mice in the house

we had noticed a mouse occasionally in the house, but tonight (8/6) they were especially conspicous.

I set up the wire trap I retrieved from Donna's garage and also the little mouse cube I had bought earlier from WalMart and had never caught a thing before.

I also tried constructing a little home made mouse catcher after I did a google search.

A few hours later, I heard the wire trap trip and saw a mouse inside. He tried to wriggle free through the wire mesh but I didn't think he would be able to get through. But when I looked later he was gone!

Set it again. A couple hours later I heard it trip again. The mouse tried to get out, but got stuck halfway. I put the trap in a bag and took it outside. And decided to put it in the trash bin.

Later I heard some noise by the mouse cube and it had caught the other mouse. I decided to leave it in there. But later brought the kitchen trash container in and put the cube inside.

The next day I saw the mouse inside the trash bin and left it there.

The garbage truck came Friday and took it away. Meanwhile, after two days, it was time to dispose of the other one. I called the Humane Society if there was a recommended way to get rid of it and they said I could bring it down to dispose of it. I asked if they were going to kill it and how. And they said they would use some drug (sodium pentathol? which is also used as truth serum.)

I figured I dump somewhere instead. I took out the cube and took a closer look and saw two mice in there. One looked dead, but then I thought I saw movement. I drove up Pali Highway and turned onto Nuuanu Pali Road. Finally I saw a spot next to the watershed and dumped the cube. Sure enough, one was dead, but the other scurried away into the forest (ostensibly joining the guinea pigs).

Since I was there, I figured I would visit Pali Lookout before going home.

*** [6/23/12] More mice in the house the last couple of months.  Caught a couple in the mouse cube.  But one of them seemed to be avoiding the trap.  So I bought one of those wire cage traps from Longs Kam Shopping Center (that's the only place I've seen it recently).  It caught a mouse, but then I saw it was trying to squeeze through the wire mesh.  It went about halfway through and got stuck.

Took him (her?) up Nuuanu and took out the cage and it was still stuck. After a while, it finally wriggled free.  The next one stuck in the case I guess was a little bigger and didn't get stuck in the mesh.

I saw it still had the piece of salami on the wire and left the cage open downstairs in the garage.  Then I saw a rat in there (about a week ago).  It must have been a couple of days since the rat was dead and I tossed in the trash.

Now I've been seeing some droppings in the DVD drawer under the TV in the patio.  And I saw the mouse a couple of times. I put the mouse cube in there with a piece of salami stuck to the back of the cube.  It's been a few days and so far no mouse.

*** [7/7/12]

Caught a few more mice.  About two more in the mouse cube and two more I think in the wire cage.  Even caught a rat when I left the cage in the garage.  And discovered the cage closed and a dead rat inside.  [see above]

Now I'm working on a particularly stubborn one.  It's not going into the cube.  And when I bait the cage, it's able to take the bait without the door closing.

Then I tried something else.  Putting the bait in the cage with the door closed.   But somehow the bait disappears that way too.  The mouse must be going through the opening in the top.

So I put the bait (I'm currently using Kirkland dog food) toward the end of the cage so the mouse would have to go all the way in the cage before exiting.  Nope that didn't work.

Tonight I tried this to see what was happening.  I pushed a kibble inside the cage and left one on top of the opening blocking the entrance.  If the inside kibble is gone with one on the top still there, then it would be likely that the mouse (or whatever) is getting the inside bait by squeezing through the opening in the cage.

But both were gone, so I think the mouse is going through the top, then inside, then back through the opening.

Try again.  I'll push the prongs closer together to make it hard for the mouse to squeeze through.  If only the top one is gone, then I'll know the mouse wasn't able to squeeze in from the top.  Stay tuned.

... That was fast.  The top kibble is gone, but the inside one is still there.  Maybe try to bait the lever again..

Let me try this first.  Put a kibble under the mouse cube door leaving it ajar.  Hopefully (for me) that will bring the mouse to the kibble and then inside the cube.

... Nope took the kibble by the door but didn't go inside.

Meanwhile, I baited the lever with a piece of sandwich meat and put kibble inside the cage.  Took all the kibble, left the sandwich meat alone.  Smart SOB.

[7/8/12 4:40 PM] OK, lost another piece of kibble (I was going to stay awake and watch the trap, but I fell asleep).  Here's my latest idea.  How about threading the kibble and tying it to the lever?  Step one went well.  The needle went through the kibble without it crumbling.  Then loop the thread around the lever.  That way when the mouse pulls the kibble, it should pull the lever and drop the door.

That is assuming the mouse pulls the lever and not eat it.  And pulls it enough to trip the door...

[7/8/12 6:09 PM] The mouse took the bait.  The kibble is gone.  The thread is gone.  The door still open.  Damn! 8)  I'm losing a battle of wits!

And later, the pastrami on the wire is gone too.  With the door still open.  Wow, this mouse is good.

[7/9/12 early AM] Success!  I took the uneaten bait from the mouse cube (bread with nutella, etc.) and put it in the wire cage with the door closed.  I wasn't expecting it but when I checked, the mouse was in the cage.  Well, actually it was partly out with its head squeezing out through the mesh.  Poor guy.

I tipped the cage on its side so that the mouse would have to go up to go out.  And went off to the Pali.  When I got to my destination, the mouse was back in the cage.  I opened the door and the mouse scampered under a large leaf.  The leaf was right in front of my car, so I lifted up the leave and the mouse scampered across the street to the island between the road and the freeway.  I was hoping it would have gone the other way, but it's a decent sized area and maybe it might scamper back who knows.  The main thing is that it's finally out of the house.

We'll see if there's any more..  This is probably like the sixth or seventh mouse.  Plus the dead rat.  I kind of lost track already.

[7/13/12] One more.  I put the Kirkland kibble in and on the trap.  And this time I shoved a kibble right onto the wire inside the trap.  And it worked without breaking up kibble into pieces.  This afternoon, the trap triggered and I took the mouse to the Pali.

a couple of hours later...  damn, there's another one! :(

[7/15/12 Sunday] Dinner time.  Christie saw the mouse.  It went in the open cage.  I went over to trip the lever to bring the door down just as the mouse was running out.  The door shut right on the mouse.  Ouch.  I raised the door and the mouse was wiggling on the carpet.  [Poor thing.  I wasn't trying to kill it or even injure it.]  When over to get a napkin to put the mouse in the cage.  And went outside to dump the mouse over the fence (by the entrance of the storm drain).  Don't know if the mouse ever recovered, but when I looked the next day (or two), I didn't see the mouse.  This was not only a traumatic experience for the mouse, but also for Christie who couldn't eat the lau lau because it now tasted like mouse.  I'm writing this five days later (Friday a.m.) and no sign of another mouse (yet).