I hates meeces to pieces
It seems that the Gin Palace is hosting a mouse. I say ‘a mouse’ it’s probably multiple mice; it would be too much to hope that there’s just one of the little brutes.
We (well, mainly ellefurtle) first noticed a musty smell a fortnight ago, that we couldn’t pin down and then we found little poo beads in corners, which we hovered up. There didn’t seem to be much, if any, activity and we naively assumed that the cats had found one, played with it and disposed of it. The worry at that point was that we would find maybe half a mouse at some point.
But we didn’t. Instead I found it very much alive and well, thank you so much. So out we went and obtained traps, which it promptly ignored. Peppers nearly caught it on a foray into the living room while I was working from home, but it got away - that might have been my fault as in an attempt to clear impedances from the cat’s way, I made escape easier for the mouse.
The traps were baited and placed in the most likely runs. I took up the kick boards under the kitchen units to give the cats access and - NOTHING. They mooched under, had a look and came out again. In the meantime, we spent pretty much every evening bleaching the kitchen floor, particularly under the fridge, which Mickey has frequently mistaken for a loo.
Anyway, the other night, Peppers came in with a mouse in his mouth. Unfortunately he put him down to play with it and it ran off. Hilarity ensured before the cats got fed up, leaving Furtle and me running around in circles trying to gee them on AND corner the little sod. Eventually, more by luck than judgement, we managed to get it out of the kitchen door and into the garden.
That, we hoped, was that. A couple of days later it was quite apparent that either mouse number one had returned or, there was (is) at least one more in the place. So we can’t put the kitchen properly back together until we’re happy this one and any chums has buggered off (and/or died).
I’ve plugged as many obvious mouse holes as I can find with steel wool, to limit the little brute’s options - and we’ve put the kickboards back, as although the cats could get under there, they couldn’t move very fast once under. It just meant the mouse didn’t have to try so hard to keep clear of them and I’m not that sporting.
We started off with humane traps, aiming to catch it and release it in the park. We moved on to old fashioned standard traps and now we’re on a combination including glue paper. This latter has come closest to working as I found the sheet we deposited under the fridge, over by the kick boards by the sink, where it had got stuck and scrambled across the floor, past the cats and freed itself before disappearing back into the shadows, unhurt, but possibly a little balder in places. I don’t like using this stuff, but it’s the only thing that’s even partially having any effect.
I hates them more than Mr Jinks ever did.
We (well, mainly ellefurtle) first noticed a musty smell a fortnight ago, that we couldn’t pin down and then we found little poo beads in corners, which we hovered up. There didn’t seem to be much, if any, activity and we naively assumed that the cats had found one, played with it and disposed of it. The worry at that point was that we would find maybe half a mouse at some point.
But we didn’t. Instead I found it very much alive and well, thank you so much. So out we went and obtained traps, which it promptly ignored. Peppers nearly caught it on a foray into the living room while I was working from home, but it got away - that might have been my fault as in an attempt to clear impedances from the cat’s way, I made escape easier for the mouse.
The traps were baited and placed in the most likely runs. I took up the kick boards under the kitchen units to give the cats access and - NOTHING. They mooched under, had a look and came out again. In the meantime, we spent pretty much every evening bleaching the kitchen floor, particularly under the fridge, which Mickey has frequently mistaken for a loo.
Anyway, the other night, Peppers came in with a mouse in his mouth. Unfortunately he put him down to play with it and it ran off. Hilarity ensured before the cats got fed up, leaving Furtle and me running around in circles trying to gee them on AND corner the little sod. Eventually, more by luck than judgement, we managed to get it out of the kitchen door and into the garden.
That, we hoped, was that. A couple of days later it was quite apparent that either mouse number one had returned or, there was (is) at least one more in the place. So we can’t put the kitchen properly back together until we’re happy this one and any chums has buggered off (and/or died).
I’ve plugged as many obvious mouse holes as I can find with steel wool, to limit the little brute’s options - and we’ve put the kickboards back, as although the cats could get under there, they couldn’t move very fast once under. It just meant the mouse didn’t have to try so hard to keep clear of them and I’m not that sporting.
We started off with humane traps, aiming to catch it and release it in the park. We moved on to old fashioned standard traps and now we’re on a combination including glue paper. This latter has come closest to working as I found the sheet we deposited under the fridge, over by the kick boards by the sink, where it had got stuck and scrambled across the floor, past the cats and freed itself before disappearing back into the shadows, unhurt, but possibly a little balder in places. I don’t like using this stuff, but it’s the only thing that’s even partially having any effect.
I hates them more than Mr Jinks ever did.