Mice! (read the memories, new questions)

[bumperless]

I found mouse poo on my kitchen counter last night.  It was a bit distressing.  I think it must have just come in with this cold snap, because all of my food is either in air-tight containers or up high on wire shelves.  I have at my disposal one blind cat and two humane mouse traps.  My question is--once I've caught the little bugger(s?), what do

Comments

[leastconcern]

The same mouse will unlikely come back to a place where he's been caught. You can release him back. About the non-humane traps, you can't be held responsible for what other people do. You are doing the right thing with a humane trap and releasing him.

[bumperless]

This is true. The more I think about it, the more I realize that perhaps the reason this drafty old house has gotten away with no mice for so long are the neighborhood cats. Thanks!

[orphe_]

clean everything that has touched food the minute you're done with it, double check that all your food is in airtight containers, get a trashcan that seals, rub down all your floors and counters with peppermint oil, and wherever you can't reach to swab with peppermint, throw a cotton ball soaked in it. this has kept mice out of my place without the use of any traps at all.

[bumperless]

I saw peppermint oil in the memories--I will try that. Can it be diluted, or should I use it straight? The food is definitely airtight, which is the most baffling part. I can't figure out what the attraction was, especially given that the kitchen is on the second floor.

[anunreallife]

Dilute it at least a little, because it can be caustic. The smell is what's most important.

[orphe_]

probably just the cold weather, or something you missed while cleaning up. there are a thousand reasons they come in - the important bit is making it pointless for them to stay.

use the peppermint oil straight. it's expensive but worth it.

[bumperless]

I will look for these, thank you so much! I had one a few years ago called a tin cat, but I'll never forget the horror of picking it up to look for mice and seeing the silhouette of two! I dropped it and ran out of the house screaming. How do you know when you've caught one?

I've been making noise when I go into the kitchen too! I've been told that they're cute and small, but they certainly aren't good house guests.

[spirulinai]

These tips are tops, and I've nothing productive to add, but I'd like to say I'm glad to see commenters using "him" instead of "it" on the hypothetical mouse. Adds some recognition of sentience to the mix, y'know?

[mindfulness]

Except it is sexist language. In fact even dwelling on gender at all is oppressive towards intergendered people.

[mindfulness]

Perhaps "they" would also work when referring to mice plural if one can avoid ambiguity as to who is being referred to. I use "people/person" too. Generally, transcending the animal/human false dichotomy does seem a tricky one. In Buddhist language, well English versions of it, we refer to beings or sentient beings. I think all life is sentient to a degree, and the states of degree don't make fundamentally different states, at least when it comes to sentience.

I think we need more words, and while getting agreement on such things is tricky, it eventually works through common populist usage.

[la_jolie_vie]

I am reminded of a saying, "where there's a mouse, there's mice." So you probably do have more than one. I'd release them in the woods.

[bumperless]

Ick. Ok.