mouse in the oven.

[Batgrrrl]

I'm not at home, so I can't check the official tally on the fridge, but our 3 cats have gone medieval on the local small rodent and bird population since moving to Duluth in August--we've had I believe around 30 birds in the house (about half of them alive, which we released back outside) and about 10 mice--again, about half alive. A few mice have hung out for a while--under the fridge or stove--but luckily they don't seem interested in staying, but are just looking for a clear exit. The funniest moment was when one made a dash for the front porch, running right between col klink's legs as he was crouching down--I decided to tell him about it after the mouse had passed through!

In Seattle, we had rats--ugh--and I was the one home most, so I got to do "clean-up" duty. My preferred method for the ones the traps didn't quite kill was drowning. Bucket of water next to the trash can. Not fun, but quick and effective.

Batgrrrl

[hannnah]

We had a very persistent mouse around this time last year. Despite having 32 lb. of cat charging around the house, Mr. Mousie got in not just one, but three times (hubby wanted not to kill him, so I kept catching mousie and throwing him back outside).

Day 1:

Cats go nuts over something in basement. I go down to look, and there's the mouse. Feline brain trust is following mousie around - I imagine the conversation going something like this:

"Hey! It's a THING! And it MOVES!"

"It makes noises too! What happens if we poke it?" *poke*

"It just stands there. *sniff* Hey. It doesn't smell like catnip! Bastard humans!" (cats stalk off, leaving me to retrieve the mouse and escort him off the premises.)

Day 2:

Cats again go nuts over something in the basement. Voila, mousie. This time, I put the mouse in a plastic tub to see if the cats can do something now that he's in a confined space. The tub has a rounded bottom, so when they tip it over it pops back upright. One cat puts a paw on the edge of the tub to get the mouse, the tub tips over slightly, cat removes paw to swat at mouse, tub pops back upright. Second cat does the same thing. This goes on for about half an hour until we stop laughing, and I escort mousie off the premises again - into the yard 2 houses down this time.

Day 3:

You guessed it - psycho cats charging around after mousie in the basement. Me: "Honey, it's back. I don't care how cute it is, it's vermin, and it's gonna die." This time, after 3 days, one of the cats manages to pop mousie upside the head and stun him. I scoop mousie up in the dustpan and take him outside, where he is disposed of via the traditional stomping method.

Moral of the story: if there's a hole, the little bastards will get back in, even if you think you've closed it up or taken them far enough away that they can't come back.

[Cusina]

This is pretty entertaining reading, have to say.  Bourdain, that hostess sounds like she would make serious cash in the dominatrix business...  I'm a bit in awe.

You're in awe because you're in the dominatrix business and aren't making much money?

Wha?? I'm in awe of her non girly mouse stomping.

Well, as the old joke goes, I beat the eggs, whip the cream and sweat the onions but beyond that you are on your own.

[Richard Kilgore]

Whatever you do, make sure it is dead. Many years ago I lived in a garage apartment in Austin while at the University. I discovered that I too had a rodent living in my small gas range, so I set a trap that evening. Next morning the cheese had been successfully removed without even springing the trap. So that night I set it with a piece of salami and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night I awoke realizing I was not alone. I opened my eyes and stared down the bed to see a rat sitting on my knee. Calm soul that I am, I merely levitated about three feet vertically and three feet horizontally. The rat ran up the frame of my front door, which I had proped open for the pleasant evening breeze, and perched on top of the door. I staggered back and clear-headedly picked up a sandal, cranked up in my best curve ball pitching form (and thought momentarily, "What makes you think you can kill a rat with a sandal?) and let loose, the sandal neatly crashing through one of the four small windows set in the door. I fumbled around in the dark until I found the other sandal by moonlight, hauled back and after another brief debate with myself about the wisdom of this approach, let loose the sandal and the rat fell dead on the floor. Hmmm? I stood back and thought again, "You can't kill a rat with a sandal at five paces." But the autopsy showed that he had been whacked in the neck by the trap and was coming to get me.

Make sure it is dead.

Edited November 3, 2003 by Richard Kilgore (log)

[sherribabee]

I opened my eyes and stared down the bed to see a rat sitting on my knee.

I will never sleep again.

Thanks.

[hollywood]

I opened my eyes and stared down the bed to see a rat sitting on my knee.

I will never sleep again.

Thanks.

Ben, most people would turn you away

I don’t listen to a word they say

They don’t see you as I do

I wish they would try to

I’m sure they’d think again

If they had a friend like Ben

(a friend)

Like Ben

(like Ben)

Like Ben

[Squeat Mungry]

Ben, most people would turn you away

I don’t listen to a word they say

They don’t see you as I do

I wish they would try to

I’m sure they’d think again

If they had a friend like Ben

(a friend)

Like Ben

(like Ben)

Like Ben

Ben, you're such an ugly little rat

I should kill you with a baseball bat

But, I haven't got the guts

I think I must be nuts

I'll have to call a friend

To put an end to Ben

(an end)

To Ben

(to Ben)

To Ben

[hollywood]

To put an end to Ben

(an end)

To Ben

(to Ben)

To Ben

R.I.P.

[hollywood]

http://www.tsnthings.com/8775%20i%20like%20rat.jpg

[FistFullaRoux]

First of all, note my sig line.

That being said, I have a friend who waits until the snap traps get one, then he takes it outside (while laughing in the manner of Vincent Price) and practices his golf swing. A 6 iron does one helluva number on them. But I grew up on a farm. We had BB guns. At least for the ones in the barn.

But once I ended up in apartments, I've found that cream cheese or peanut butter on the snap traps works best. You just have to work a very small amount into the grates or holes (depending on the model) in the trigger. If it is loose enough for them to grab a mouthful with out snapping the trap, they will get their fill, then not push their luck. Anything you can do to make it harder for them will help. I've seen people use Scotch tape or Saran wrap to secure the bait to the trap. The smell still attracts them, but if they have to struggle to remove the food from the trap, that is what help ensure the trap goes off as designed.

And if you are having lots of problems with varmints taking the bait and leaving the trap unsprung, get some more. It is entirely possible that you may have a bad trap.

[elyse]

Whatever you do, make sure it is dead. Many years ago I lived in a garage apartment in Austin while at the University. I discovered that I too had a rodent living in the small gas range, so I set a trap that evening. Next morning the cheese had been successfully removed without even springing the trap. So that night I set it with a piece of salami and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night I awoke realizing I was not alone. I opened my eyes and stared down the bed to see a rat sitting on my knee. Calm soul that I am, I merely levitated about three feet vertically and three feet horizontally. The rat ran up the frame of my front door, which I had proped open for the pleasant evening breeze, and perched on top of the door. I staggered back and clear-headedly picked up a sandal, cranked up in my best curve ball pitching form (and thought momentarily, "What makes you think you can kill a rat with a sandal?) and let loose, the sandal neatly crashing through one of the four small windows set in the door. I fumbled around in the dark until I found the other sandal by moonlight, hauled back and with another brief debate with myself about the wisdom of this approach, let loose the sandal and the rat fell dead on the floor. Hmmm? I stood back and thought again, "You can't kill a rat with a sandal at five paces." But the autopsy showed that he had been whacked in the neck by the trap and was coming to get me.

Make sure it is dead.

That is such a funny story.

[pjs]

We have a suspended ceiling at work that the little bastards love to congregate, fornicate and defecate in. One morning an employee almost had a heart attack when replacing a foam ceiling tile that had fallen overnight he noticed the imprisioned live rat in the empty garbage can below the tile.

Shaken, he released it out back and watched it run away for it's life. Fucker was probably back in the ceiling the next day.

I would of filled the garbage can full of water or if I was in a hurry and he wasn't too big just flush him down the toilet.

The resident cat, who was once feral, just yawned and went back to sleep.

PJ

[Sam Iam]

Allright, time to get serious again.

Mice (and rats) are rodents. Cute, yes. Full of disease, definitely! Google "house mice", and you won't think twice about the fastest way of getting rid of them. They are constantly pissing and shitting all over your kitchen, and in any food they can find. Do whatever it takes to remove them as quickly as possible, short of a flame thrower.

I worked for a national exterminator about 30 years ago, and usually ended up with the mice detail. Don't wanna talk about some of the really bad infestations. BTW, most exterminators prefer poison, because they don't have to make another service call to reset the traps every few days.

If you think you have one or two mice, set five traps. Move them after a couple of days if they haven't caught anything. Put the trap side against wall, if possible. Use different baits. Use poison, but only if there are no pets. Mice are so prolific, there is probably a nest, so keep the traps out afer you catch a few. Put them back out every week or two for a few days.

Sam

[pjs]

Put the trap side against  wall, if possible.

And set up some kind of small fence to funnel the bastards to it.

PJ

[Pan]

I stood back and thought again, "You can't kill a rat with a sandal at five paces." But the autopsy showed that he had been whacked in the neck by the trap and was coming to get me.

So? What happened?

[fifi]

Richard... After I got up off the floor from reading that post, I want to know who did the autopsy.

[mrbigjas]

Note 1: time to put on the old Godflesh CD with "Like Rats" on it.

Note 2: Fistfullaroux is right. The key thing about bait in snap traps, no matter what you use, is to really work it into the trap so the mice have to pull and chew at it to get it, setting off the trap. What I used to use (in my old place; we've been mercifully free of mice here) was the fibrous ends of sweet potatoes. I'd cook up a couple for dinner, and then put the ends with all the stringy stuff, and really mash them into the bait area. In my experience, mice love sweet potatoes--I rid our house of an infestation with sweet potatoes and snap traps alone. It's a good thing it worked, too, because our cat--mighty huntress that she isn't--was no help at all.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

Both glue traps and poison are inhumane.

screw humane...its a potentially germ carrying rodent....Ive fed my tarantula live critters for years and god has yet to smote me.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

I am entirely serious.  Poison and glue are slow cruel deaths.  I've seen mice die this way, and it sucks.  Get the snap traps so it dies quickly, or humane traps if you will take the time to release the mouse elsewhere (like you'd ever do that). 

When I have seen these mice dying, I have killed them off myself so the thing, carrier or not, doesn't suffer longer than is necessary.  I just don't believe suffering is right.  For any reason. 

Sounds like you got waaaaaaay too much time on your hands to be so concerned about a germy lil vermin...

youd probably call PETA if you were around the night I dispatched a full sized rat in the kitchen of my last firehouse in East NY...I snapped the little shit in half with the bottom rim of a steel garbage can. After an annoyed SQUEAK (I knew damn well I got him...) he took off under and behind the dishwasher where he was pronounced and removed (by me) bout an hour later when he FINALLY stopped moving. There was no way I was going in after him while he was still alive.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

Both excellent solutions.  Who's going to try them?

actually....when I discovered that my tarantula was tired of pink mice as a dietary staple, I had to remove the first one she wouldnt eat while it was still alive...see I might come across as a totally crass little shithead...but Im really a nice guy.....I felt itd be really uncool to let the little sucker just starve to death in there with my arachnid...so I tried dispatching him in the most humane way I could think of...snap the neck kinda thing...Ive been stuck underwater before and it was the most horrid sensation of my life...well...to this day Im really haunted by the way the employed technique turned out. It was quite effective...but...very....unpleasant.

[fifi]

If you want to be humane, you pith the little buggers.

Yes... pith... That is taking a knife or scalpel and give a quick stab at the base of the brain. (Ex-biology person experience speaking here.) However... The likelihood of my taking a "wild" rodent in hand to do this is extremely remote.

[tommy]

If you want to be humane, you pith the little buggers.

Yes... pith... That is taking a knife or scalpel and give a quick stab at the base of the brain. (Ex-biology person experience speaking here.) However... The likelihood of my taking a "wild" rodent in hand to do this is extremely remote.

i hear that you should put them in the refrigerator for 2 hours, and then in a pot of cold water, and heat it slowly.

[fifi]

Are we back to making rodent stock?

[elyse]

Both glue traps and poison are inhumane.

screw humane...its a potentially germ carrying rodent....Ive fed my tarantula live critters for years and god has yet to smote me.

That's far from the point.

[elyse]

I am entirely serious.  Poison and glue are slow cruel deaths.  I've seen mice die this way, and it sucks.  Get the snap traps so it dies quickly, or humane traps if you will take the time to release the mouse elsewhere (like you'd ever do that). 

When I have seen these mice dying, I have killed them off myself so the thing, carrier or not, doesn't suffer longer than is necessary.  I just don't believe suffering is right.  For any reason. 

Sounds like you got waaaaaaay too much time on your hands to be so concerned about a germy lil vermin...

youd probably call PETA if you were around the night I dispatched a full sized rat in the kitchen of my last firehouse in East NY...I snapped the little shit in half with the bottom rim of a steel garbage can. After an annoyed SQUEAK (I knew damn well I got him...) he took off under and behind the dishwasher where he was pronounced and removed (by me) bout an hour later when he FINALLY stopped moving. There was no way I was going in after him while he was still alive.

Is there a problem here I don't yet know about?