Monday 5 March 2012

Mousecapades II... The Return

In the fight against the mouse mice I borrowed these humane traps from Pops, being a vegetarian and all, I didn't really want to kill them, just get them out of the house. I forgot though that once you catch something you have to get rid of it.

One of the traps had been under the cupboard under the sink for weeks and hadn't caught a thing. Suddenly one evening, really late, I heard  mad scrabbling and just knew a mouse was caught. The trap was shut when I got it out from under the cuboard. I had to shake it to be sure there was actually a mouse inside (they are very light) and still wasn't certain until I opened the flap slightly and saw its horrible hairless tail. So then where to get rid of it.... took a trip to the local park at 2am and dumped the mouse out. The trouble with this is that a) it isn't a neighbourly thing to do, and b) someone told me that they have a very good sense of smell and homing instinct and you have to take them at least 2 miles to get them lost. So the following day when I caught another one in the same trap it may be a second mouse or  it may just have been the same mouse returned home again and foolish enough to go in the trap again. I had to take this one to the park at 3pm. Not as easy to dump a mouse in broad daylight. I'm thinking traps that kill them might be better next time.

Anyway its four down so far...

5 comments:

Peter said...

The advice you got about the homing instinct sounds dubious.  Mice generally have a very limited home range and do not cross open spaces unless unavoidable. 

Harriet said...

That gives me hope!

Ellie said...

Cat

Harriet said...

Yes - its becoming more and more likely

Blue Witch said...

A bit of paint or tippex on it before release might answer the question?

Where there's one mouse there tends to be ten.  At least.  more if you leave it too long to get them.. gestation period for mice is only 19 days and their litters can be up to 15...

We have 4 cats.  And still have mice.  Sympathies.