I could hear Norah scratching around in the kitchen and I could tell it was different than her normal weirdness. Going in there to investigate I found her scratching around the base of a free-standing pantry I have, first one side and then the other. I watched for a minute and remarked "oh Norah, did you find a spider??" She was excited, I could tell. She started scratching on the side against the wall where I had slid some paper shopping bags so I pulled the bags out to hopefully help Norah find her prize. After all, whatever she wants to be chasing isn't something I want in my house.
I was holding the shopping bags in one hand and a flash light in the other, looking between the pantry and the wall and I couldn't see anything. Nothing alive anyway. Norah looked at me and kind of kitty-whined at me. So I shook the shopping bag to get the cobwebs off it and whoops! Out dropped an itty bitty tiny little black MOUSE. Now in the interest of full disclosure here, I
am not afraid of mice. I will get skeeved out much more quickly if there is a spider involved. And while I know I don't want mice in my house, they are unclean and their droppings carry disease, it doesn't stop me from thinking they're cute. It makes me sad because this little guy must die.Norah chased it (like it needed to be chased at that point) into the utility room where the washer and dryer and 3 ginormous litter boxes live. There was no way I was going to catch it in there, once it got under or behind the washer and dryer - well - the mouse is way faster than I am. It won. For now.
Sigh-h-h. The bad thing about mice is that they can get into a house so easily - and once they do - they are hard to get out. And I hate killing them - maybe I'll use a no-kill trap, we'll see. But oh my gosh I have 4 cats! While they are pretty useless at actually killing insects and the like, they
sure will detect something like that in the house! What was that little guy thinking when he came in here? I know, it's warm. But there are 4 cats! Didn't this little mouse have any sense of smell at all?So it begins. Looking for mouse poop, anything chewed on or scattered where it shouldn't be. I will have to figure out what to do about the cat food - since that is the only food product that is even close to the ground in my house.
When I saw the mouse honestly - my first thought was - oh no, this is going to take some work. Ugh. My son is completely unfazed and appears perfectly willing to live with a mouse or mice in the house. Not a problem for him. So I will become - the mouse hunter - da da da dum!!! Except without the leotard or cape. Wish me luck.
**Added - That only food that pantry holds is cat food in cans. Otherwise it is mostly plastic containers, paper towels, garbage bags, etc. If he's looking for something to eat in there, he's out of luck!
You'd think it'd try and find another house! My friend once managed to live catch a mouse. She released it far from the house. As soon as it was free, it headed straight back to her house!!
ReplyDeleteSome mice just want to be warm and, I think, they like to think they're teasing the cats and winning. I think if my cats saw a mouse, they'd just sit and watch just like they do with spiders and crickets.
ReplyDeleteThe way our cat tries to kill everything else.. plastic bags, the dogs, the bird... I'm hopeful she'll go after any rodent that comes inside.
ReplyDeleteWell I have that mole (and rat) killer dog that takes care of the vermin at my house. But I am terrified of mice (long story)so he can kill whatever he finds coming close to the house. Good luck with the hunt.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, the less I want to kill it. Any chance the cats will just chase it out?
ReplyDeleteEven though I am waaaaaaaay bigger than they are, mice freak me out.
ReplyDeleteOtis (our Jack Russell terrier - come see pics, for those who don't know us!), has caught several moles in our yard. That's a good thing, b/c they damage flowers & I love my flowers!!
ReplyDeleteBoy, do they squeak when they've been caught...Oops, BetteJo, sorry!
Whatcha gonna do, though. A Jack is a hunter! But so are cats...I say let the cats take care of it...much better than one of those traps that sticks to them & they die trying to get unstuck...Horrible!
My daughter had a teeny tiny little mousy once, and her cat didn't do a darn thing except stare at it, as if it was there to entertain her!! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteShe has a friendly neighbor catch and release it outside.
Take care
Diane
About 22 years ago, we moved into an old house and started re-doing it, beginning in the kitchen. After a while I noticed the insulation coming out around the latch that locked the oven for cleaning. At the time we had two cats - Murphy and Ahhnald (as in Swarchenegger because at 4 months he broke his leg when he fell from the shower rod he was trying to cross) and at night after dinner was finished and things were cleaned up, they would stay in the kitchen in the dark. One night I stood in the dining room watching them. Before long, I saw a teeny, tiny mouse (tail and all about 2 1/2 inches) run across the stove. Apparently the mama had been in the insulation in the warehouse before we got the stove, and when we got the new stove, they came along. So, at night I would stand in the dark kitchen with just the hood light on and a colander in one hand, and catch the mice and give them to the cats, who would play with them until they wore out and died, and then I would put them in the trash. But when I put that last one in the garbage, I never saw another one - thank goodness!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen hide nor hair of that little guy (I have tried not to name him) since that first night. I know they like to come out when the lights go out but I don't know - I'm not seeing the signs. I'll have to look around more thoroughly this weekend. In a stove! Uck!
ReplyDeleteBut that's exactly what my cats would do, play with the thing until it died from the stress. Hunters they're not!
I saw Mabel with a mouse outside and she just teased it, poor little thing, so I distracted her and it ran away into the bushes thankfully away from the house!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be too happy having on indoors!
Oh, boy, a mouse. Since we have not had cats (we used to have a lot)we fortunately have not had mice. However, that is what I thought. We had set a mouse trap in a cupboard we rarely use. We found a dead mouse in it recently. Rather disgusting as it had been there a long time. It has certainly been cold enough to chase them in. Hopefully, he'll go away.
ReplyDelete