Recently while spending some R&R time in the basement, we heard a scratching noise coming from the ceiling. A few moments later the scratching noise turned into a scurrying noise and we realized we had an uninvited guest of the rodent-kind.
Mice are People, Too!I have an enduring (but not endearing) memory from my childhood of one rainy weekend when my mom set up mousetraps throughout the house. Being me, I set about disarming these
puppies whenever I could manage, but eventually one of her traps caught a mouse. Though my mom was quite willing to set the traps, she wouldn't bring herself to empty the trap, instead insisting that
I empty it. That's when I realized that the mouse was
still alive (but obviously not, shall we say, "viable for the long term"). After many tears of frustration and anger, I vowed to never do something so cruel, especially to such a small creature.
Round OneSo back to the here-and-now. We had a mouse, and apparently a rather fast one. I searched the web for "humane mousetrap" and came up with
a great site with some simple homemade trap ideas and lots of encouragement. My first prototype was constructed from a cookie sheet, an 11x7 glass dish, a bamboo skewer, a toothpick, and a big blob of Organic Neufchatel cheese. When I excitedly showed my wife what I'd created using our cookware, she was, uh...,
less-than-excited. :) After some multi-day negotiations, she gave her blessing and the Cosmo 3000 was reset. I eagerly waited... and waited. Then one morning I woke to find the cheese...gone! Grrr.
An aside...Being a dedicated amateur mouse hunter, I felt I could take the license to name our guest. For some reason the name
Fidel fit, so we went with it.
Round TwoAfter several days of human-sets-trap-with-bait-that-mouse-enjoys-as-meal, I looked for another design. I hadn't given up on the Cosmo 3000 entirely, though. I just needed to try something else. I made a couple of tweaks to its design, applied a liberal application of Organic Peanut Butter, and then moved on to the creating the next design.
The Cosmo 4000 was constructed using a bucket, a long tube (sort of like a paper towel roll), some chop sticks and a pile of books. (Trust me, that puppy was built to catch
the mouse, not kill it.) The theory was that if I put peanut butter in one end of the tube, then precariously balanced it on the edge of the bucket, the mouse would go after the peanut butter, setting the tube over the edge and into the bucket, where he would hopefully stay.
At precisely 12:15 AM I heard a big "thud" and tore out of bed, ran to the kitchen, and flipped on the light. Nothing in the bucket. Fidel must have either climbed out quickly or else kicked the darn thing over to taunt me. I diligently reset the trap and went back to bed. Five minutes later, "thud!" Same result... no Fidel. We went four rounds (every five minutes) until the last round when I found him
in the bucket! As I reached for something to clamp on top, he zipped up the size, scurried over the books, and shot back into the cabinet (and through the small hole that let him hide behind the dishwasher). Rats!!
This must have been too close of a call, as Fidel gave up on the over-the-falls-in-a-tube-of-peanut-butter ride.
The Next MorningI awoke the next morning to my wife excitedly informing me that Fidel had been caught in the Cosmo 3000 Cookware Trap. And that he looked dead, maybe smooshed by the cookware. Aww, man. All of that effort and I might as well just have used a conventional trap! :(. As I went down to check on him though, he perked up and I realized he was actually OK (but his leg might've had a cramp from being stuck under some cookware for hours). Fidel Lives! (and the trap works!)
The ReleaseAfter Fidel regained his sea legs I took him down away from the house to a wooded spot he would hopefully enjoy as a new home. My wife, being ever kind-hearted, had me bring a handful of nuts to toss down nearby for him to snack on. As soon as I let him go, however, he
zoomed away, wanting nothing more to do with me. (Can you blame him?)
The Jealous CatOur housecat, Rufus, squawked at me when I came back in the house. I think he was jealous that I had caught the mouse. Or perhaps mad that we didn't collaborate (human=mouse catcher, cat=mouse disposer).
You can see the full-size images of Fidel (and the Cosmo 3000/4000) in
this gallery of my PicasaWeb page.
