Snap!

Okay, for the past few weeks, yes weeks, we have had a problem in the WTF household. A mouse. I first saw him run past me when I entered our family room. He ran right into our kitchen but I really didn't see where he went. Most likely because I was busy screaming at the time and that can wreak havoc with your powers of observation. Actually I am not a bit surprised that we have a mouse considering all the construction work going on next door. Not so coincidentally, the mouse was first seen right after they started digging their swimming pool/bomb shelter/really big hole in the back yard. I guess we were its relocation plan.

So I went to the ironmonger (I love that word = an ironmonger is something like a hardware store but ironmonger sounds so much more medieval) to purchase a trap. I was concerned about using a snap trap, mostly because I figured I would end up hurting myself more than the mouse. So I bought a new fangled kind of mouse trap. It is a big round piece of black plastic that almost looks like a big wheel of cheese. I guess that is why it was called the Big Cheesy. (Note to all interested mouse catchers, in my very recent experience, traps with cutsie names - not so effective.) Anyway, it has a hole in one side. You put your bait, in our case some of our it-is-so-expensive-here-you-can't-tell-Gramma-how-much-we-pay-American-peanut-butter, in the hole. Allegedly the mouse goes for the peanut butter and a door shuts after him, locking him in there -- ready for disposal. Allegedly. Neither one of my Big Cheesys caught anything except some ridicule from Snake.

So this time we went to Home Base, the UK equivalent of Home Depot. It is pretty good sized and surprisingly didn't have an aisle sign for "rodent killing apparatus". So we had to ask a clerk. He whispered to Chizz, "in the next aisle". Why the whisper? Did he think we brought the mouse with us? Did he think the mouse could hear? I don't know but anyway we purchased 2 traps. These are sort of like snap traps but were a bit easier to set, so it makes it a bit more difficult to accidentally set it off and less likely to break a finger. Again we used the peanut butter and again we caught nothing. So far, we were about $25 invested in this problem and I kept thinking I heard small mouse laughing under the refrigerator. I bought some of the normal, wooden, mouse traps (4 in a package from my ironmonger) but they were extremely sensitive and I couldn't set it without having it go off like a second later. It just wouldn't stay set and I decided I didn't want to hurt myself. I was just hoping that one of our other traps would eventually work.

Last night before bed, I was sorting laundry. As you know, laundry is pretty much a 24 hour event around here. I was going to put a load in before I went to bed. As I was sorting the laundry, a mouse ran right by my pile. It startled me since it was about 1 a.m. and I screamed. I decided enough was enough and went downstairs to find the basic wooden traps I had purchased the week before. I went on the internet and found out that in addition to peanut butter, mice also like grain and chocolate. I didn't have any grain but I did have some leftover corn from dinner and as far as chocolate, the only thing I had was these chocolate wafer like things from Cadbury that look like chocolate potato chips. So I set all four traps, one under the sink, one under the fridge, one against the wall in the family room and one in my bathroom. The mouse had run in there and although I couldn't see how, there was a minuscule little opening between cabinets and that was the only possible entry point as far as I could tell. I used the chocolate in some and corn in another and then a chocolate/corn combo in the last. I went to bed, sure that I wouldn't catch anything.

I woke up this morning and SNAP! found the dead mouse in my bathroom trap. YAY!!! Now, don't get all animal rights, poor mouse suffering, weak on me. I don't care. I am sorry, I pick me and my family over the mouse. Snake took him outside and disposed of him in the trash. Then came upstairs and said "You know Mom, there is probably at least 2 around, like an upstairs and a downstairs mouse." Two mice? I did the only thing I could, I grounded him (Snake, that is).


P.S. I did fight the urge to take a photo of my dead trophy to put on the blog, but I resisted. It grossed even me out.