could. That said, I probably will not set traps, not because I give a crap about the mouse, but I don't want to have to deal with the carnage later. The thought of having to pick up a trap with a dead and possibly dismembered mouse in it absolutely turns my stomach.

I don't know if my cats are just not doing the job, if they're too old and slow to properly hunt or if they're just toying with it so they can move in for the kill later. Whatever the case, I wish they'd get down to it and just catch the darned thing. Although, that will probably involve dealing with mouse carnage too, perhaps strewn about my house. Blech. Knowing them, they'd probably present the leftovers to me as a love offering. On my bedroom slippers.

I wish the mouse would just realize "hey, there are two cats who live here who want to chase me! Maybe I should go infest another house!" And then it could share this realization with all its shady little mouse friends. And I feed not one, but TWO feral cats outside. Where are THEY when I need them? They should be guarding the points of entry, for God's sake.
I ask very little of my cats. I ask that they occasionally let them pet me, and that they be cute and cuddly. These are pretty easy tasks for any critter. It's not like they've ever had to earn their keep before. And isn't catching mice supposed to be fun and instinctive for cats? Or is it just the chasing that's fun? Because I tell you, they both seem to be having the time of their lives, however, the little turd keeps getting away. But then it comes back. Geez, maybe it's enjoying the game, too.

Have any of you used those ultrasonic sound thingies that you plug into walls? I've heard that while they can be effective for a bit, that eventually the mouse (or whatever) gets used to the sound and learns to ignore it. I refuse to put anything poisonous out in the garage, which is evidently their point of entry, because I don't want random dead mice around my house, getting into God-knows-what to spend their final hours, and I definitely don't want them tracking in anything that the cats might be able to ingest.

This mouse is going to be the death of me. The thing is scarcely two inches long, yet I have been living in terror for the past four days because of it. I will not let this rodent defeat me. I'd really like to get some more sleep on a rainy, cold Saturday morning, but if that thing went running across my bed, I sincerely believe I'd have a heart attack.

Have I mentioned how much I hate mice?

(In completely unrelated news, the song I'm listening to has spurred me to make a confession. I love Beyonce. I always have. I liked her OK in Destiny's Child, but solo (or with Jay-Z)? Heck yeah. Bring it. So, this song came on my player and I started singing along when I got to the line "gonna turn this puppy out." Then I thought "is that what it really says?" Given my penchant for misunderstood song lyrics, you never know. But I've been singing it that way for a while. So I conferred with the Google.
It's "turn this party out." I guess that makes more sense. I really think I'd rather turn this puppy out, though. I'm callin' all the girls. I see you look me up and down.)

Comments

[pallid-regina.livejournal.com]

I have FOUR cats and at the old house from time to time they would be utterly thwarted by a clever mouse, slowly dying of starvation but unwilling to move from the ONE cat-proof location in the house.

However.

Eventually they get too hungry and run for it. May the cats be there when it does.

Also, there are these new mouse traps that are, I think, essentially the OLD mouse traps housed in a plastic circle. You put "bait" (peanut butter, cheese, whatever) in this hole in the bottom and then twist the top to set the trap. There's no sound, no mess, and there's a dead mouse encased entirely in a thick plastic disk that you can just take outside and put directly into the trash.

Last year I had a mouse here at the shop and that's how I got it. Never saw it, didn't have to worry about carnage, just a trap that was turned to "mouse caught" and it weighed a bit more than it did when I put it down. They're cheap and easy and poison-free (I always worry a cat will get a just-poisoned mouse and get poisoned iself so I avoid poisons). Food for thought.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a better trap to deal with. I remember when I was a kid, we had TONS of mice at the farm, even with indoor and outdoor cats. Mom would put those spring traps underneath the cabinets, and we'd hear them "thwap!" in the middle of the night. I could never bear to even look at them, much less touch them.

I really don't want to put down anything poisonous, because I don't want them tracking it in for the cats to potentially get into. I will look into this trap you're talking about. Thanks!

[viridescence13]

My cats are useless for catching bugs or anything like that. When we moved into this house, I found a hidden cache of rat poison and rat traps in the basement, so I guess that's been a problem here in the past. I haven't seen or heard any evidence ever, though, so I suppose the presence of three cats is enough to keep them away? I have no fear or hatred of rodents whatsoever, but I still don't want them eating through things, eating food, leaving droppings, etc.

I haven't tried the sonic things but I guess they're worth a try. I don't use any kind of pesticides or poisons so I wouldn't want to go that route, either, and traditional traps are just mean, IMHO. Maybe consult with a pest control company to see if they have some "green" suggestions? There are all kinds of natural deterrents that I use for roaches and ants, so surely there's something you can do to keep mice out too. I know there are those catch and release traps, but won't they just come back in?

I love Beyonce too, I have to admit. Destiny's Child and solo. I also think she's absolutely beautiful. I am not sure how you would turn a puppy out...but hey...;) You made me laugh!

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Mine have gotten pretty complacent about bugs, but OMG...a MOUSE?! Totally different prey.

And I didn't mean a literal puppy. :-) Have you ever heard the saying, just in which anything is called a puppy? "I never thought I'd finish that puppy..", etc. Usually meaning something really big, awesome, amazing, unbelievable. So I guess I thought it was an incredible party and they were gonna turn that puppy out. :-)


I'm not normally into much mainstream pop. I've gotta maintain my indie cred. But there are a few artists that I make exceptions for. Beyonce is definitely one of them!

[viridescence13]

Yeah, I know you didn't mean a literal puppy...I've heard the phrase before, but it was always so nonsense and silly to me!

I never listen to mainstream pop myself, but I do enjoy a good Beyonce song (I don't own any of her music, though).

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I was wondering..I thought "wow, everyone's heard that before." ;-)

[theldara.livejournal.com]

I used to live in an old house with a mouse problem (at least until my 6 cats took care of it). The best way to start is prevent entry. Go around the foundation and lower level and stuff steel wool in whatever gaps you find. They can't chew through it. It's important to do this, because with the cold weather, they're going to be maknig an exodus indoors.

There are human mouse traps you can get that will simply catch the mouse, not kill it. I would avoid the glue ones though. Might as well be dead. The mouse will not be coming off.

Some tips that help:
http://www.ehow.com/list_6397683_natural-mouse-repellent-tips.html

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was doing some reading about that. I'm gonna see if dad can come over one day next week and help me. This place is so big, it's a little overwhelming. But a lot of the sites I was reading recommended steel wool or foam insulation, since they don't like chewing either of those.

Do you know, in all my years, I've never had an issue with mice? When I lived in Knoxville, one time, I got a mouse, and the cats made short work of it. The door coming from the laundry room into the den (which I'm using as my bedroom) downstairs, has a gap underneath it, of about an inch, between the bottom of the door and the floor. I saw it go running back out into the laundry room this morning when Oreo was chasing it (and I leave that door closed...they are not allowed out there.) So, that is most likely where it's coming and going, but there's not telling how many points of entry could be in that garage. Oy.

And I think I hear her running upstairs now, so sounds like it's gotten back in. Lovely.

[theldara.livejournal.com]

The cats could just be on spaz alert now too, it may not be going in/out quite so much as it appears.

I lived in a house built in 1919 that no one had inhabited for a good 5-6 years before we moved in. It took a few months for the cats to handle the mice population. I only ever saw the aftermath. At this house I've only had one mouse, that we know of. We saw it alive one day, then er... mostly not, the next. Dave took care of it at that point, yay.

Snakes now, we've had several non-pet snakes wander in. Unfortunately the cats also took care of those before we could rescue them =/

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

You know, I'd never realized it, but the old house that Chris and I owned on the Tree Streets was built in 1916, but to my knowledge, we never had a mouse there. There was a rat that was hanging around the Pike House dumpster. I told them about it, the nimrods put out poison, and then it came over to MY yard to die, which Cinnamon dog was pretty thrilled about. But other than that, the only rodents we had were squirrels, which are completely tolerable.

I think it must be back tonight, judging from the way they are tearing around the house. They keep hanging around the downstairs bath, which is where it seems to want to hide. Lovely. I think I may actually sleep upstairs tonight. :-/ At least I can close the door so I don't have cats racing across my bed at breakneck speed all night long.

[nessachan.livejournal.com]

I am not afraid of rodents at all but I am afraid of crawly things... so I tried those ultrasonic things. I did notice a marked decrease in crawly things after I plugged them in. I've never seen a rodent in the house, except for a chipmunk, which I caught in a humane trap and set loose in the park. I think he came in through the garage. The animal shelter lent me the trap for free. My cats didn't catch the chipmunk, either, but they sure tore the house apart trying. Oh, and I had a frog once. But I just picked him up and threw him out, he was slow. No clue how he got in my garage.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with creepy crawlies (which is good, because it's damp here and there are lots of them.) Mice though, I am absolutely terrified of. And I realize it's not really a rational fear, but most of my....issues are not rational.

I may get one of the ultrasonic things. If I can just block this one, maybe I'll be home free.