General19 Aug 2006 11:44 pm
Finally caught on film.
I finally faced the moment I knew had to come: the question of whether I could kill it (well, them, in all probability). I had it cornered, and I was ready to bludgeon it to death (after taking its picture, obviously) with a bottle. So could I do it? No, of course not. It’s so infernally cute after all.
And the damnable thing is, having failed to bludgeon it, I can’t now set one of those traps that snap them in half, which I should have done before I saw its twitchy whiskers and bulgy little eyes. No, I’m ashamed to say I let it go in the garden having resolved to continue with my campaign based on humane ultrasonic repeller devices, which patently don’t actually work.
Are no-kill traps an option?
We had a mouse problem last year and I was afraid my daughter would get her fingers snapped in a trap, so I purchased some “humane” traps. They’re essentially a little mouse-sized cage that’s on a little see-saw. The mouse walks in for the bait at the back and the door firmly comes closed once he passes the center of gravity.
It worked great except for one thing: My father-in-law didn’t quite get the concept of “no kill” traps, and so would take the sprung traps and submerge them in a sink full of water.
I’ve tried that with about as much success. After setting the traps several nights running without seeing any action, one of them caught a mouse around midnight. I know this although I was asleep because I have wooden floors, and, having passed the centre of gravity to close the trap, he ran back to see if he could get out, and then ran back down the other end, and back, and so on… Clack clack clack on the floorboards…
So I’m still half asleep, thinking I’ve got to take the critter two miles (otherwise they just return). Should I get up now and walk it two miles up onto the downs, or get up early and do it before work? In the end I pull the covers over my head and try to ignore both the mouse and the thought of disposing of it and try to get back to sleep. Sometime between one (when I finally got back to sleep) and six, the mouse escaped. No doubt half a dozen of its buddies brought the heavy lifting gear round and helped it out.
So I went off “humane” traps - I think they’re much less effective without your father-in-law!
I just found this: on how to humanely catch a mouse…without a trap!
http://glass.typepad.com/journal/2005/09/how_to_catch_a_.html