Another Mouse Delemma.
 

OK y'all know I had trouble with mouses in my houses, in the past. I finally had to have an exterminator and he did a great job of getting rid of them. I can't remember how long ago that was 1 or 2 years?

Anyway I haven't seen or heard a mouse in the house since....till now. I'm still laughing when I think about what happened last night...giggle.... DDog had poohed on his paper, I said good doggy and started to get up to retrieve it and flush it, when.....

I notice one larger than normal turd with a tail and when I turned on the light, I also saw tiny wittle ears. :eek: It was very small and not moving, so I put a glass lid, from my candy dish (eeeeewwww) over him and he still only barely moved.

I made the mistake of lifting the lid and he scurried under the couch. After almost killing myself trying to get to him, there was nothing I could do, so I went to sleep and the next morning there he was at my feet, just sitting there waiting to be caught, so I did it again. This time I taped some heavy paper around the intire lid, with him inside and here he sits.:D

I was going to let him outside, and was trying to figure out a way to do this without killing myself again and decided that he was just a weak little guy who couldn't defend himself against the preditors outside, so, at least for now, he is waiting to die peacefully all wrapped up and comfy.

I thought it was less cruel than throwing him outside or flushing him or some other cruel demise. Did I do the right thing? I don't want to be cruel!!! I hope he is the only one????

You're going to suffocate him to death? :eek: I can only imagine that's a horrible way to die. Please put him outside, Sally. Poor little guy. :( :(:Sob: I really wish I hadn't read this before bed. :(

Yes please let him outside because if he is that slow to run he is likely a baby. :(

Any chance you would adopt a cat? The mice will stay away or if they don't there won't be the issue of you having to decide their fate.

Sal, if he wasn't moving much, it sounds like he might be sick anyway. Short of sliding a stiff cardboard under your lid so you can lift him outside... Even then I'd be afraid of him biting you. Do you have a neighbor that could help?

If you are getting little visitors, it might be time to get the exterminator to do another inspection.

Kelly, you are making me sound so cruel...Waaaaa, I thought it was the less cruel thing to do. I cannot do it myself and no neighbors around this weekend.:confused:

Maybe DD will come over and let it out tomorrow but the some cruel cat will eat it. With all those cats in your yard, would you let a baby mouse out there to be eaten? I wouln't and I do have lots of cats wandering around out there.:eek:

I'd rather have him just go to sleep, he has air but I think he's dying anyway and this is the least cruel thing to do. Don't worry, I'll make sure he has air till tomorrow:hug:

Please just let him go outside smothering isn't quick and induces panic.

I'll do the best I am able to do Jules. I can't walk and I don't have a way to put him outside, myself, but will seek help tomorrow.:confused:

Can you get on your scooter and go out through garage? DS and I were just talking about a sick and dying fish and how flushing is so cruel. Out of sight yes, but dying in poop water sounds worse. That baby mouse might be in pain. Dying by cat sounds better then lingering fear and pain. Circle of life you know.

:mfr_wha: I'm curious as to why he appears to be dying. :confused2: Makes one wonder what he/she has been in. Are you certain it's a baby - not that that makes any difference. Where there is one there are usually more.

We just use the sticky trap and catch them and put them in the trash so that some poor cat outside wouldn't get their feet in that sticky stuff. They seem to find a way (1/4" hole/crack) will let them in. Usually this happens in the fall when they want a warm place to go.

I really don't feel bad for mice as they really can do damage. They will pee and crap on everything and chew stuff up and -- have lots of babies to join them in their escapade. :eek: Git rid of the thing - kill it one way or the other and don't touch it with your bare hands.:Doh:

Hmmm. Sounds like you're in a bit of a pickle. I know you have a heart Sally so there's no easy answer here. Sorry. Don't feel bad.

Jules mentioned a kitty cat. If there's one mouse there might very well be other meeces. I think you could consider a low maintenance kitty for the house (they really do deter rodents) or a call in to the pros to do the extermination thing.

how's it going today?

Thanks all. It's still alive this morning and SonIL and Grandson are on their way to take the mouse and set it free. I'll be sure to tell them not to touch it..:eek:..Thanks for the warning, Kitt..:hug:

I wonder if the dog/Pal and I being sick to our tums and diahrea, have anything to do with this darm sickly mouse??:(

And Sal, cats are wwwwaaaayyyyy easier than dogs in my opinion. I have 3 cats, 2 dogs. I have no mice and because of that snakes don't come in anymore looking. But you probable don't get snakes. Every hardware store here sells Snake Be Gone.

hmm that's a possiblity :confused::(

Drowning or suffocating vs death by cat...

cats "play with" & torture mice quite often before the mouse actually dies...:(
so if it were me I'd go with the drowning or suffocating.. if I had to pick one of them.

But if possible -taking the critter out to a field or wooded area and turning them loose and let nature take is course is what I prefer.

If someone can go around the house looking for how this critter got in it will help to stop it from happening again...
seal up all those little gaps and openings.

No matter how we try and seal stuff up we never seem to get where they come in. There's always another place it seems. But we do try. We don't have a lot of them but one or two will get in especially in the fall no matter. I would not ever flush one down the toilet. Just get rid of them.:yahoo:

When we had a cat that sure helped even though I know they like to play with them but they do finally kill them. Sometimes they do kill them right away and present them to you so that they can show you. :yahoo: That's always a treat. :ROTFLMAO:

No snakes here. Dog worthless. May get cat, later. MOUSEY GUY IS GONE!! I hope He Was A Loner!!! :D

that's a scary thought..... what could it possibly be though? I'm voting for COINCIDENCE.

hmmm.....

Thanks for the update, Sally. I hope this was the one and only mouse you have to deal with. :)

In NJ I bought fine steel wool (mice can't chew through steel) and stuffed in pipe openings, anything. Butter knives are great for shoving things in cracks.

Cats do "play" with mice,but think I read mice go into an altered brain state where they are like drugged. Still more humane. Fish - flushing is unkind, pour alcohol on a fish taken out of water. My BIL used to put in newspaper and hit with hammer to do impending death quicker.

Sounds cruel but is kinder, just tougher for us.

Yup, that's right about the steel wool. Got some now in a pipe opening. :winky:

What pipe openings???:confused:

when the builders cut a hole for pipes or wires to go into the home, often it is a little bigger than it needs to be and leave a gap around the edges.
that can be where bugs & little critters get inside.

usually under sinks and any other places where something goes thru the floor or wall..

Cats CAN be a good deterrant, when they want to be! LOL! We used to have 3 indoor kitties and when we got mice in the garage we would let them in there. I figured, hey, if the mice didn't want to get caught, all they had to do was go back out the same way they got in, no hard feelings. One mouse must have been exceptionally dumb, though. We came home one night to find a tail, JUST A TAIL, in the front entryway by the return air vent. The mouse must have popped out through the louvers right smack dab into the three cats just hovering there, as they were all declawed.

Recently, my DD age 5 was running up & down the steps to the bonus room playing pretend and talking to herself. I heard her say, "Oh, look at the baby mice! Aren't they cute?" and figured she was playing a new pretend game. Then she says, "Look Sam! There's four of them! Aren't they cute?" and I'm expecting to hear DS age 7 to say, "Erin, there's nothing there, stop bothering me." Instead I hear, "Oh, yeah, they are kinda cute." EEEK!

Somehow four baby mice had gotten trapped in the cat food container! I ended up letting them go in the field behind our house. But they cost me a brand new bag of prescription cat food!