Theres a (real) mouse in my house (Update)

[Melora]

Can someone please tell me how it got here??

Now, its not like I think my house is "Too Clean" to have a mouse. We have 5 kids living here (3-18) so I happen to know that there are enough crumbs and misc food tidbits here and there to sustain a small critter indefinately.. BUT..........

How did it get here????

We live in a fairly new housing tract and I would think it would take quite a while for little wild things to find their way back after being chased out by all the building. We always leave our doors closed, due to having 3 indoor cats and the place I saw it is not near the front door. I am not sure I buy Jeffs idea that the ladies who worked for my mom accidently brought it in with their overnight bags...

Yesterday morning I was downstairs feeling sad and kind of aimless. We had all noticed that the cats were hovering around in the laundry room the last day or so, and we thought maybe they were acting weird becasue of what was happening with my mom. As I started down the hallway I saw something very small dart from behind the cat food bowl under the washer. I KNOW I saw it. Everyone was telling me I was seeing things.

I happen to know if my moms spirit was still hanging around the house she would not manifest as a small brown mouse and run around under the appliances.

We tried to look under the machines with a flashlight but could not get down far enough to see well. I put some cat food next to the washer, back where no one could get to it and an hour later it was gone. I did that twice so I know something is back there eating it.

If this food has the same affect on the mouse that it has on 2 of our cats, the mouse should weigh about 5 pounds by next week.

So now I have to go and find one of those small hav-a-heart traps so I can catch it and let it go in the open area not far from here. And I have to do it BEFORE the cats find it and deliver it as a present by the foot of my bed....BLECH!

 

[browneyes]

Maybe it's Mickey Mouse coming to visit you.

I hope your cats don't give you a present either. I hope your little mousey friend will disappear soon.

 

[pumba]

from out hunting expeditions..........and I swore I was moving to another location......and putting the house on the mkt immediately if dear hubby didn't find him soon........he did and I still am around....hahaha........seriously.......they came in because it is so cold this year.......and they can squeeze into any little hole.....or crack for that matter......they make themselves flatten out.......hope the kitties find the critter

 

[Meriweather]

We get mice in the house too often
They can get in the tiniest little spaces
We've had them come in around the fireplace, around the holes for the plumbing under the sink, .....doesn't take much.

My cats usually get them in a couple days.....they love playing with them

 

[Dodie]

I believe that a mouse can enter your house in a space smaller than a dime. It's actually pretty easy for the to get in - and they're motivated to do so when it gets cold outside.

Even though you live in a fairly new housing development, Mr. Mousie could have come from nearby. Maybe one of your neighbors has had a problem. Maybe he made his way in from a field somewhere.

Sounds like your kitties are on the situation though.

 

[mickeyboat]

My FIL's house gets a mouse every year. They put down D-CON which ultimately kills the mouse. However, it usually climbs into one of the walls and dies. Then it stinks to kingdom come for weeks.

We had a mouse in our office for a while once. It would climb into our desk drawers and eat our goodies. They put down traps but they didn't catch him. Apparently he climbed into an empty garbage can and couldn't get out. He died in there and stunk up the place.

A have-a heart trap is the way to go. We know a guy who uses them on skunks that get in his yard. Of course, when he lets them go 1/2 mile from his house, they just come right back. He keeps catching the same one over and over.

Good luck with your little Mickey Mouse. I think he came to give you and your family a little entertainment value during this tough time.

Denae

 

[DMickey28]

Our new apartment has those little spaces a mouse could definetly fit through... plus the below 0 temps aren't helping. Luckily my babies haven't brought any new presents yet!

Good Luck catching your mouse.

 

[BedKnobbery2]

Yep, they can creep in the teeniest tiniest space imaginable. If you have an attached garage, make sure those doors are staying closed as well. I had a huge mouse problem last year, and never thought about the garage until someone pointed it out to me (well, ok, I'm not always the brightest bulb in the fixture). I've been fanatical about keeping the garage doors shut tight except when I'm entering or exiting the garage, and so far no mice this year.

Good luck catching yours.....I tried hav-a-hearts, glue traps, and some other one, can't remember what....the only thing that really worked were the old fashioned snap traps. Hated to do it, but would hate more to have to get my house re-wired because of munching mice.

 

[pumba]

put some peanut butter there......at least the mouse will go with a smile on his or her face

 

[minnie56]

It's a teeny little mouse...we outweigh it by a huge amount!

I have had them and I get the humane (Hav-a-heart) traps and get them in no time and release them in a wooded area nearby.

Live and let live....I don't support cats (and I have 3) making a sport out of 'playing' with them until they have traumatized the poor little thing to death. That's just cruel....

 

[poohkie]

It doens't matter how clean your house is. They come in the winter for food water and somewere warm to stay. (Dad kills little things that go bump in the night like mice).

 

[Serena]

I have one too, it loves butterscotch candies.

 

[JulianneP]

I just posted this same thing last week on the scrapping boards! I have had two! And they are no Mickey!! It gives me the creeps to do laundry cause I'm scared they are curled up in the dirty clothes and I can't scrapbook because my little craft corner is where I saw him running!!

 

[TINKTWINS]

Thanks for this post, i'm now standing on my chair!

 

[jipsy]

<b>Snap it's little neck.</b> Mice are cute and I even had some pet shop mice as pets when I was a kid, but mice (both wild and tame) can carry diseases, including lyme disease (which they transmit to ticks when bitten by one,) hantavirus (which is usually lethal) and Toxocariasis (transmitted to dogs and cats, which can be transmitted to children if they play in soil contaminated by dogs and cats. They transfer the worm eggs from their hands to their mouths, and the worms form cysts under the skin and in organs). Mice are nasty little creatures. They don't have to squeeze into a hole; they can CHEW their way in. I prefer glue traps with peanut butter because they seem to work better for me, but I do understand that some people think that's inhumane, so if you are one of those people, use an old fashioned mouse trap (you can't build a better one) or some poison. Just make sure your pets/children can't get to the poison if you use it.

 

[minnie56]

I thought this was a sweet little site all about a certain 'Mouse' and all things good! Wonder what Walt would say....

a tiny mouse sure brings out the 'killer' instinct in some of us!

 

[BedKnobbery2]

Actually, Walt hated mice. Kinda ironic, isn't it? (And I'm sure they use effective rodent control at all the Disney parks, too!)

 

[Pat]

I used to live in an older house and every winter would get mice. I finally resorted to the glue traps and they worked well. I discovered that the ones at my house liked dried pasta (macaroni, etc.). We found that if we used the traps, that peanut butter worked best.

Because you have cats, the mouse/mice are feeding and drinking well as you probably have water and cat food out.

 

[minnie56]

WDW has adopted a natural means of insect and rodent control and I was told that first hand by an employee summoned to my room for a cockroach that was 'terrorizing' my daughters and I.They are very environmentally friendly these days....

By saying what would Walt say...whether he liked or disliked Mice is irrelevant. I was merely implying that I was surprised at the intensity of some people and their aggressions.I don't think that is an admirable trait. JMO...

 

[Snowysmom]

In our old house we got a couple of mice every winter. They can sneak in through the smallest of spaces. DH got out the hav a heart trap, baited it with peanut butter and in a day or two we had a mouse in it. He took it for a ride. One time he let the mouse out near his car, the mouse took off, but when DH came back to the care to go home, the mouse was waiting at the car for a ride home. He must have thought he was on a field trip.