There's a mouse in my kitchen, and it's mocking me.

[channlluv]

Knot's trick with the tissue box worked. Thanks, Knot!

We ended up with three different kinds of traps, plus the poison. None of them seemed to be effective (no mouse carcass apparent), and all was quiet for three or four days. I was starting to wonder if the poison had worked and I was wondering when the smell would settle in, but DH told me yesterday when he got home from work, the mouse was in the trap in the tissue box.

I'd set the trap, then put the mousenip poison on the other side, farthest inside the box. The mouse would have to go over the trap to get to the chewstick, and then we took all the other bait away except for what was actually in the other traps. If he wanted the chewstick, that one in the tissue box was his only option. Success. He went for it.

As for keeping mice as pets, no. I had to explain to DD why we had to get rid of him. She was all for making a little house for him and stuff - she's 11. She does not know he died in the trap, and I don't think we'll tell her.

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

Roxy

[Russel Mark]

Use mouse killer tablet and put in any sugar box and when mice come shut the door.

[MommyBird]

My kids are past the small rodent age now but we had our fair share. Most of the little furry guys are all buried in the back yard. One or two went out with the trash.
We had at least six pet store mice and they were delightful little pets. The cages are a pain but their little personalities are worth it.
We had two Gerbils.
Gerbils are a bit anti-social and hamsters are so popular the stores are usually sold out. My kids decided against hamsters after spending time with their friends'. Hamsters just were not as much fun as mice.
Cooper was our favorite. he was a little runt with allergies and he sneezed all the time. He loved to be held and he would close his eyes and lean in when you rubbed his cheeks. We honored him by giving his name to our Jack Russel.

If you think your daughter could handle cage duty, I would go for a pet store mouse. Mice are super cheap but the cages can get expensive and you have to replace their bedding often. A glass tank is the best cage option. You can get toys that sit in the bottom. A wheel without slots is a must. TP rolls are a favorite.

I'll share my country living mouse experience later.

[channlluv]

Thanks, but no. Every time we walk into our local Petco, that rodent smell assaults my senses...I swear I don't know why they think that's a selling point for anything. Mommy doesn't do the rodent thing. They're welcome out in the flower bed. Not inside my house.

DD has to be reminded to clean the litter box, which is in her room. I wonder sometimes if her sense of smell has been diminished from living in close proximity to her cat.

Roxy

[Lex87]

I once had a similar experience with a monster spider. It just keep on appearing and scuttling across my carpet and I swear I could see it every once and a while lurking just at the corner of my eye. I never did outwit and catch the little bugger but it's been a few months since his last appearance.

[bcipam]

Thankfully vermints have a short life span. Most don't live more than a few months. The problem with mice is they can multiply.

Don't have to tell you make sure there is nothing the mouse can use or get into... particularly paper goods which a mouse likes for nesting materials. You can also try and close up all the holes or spaces the mouse can use but just know he can eat through it.

I used to think mice were cute but now with some of the diseases they carry, it's best not to have them inside.

Last and best option, adopt a cat (someone may have suggested that already). Cat owners seldom have problems with mice, spiders or any bugs!

[lph]

well.... in summer we have the greatest mouser in the neighbourhood - up at my in-laws cabin in the mountains she averaged 6 to 10 mice a day for weeks - but she'll still happily bring them in, alive and kicking, with a mrrr? look what I brought home for you too to play with, you lucky people!

And kazam, we have a mouse or two or three under the bookshelf.

But no, they don't come in of their own accord, that's true.

[redrhodie]

well.... in summer we have the greatest mouser in the neighbourhood - up at my in-laws cabin in the mountains she averaged 6 to 10 mice a day for weeks - but she'll still happily bring them in, alive and kicking, with a mrrr? look what I brought home for you too to play with, you lucky people!

And kazam, we have a mouse or two or three under the bookshelf.

But no, they don't come in of their own accord, that's true.

How economical of her to make her own toys!

[OakLeaf]

My experience with cats is that they just drive the mice further into the walls. Not where you want them.

[tulip]

I was doing laundry a few weeks ago and just happened to look in the washer before I started putting clothes in. Usually I just open the lid and start stuffing clothes in. This time I looked, and thank goodness! There was a mouse in there. A dead one. It had not been washed. I have no idea how it got in because the top was closed.

[Owlie]

We found a rat in our apartment last night. DBF and I were sitting on his bed when I saw it run past and behind some boxes. We left the room and shut it in, with an old towel in the gap under the door. We called the maintenance line, and they sent someone out at 10pm on a Sunday night with two glue traps and a promise that a pest-control person would be there in the morning. I was a little leery about using the traps--I didn't want the thing in my apartment, but I didn't want to condemn it to a slow death from starvation or to chewing its limbs off. (I didn't want to dispatch it myself, either). On the other hand, I didn't want to end up in a possible legal situation with the landlord.

For most of the rest of the evening, the thing kept pawing at the door, trying to get out, and running if it saw either one of us through the gap between the door and the frame. In doing this, it apparently got its tail caught in one glue trap, and managed to free itself. We'd baited the other with peanut butter per the instructions from the maintenance guy. It quite happily ate it, with its paws on the plastic sides of the trap. I guess I scared while walking past, because it got startled and got its paws stuck...and managed to free itself again. (I was secretly glad, actually.) It spent the night in DBF's room.

The pest control guy took a look around the apartment to see where it might have come in. There's only two places, and they'll be fixing those tomorrow. He said it was probably a recent arrival--to the point where we probably caught it on its way in--and the only one. He also noted that glue traps don't work on rats. He set up two snap traps and gave us instructions to call the landlord if got caught (as well as how to get rid of it). Half an hour later, DBF and I heard this intermittent shuffle-shuffle-thunk noise coming from from his room. We opened the door a crack. The poor rat had gotten caught in the trap, but had tried to get the peanut butter from the long side of the trap. Because of that, there wasn't enough force to break its neck, so it was slowly being suffocated. It was nearly dead when the pest control guy got there to pick it up, so we didn't have to put it out of its misery.

DBF and I felt terrible. We'd liked the idea of the snap trap because it's relatively quick, unlike poison or glue traps. I like rats--I sort of want a pet one, once I'm in my own place and not an apartment. I'm okay with the idea of dispatching lab rats, because you have to do it quickly and relatively painlessly. I don't bear the poor things any ill will, because they're just trying to survive. I know what wild rats tend to carry, and that in the final analysis, it was either me or the rat. This was just...wrong and unnecessary, somehow.