We caught TWO of the little buggers yesterday.... relocating them up the garden to the deluxe Mouse Motel, complete with comfy beds and an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Short of installing a mouse-sized revolving door I'm not sure what else we can do. My FB page is replete with suggestions, including marking each captured rodent with a different food colouring, so that we can see if the same one keeps coming back.
I'm of the opinion that they've all been different mice. As the one responsible for releasing them, I've got up close and personal, and they've all had different personalities. I also think that the first one wasn't a common or garden house mouse. It looked different and my daughter and I both think it was a little wood mouse. However, FB opinion is divided, and one person even thinks it might have been an escaped desert mouse.
The fact remains we've caught three in the past few days, and infra-red camera footage from last night, after I'd released mouse miscreant #3 revealed that there is yet another mousekin on the loose (aboot this hoose!)
We've re-set the humane trap in the expectation that we'll have #4 in the morning.
Over this weekend, PP has been on a mission, spreadeagled on the kitchen floor, torch in hand, peering under the units. Then armed with various bits of wood and a silicone gun, she's blocked off several potential points of entry.
We're in it for the long haul though.... and I've pledged to relocate each and every mouse without harming them. Having looked into their little eyes and watched them cleaning their little whiskers with their little paws I simply couldn't bear to kill them.
I suspect they know this, and it wouldn't surprise me if one of these mornings, we check the infra red camera footage and find an unspecified number of mice doing the conga, pausing every other beat to look STRAIGHT at the camera.
4 comments:
I was afraid that this might be the case. It 's been my experience that when there is ONE there are usually MORE still in hiding. All the best to your catch and release campaign.
Wah, sounds like you have a bit of a problem there. From experience with rodents and other animal intruders, I can tell you that they haven't been around for a long time or you would have seen the signs. They might be coming in because of the cold. When one has animals that have food standing around, it's like an invitation for everything for miles around to move in.
I have a different type of kitchen problem. Last night, as I was cleaning tarantula terrariums, a very speedy young male bolted and disappeared before I could recapture it. It's somewhere in the china cupboard, I think. Unfortunately, they're very stealthy and well-camouflaged creatures. It could be months before I find it. Going to have to tread carefully...
Elizabeth... yes, it's been very cold here lately so they're coming in for shelter. Having sealed up any potential routes to the outside, hopefully we're now mopping up the stragglers!
Megan.... I do think they're a recent problem as we certainly haven't seen any sign of them prior to this week. We always pick up Small Dog's food bowls so there isn't usually any food lying around so the recent cold snap is likely to blame.
I'm shuddering at the thought of your escaped tarantula though...you must have nerves of steel!!!
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