Life's a Stitch

And more recently life’s a creative adventure with some travel thrown in.

recent posts

about

The mouse ran up the clock

Warning: Rated R for grossness.

Hickory dickory dock, a mouse really ran up our clock. We have a serious mouse problem and I need…

I stopped in mid sentence because, really and truly, at that moment a mouse ran right over my foot as I was posting. It was 3:00 a.m., dark, and it freaked me out a bit. Chuck was surprised he didn’t hear me scream. I reserve the scream for dead mice. Like the other night when I went into the garage to refill Gracee’s dog food container from the huge sack. I saw a stick poking up out of the container and pulled it out. No stick there, it was the stiff tail of a dead mouse still attached to its mummified in dog food preservative body. I simultaneously screamed and threw the containerful of dog food across the garage floor.

Here’s another vermin story worthy of a scream. Years back we lived on a remote island during the summers while Chuck was employed as an executive director of a church camp. While the babies were napping I was in lying in the sun, half asleep. Feeling a tickle in the hollow underneath my knees, I very quickly came to when I realized the tickle was a good sized garter snake slithering under my knees.

OK, enough of that. What can I do for the mouse problem? I don’t want to use poison because of the dog. We have those ultrasonic plug in devices that supposed to give the mice mini migraines and keep them away. Right. I’m sorry to say that live traps don’t do anything to solve the problem; it’s just a vicious cycle of catch and release. We have the equivalent of a cat in Gracee, the great white hunter, who killed two this week so far. I thought the mice would stay away when they whiffed a predator in their midst. I was wrong. Once again, I appreciate the advice of my fellow bloggers, bloggerless readers and lurkers.

I know you’re reading this for knitting content, so here is the progress on Elina’s shawl:

Dsc00594

Posted in

10 responses to “The mouse ran up the clock”

  1. Jenny Avatar
    Jenny

    Hooo boy! I can comment on this subject, as we had that same problem this time last year. I kept some Easter chocolate bunnies in a kitchen drawer, that I nibbled on . Then I wondered why my kids were teasing me by also nibbling on them. Ha! Imagine my horror when I finally realized that it was mice nibbling on my chocolate, and I was eating where they nibbled!!We also have those sonic plug ins and that didn’t work on the mice. What we found successful were the new plastic snap traps baited with peanut butter. The old fashioned wood traps didn’t catch a thing, and neither did the glue traps. Our kitty proudly caught two….one she presented to me first thing in the morning, and the other she apparently batted under the freezer, and when I vacuumed, it came right out and stuck on the end of the hose. Either put the baited snap traps right by a hole where you know they are coming in, or along the wall, or side of a drawer,etc. They don’t run out in the open, but stay along a wall, so traps work best if you put it right in their path. Also, you’ll have to put your doggie food into some sort of plastic storage container with a tight lid. Check the traps twice a day. We caught mice in the traps under our sink, even while I was doing dishes and making noise! Oh, and be very careful cleaning up. Mouse droppings should be sprayed with a bleach solution and wiped up, never vacuumed. There are respiratory problems associated with inhaling the dust from mouse droppings that can potentially be lethal!! Check out http://www.cdc.gov and look up hantaviruses. Look around all the links there, and it tells you how to prevent and clean up safely. Good Luck!!

    Like

    Reply
  2. Lisa Avatar
    Lisa

    Lavender Essential oil repels them, as well. We had a big problem with mice last year in our kitchen and I put some Lavender EO on a paper towel and rubbed it inside all the drawers and on the baseboards and we didn’t have a problem with them the rest of the winter.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Dorothy Avatar
    Dorothy

    Unfortunately our problem has not been with mice, but with rats! I was peacefully sitting in my chair knitting one night when one the size of a small squirrel ran across the room. Sorry to say no catch and release here – we caught and disposed of the huge critters. We’ve caught two in the house and about four more outside the house. Sorry not to have any advice, but you do have my sympathy!

    Like

    Reply
  4. Ellen Avatar
    Ellen

    Our cats handle our mice problem.
    We have two other problems: playful squirrels and asian beetles (ladybug wannabees).
    The squirrels are lodged in the eaves above our bedroom. There’s no way for them to get into the house, but unfortunately there’s no way for us to get to them. It’s not as frightening as mice in the house, but it’s pretty annoying to wake up at 3 a.m. to what sounds like a bowling match above our heads.
    The bugs have truly infested our house. They’re in our windows,clothes, drawers, storage. They make a little “motor” sound as they fly past. We vacuum them up from all the window areas, and when we’re done they’re back where we started. Nothing gets rid of them. The latest suggestion was camphor, so Greg bought some at the drugstore and put onto the window ledges. The result: just as many bugs and a house that smells like Vick’s.
    Good luck with the mice. I can sympathize.

    Like

    Reply
  5. Maureen Avatar
    Maureen

    Posting at 3:00 am???
    Sorry to hear about your mice problem. Fortunately it’s one thing we haven’t had to deal with. Termites and carpenter ants are our area of expertise. Any suggestions on dealing with dog urine? Right now our kitchen smells like the dog’s private urinal. Last night was the start of a project to chip up the ceramic tile, treat the plywood underneath with something to eliminate the smell and redo the counters and flooring.
    It’s always something, isn’t it.
    The shawl for your daughter looks absolutely beautiful.

    Like

    Reply
  6. Beth Avatar
    Beth

    If you can find the holes where they’re getting in, stuff them with aluminum foil (they can’t chew through metal). If Gracee will leave a dead mouse alone, poison can be used by putting it inside a long PVC tube (in the center of it) – the mice can crawl in to the get the poison but Gracee is too big to get it. My childhood home was a block from a grainery. Every fall when the weather got cool…. ugh. Cats are a big help.

    Like

    Reply
  7. Rosie Avatar
    Rosie

    Li, I sent you an e-mail. I love, love the shawl. The mouse tail in the dog food in the garadge is the best story you have told yet. It made me laugh so hard. We get mice twice a year and we use a safety trap with peanut butter bait. I wouldn’t use poisen because of Gracie, and two they eat the poison and they die in the wall where they smell up the house. We usually catch about eight a year. I have cocateils so you can imagine how they go for falled bird seed. I think having two dogs roaming loose around the house keeps them away. The best thing for the smell is for the urine for your friend that posted it is putting tons of baking soda continers out.

    Like

    Reply
  8. sherry Avatar
    sherry

    ok,
    Im not reading this, just commenting, as I have a phobia against those lil creatures.. Had one in the basement last winter, and would’t go down there till it was caught. I can hardly type the word!!! Now quit laughing…. those and the other things that slither ontheir bellies.. ugh!!

    Like

    Reply
  9. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    Ewwww….Poor you….and that poor mouse… its funny you thought he was a stick 😦 WEll, keep your head up! Maybe the mouses will just dissapear?!

    Like

    Reply
  10. Tipper Avatar
    Tipper

    Same exact snake thing happened to my mom. She still talks about it.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment