Enough is enough.
You’ll remember that I was not best pleased when the mice attacked the lettuce leaves growing in the greenhouse. And to prove it wasn’t just a casual, opportunistic bit of nibbling they’d carefully picked some tomatoes to go along with them. Nothing to beat a colourful, well balanced meal.
Well now they’re back. And unfortunately they’ve brought several of their friends and relations along with them.
Mike is talking “control”. He found his preferred solution the next day in B&Q. The ‘Little Nipper’. A large metal spring and a place for a piece of cheese. But I couldn’t be doing with that. I’m far too soft to cause them any harm. A compromise would have to be found.
I purchased from Amazon two humane multi-mouse catchers. They capture the mice (up to 10 at a time!) and hold them unharmed until they can be released. According to the instructions this should be within three hours and they must be transported at least two miles from the place they are caught. And therein lies the rub. Because as it turned out they work rather well.
We baited one of the boxes with peanut butter on bread, supposedly a favourite mousy snack. Sure enough, after lunch, there were two mice in the trap. Mike carefully placed the mousetrap in the boot of the car and took them out for a nice drive. Fumbling about at the side of the road, in a luminous pair of Marigolds, a person can feel self conscious to say the least. Or so I’m told.
On his return he dumped the empty trap at the end of the garden path. Within an hour it was occupied again.
Oh dear, somehow I don’t think this is going to last..
pin it?
luckily we don’t get many mice in though back onto farmland We have had to save a few from the cats ! thank you for popping by. I left a comment not sure if you got it !
I expect that Finn will help when he gets a bit bigger!! I did get it, many thanks, reply on the earlier post. Welcome to rusty duck, Penny.
Hahahah! We’ve got two of those traps, and they do work well, except for the very smart mice who figure them out and escape. And I read you have to dump the mice at LEAST a kilometre away or they’ll come right back. 🙂
I think we should have NO mice in a house with four cats, but we do. This year has been the worst, and we finally resorted to a little trap that quickly electrocutes the mouse. I don’t like killing them, and we never have in the past, but we were overrun this year.
When my hubby worked in the city an hour away, he used to take the humane trap and mice with him and release them in some woods down the road from us on the way to work. One day he forgot about them, and the mice went all the way to Ottawa! Rather than leave them in the car all day, he let them loose near a highrise. I’m sure everyone was looking down, wondering what the heck he was doing!! 🙂
Oh so funny re the mice in Ottawa!! That had me in stitches… a very warm welcome to rusty duck, Natalie.
Your post made me laugh – it looks like it’s going to be a full time job transporting mice. The mice in my plot shed have eaten all the peas that I had dried for next years seed and all my tulip bulbs. Hey ho – not sure if I can go along with the live and let live motto any more.
They are so sweet to look at, but so destructive. I planted three Erythronium bulbs last week, that I’d bought from Rosemoor (RHS prices!) and it looks like they’ve had all of those. Little blighters.
Nice to look at, but they will take over before you know it.
They’ll be looking for their Winter retreat, best to put up the No Vacancy sign, before they move in..
Yes, get a few cats, except ours, bring them home alive !!
~Jo
Yes, I’m keeping a close eye on the house.. not sure I could cope with live catches though!
‘Mice’ try!!
Luckily I think we have managed to block up all our holes and haven’t had mice inside since we first bought the cottage. As long as they stay outside then they are very cute!
🙁 I was tempted to call the post ‘Mice Day Out’, but was outvoted!
We’re usually safe from mice with 2 cats (one of whom an addicted mouser) and a Jack Russell who has despatched many a rat half her size in 10 seconds flat, but I’m hearing some rustling in the loft recently, I wonder if the Jack Russell likes heights……!!
I have been thinking a bit more about getting a cat (Finn at The Hen House has a lot to do with it..). One thing’s for sure, it would soon become a very fat cat indeed!
oh oh! it is a problem isn’t it. Now I solve it by taking my captured mice to a wood nearby. I don’t think they can find their way back from there! Too confusing.
As long as it isn’t TOO near.. needs to be at least 2 miles!
our Albert is a cracking mouser
at least one a day
and once they are caught
they aint coming back!
I remember the one that got away. The one that went up the Dyson?
Is the ‘Little Nipper’ in place yet?!
NO!!! Strategic withdrawal and rethink.. 🙂
We’ve not seen mice here for ages, not since our cats got older and hey tdon’t bring them as gifts anymore. When they did they never hurt them – just let them loose so we would have fun trying to get them from behind wardrobes (once at 4a.m) or washing machines. We have a humane catcher which used to be in frequent use, but only for one mouse at a time. Your trap sounds like it is giving you a full time job of catching and re- locating:)
Oh no! I’m quite sure that when humans have rendered themselves extinct it will be mice and squirrels that take over the world..