Mousecapades

In yet another triumph of man over nature, I have successfully capture another mouse!

It seems mice all have their hours of activity, and this charming fellow loves the midnight hour. The few nights since his first appearance have been full of mouse sightings, as he seemed to get bolder and bolder. Every few minutes, he'd bounce around the room doing mousey things. Cute! Last night, right on time, we started noticing a little blur darting back and forth. It was time to swing into action!

Going with the same method that netted me the last invader mouse, I grabbed a convinient Chipotle bag, threw a dab of peanut butter in the back and laid it where the mouse tended to hang out. Sure enough, he popper right out, skittered over to the bag and jumped inside. *swoop* VICTORY!



I dropped the mouse into an old cashew container to take victory photos. This was quite ok for the mouse - after freaking out a bit, he was happy to nibble on cashew crumbs! It was very adorable, and he was surprisingly tiny for what we had expected. Double cute! Once his capture was recorded for posterity, we took him outside to the back shed and let him go. (I'm sure he'll be back soon, but for now it's a win!)

Proud of ourselves, we returned to Chrispyland and settled in for a night of pokemon. One hour later, my friend looked up... "MOUSE!"

Remember how I said that one guy was crazy bold? Remember how I said he was smaller than expected? That would be because we had TWO mice tag teaming the room! This one was much bigger than tiny - and, unfortunately, a lot smarter.

The peanut butter bag went back out, and mouse2 again went for it. Once problem: He ended up approaching the bag from behind! Instead of going inside the bag, he tried to get to the peanut butter from the rear, pulling the bag around and freaking himself out in the process. Away he ran! I used the opportunity to change the direction of the bag, but all that did was alert the mouse that something was up.

He would approach the repositioned bag, peak in and RUN AWAY! Over and over he did this. Finally, he decided to take the bait, and tentatively slipped inside. It was my time to shine again! I snuck up, reached down... and my finger lightly brushed the bag while I was getting into position. That's all it took. FWOOSH! Mouse was gone in a flash and I had failed to clear my house of mouse. He'd return to the bag a few more times before his hour was up, but he made sure to stay away from the opening of the bag at all costs. I had tipped him off, and he wasn't going to fall for again.

I know your hours, mouse, so come 1am that bag is going back out. I'll try one more time. (I'm down to one bag.) If I fail, I'm calling him a pet and moving on with my life.

UPDATE: Chrispy:2 Mice:0



I can only barely take credit for this one. The dumb mouse trapped himself in my broken dehumidifier! Whatever, it's still a win! Once transferred to the cashew container, this one proved to be quite the fighter. He was not content to nibble on nut dust! Poor guy was bouncing around trying to find some way out, and being very rude about holding still for a photo. I let him go at the same place tinier mouse was released. Maybe they can form a support group.