Mousehunt 2011

Just we thought we had taken care of the mouse problem, they came back!! Last spring, Rob dealt with a mouse problem of smallish-epidemic proportions but we weren't prepared for SMART mice. Yeah...ever seen Mousehunt? We had one of those...minus the clever mouse who made string cheese.

Last Monday or Tuesday, Rob was in the bathroom and watched a little mouse drop down from under the sink cabinet. It saw Rob and scurried back up the hole. Rob set a trap and left for work, leaving me a note describing the situation. Yes, folks, he broke the rules. Rule #14: Don't leave for work until you have caught any rodents you see roaming around my house!!

We avoided using that bathroom all day until Rob came home and pulled out everything to find the entryway. Turns out, the mouse came from UNDER the cabinet (but Rob did clean out under the sink for me!) so there wasn't much to be done. Of course, there was something to be done about the mouse droppings I found in my pan cabinet when I was making lunch! EEEWWW!!! And I found them AFTER I had made lunch!! Rob plugged up yet another hole and we waited to see if we could find the intruder.

Friday night, Rob and I were enjoying a movie when I saw something small and furry next to the closet in the dining room. Yup, the mouse. He ran under the piano...right past the mousetrap! The trap is a live one that can catch up to four mice and I guess he wasn't hungry for peanut butter. We watched him make his way around the piano bench and head for the dining room. At that point, we moved and made noise so he would go back into the closet. We played this game a few times before bed. Rob set the trap closer to the closet, but he still wasn't caught by morning.

Saturday Rob pulled out the big guns and got a snap trap. He smeared peanut butter everywhere...and on Sunday morning found the peanut butter gone, trap unsnapped. Anna picked it up, Rob grabbed it from her and snapped his thumb, so at least he caught something :) He set it again Sunday night and this morning I woke up to a note that read, "Got him!" And Rob also took out the trash, so bonus!!

And in the meantime, we found evidence that the mouse had scampered through the silverware drawer, measuring cup drawer, and utensil drawer, all of which have been cleaned out and scrubbed. Bleh. My mom gave us the idea of using steel wool to plug up the holes, so Rob will spend some time this week re-cleaning out the closet and finding the entryways.

Here's to hoping for no more furry friends this winter!