Comments on: And all through the house…

By: neo

neo — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 20:45:11 +0000

Cicero:

This incident happened many years ago, and I never saw another mouse, and I live in the exact same place.

I had someone come and find the ways in which the mouse could have entered, and plug them up. No more mice.

When I have lived in other places – most notably an apartment in the Boston area in the 1970s – we killed enough mice to constitute a regiment. They kept coming back – not the same ones obviously, but others.

By: Cicero

Cicero — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 17:47:09 +0000

I’m startled how many of you release a mouse outside, as if you were Hindus afraid of killing even bugs. Where do you think the mouse came from? From outside, and you will see it again.
But you don’t mind killing fish, chickens, cows, and pigs for their flesh, do you? We eat our oysters alive and raw, as you up north eat your cherrystone clams.

I had rats in my attic once. They climbed a tree next to the house, ran along an overhanging branch, jumped onto the roof, went 30 feet to a vulnerable roof junction and dug their way in there. Took a rodent detective to figure that out and find the hidden entry hole. But it’s very disconcerting to hear them running over one’s ceiling in the evening!

I’ve had a rare mouse in my garage. Came from outside. Chewed a hole in my extra bag of dry dog food. Dead in classic mousetrap next day, no suffering like on a glue board.

Hanta virus, contained in mouse feces, is 100% fatal. Fortunately it is rare, occurs mostly in New Mexico.

By: Zaphod

Zaphod — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:59:27 +0000

Gotta say this thread has developed nicely. But I think needs further work — see below.

Haven’t seen many mice in HK. I think the rats eat them. Or maybe the cockroaches do that.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/12/worlds-most-disgusting-alcoholic-drinks/

There’s a mouse angle!

By: buddhaha

buddhaha — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 21:47:06 +0000

Not very humane, but very effective: glue boards. If a mouse gets two legs on it, s/he is a goner. They may have a leg or two off and they can drag the thing a ways, but they can’t get through the small spaces they use, and they can’t eat or drink. Like I said, not humane, but, as cute as they are, they’re one hell of a disease vector as they crap and pee over everything.

Had one momma get up into the cars ventilation system, build a nest on top of the cabin air filter and drop a litter. Stunk like hell, because besides the usual mouse waste product, one of the babies died, so i had the additional odor of a tiny rotting corpse. It took 2 15 minute sessions with ozone generator to make the inside of the car bearable.

It’s nothing personal, but I won’t have the little buggers living with me.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 16:45:01 +0000

In New Mexico they (small rodents of usual size) are the vector for Hanta virus, but that virus is geographically limited IIRC.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 16:07:58 +0000

Darling story, well told.

Mice are not as bad as some other pests but they do intrude and leave droppings everywhere! We had so many in our old basement with French drain, crawl space, cylinder block old walls. This was on the East Coast. Our neighbors told us to just co-exist with them but we couldn’t stand it. We didn’t want to put out poison so we finally hired a company that sent dedicated men who went over the entire basement and applied a rigid metal netting over every crack and crevice. One of these gentlemen cut his hand badly and we drove him to the emergency room. He was such a good sport about it and insisted on going back to work. It took them several days but after that we never saw another mouse.

My neighbors here in California tell me there are gophers around and the occasional snake in the garage. So far no sightings.

By: Severely Ltd.

Severely Ltd. — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 14:53:59 +0000

Epic adventure tale, well told.

By: SCOTTtheBADGER

SCOTTtheBADGER — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 05:32:08 +0000

That is a deer mouse, a nasty disease vector. I live in the country, so every fall and winter I run a trap line. I reccomend Tomcat brand traps, they are very effective at mouse elimination.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 05:15:11 +0000

I am with Chuck. We have a lake house – an old one, the core of the structure is > 100 years old – an hour away and every few winters it get overrun by mice. Finding their droppings all over the place is disappointing because of the work involved in washing every utensil in every drawer the mice have decorated . . . . so out come the strategically placed traps and the peanut butter. Some winters we have no mice visit us, and some winters I’ve sent a half dozen or more to that great wheel of cheese in the sky.
Now your mouse-in-the-house story Neo – that was funny. It made me chuckle.

By: jon baker

jon baker — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 05:10:52 +0000

Never had a mouse inside the house, but I did find one of their flying cousins hanging from the bookshelf in my bedroom. Carefully caught it and let it go outside. I doubt he was from Wuhan.
I have been up on the tractor pulling a bush hog and you can see mice or small rats running in the tall grass in front of the tractor.