Pyat and the Unstopabble Mouse

[pyat]

Sigh. I took this photo ten minutes ago. The mouse is still there.

I can see this mouse from the basement office. He's on a shelf in the downstairs "pantry." He's eaten three of those blocks of poison this week. Just the one mouse, so far as I can tell. He scurries off if I move, but otherwise is always plainly in view.

I've never used poison before - I preferred humane traps, or snap traps. But flooding in the summer meant a horde of mice moved into our house. I've caught or killed 20+ since June. Yesterday, the piano tuner found a huge (apparently abandoned) mouse nest under the keys of the piano. I finally put out the poison a few weeks back because it was getting too time consuming to check and rebait a dozen snap traps and four humane traps every night.

I should probably dig up a humane trap again for this one. He's eaten enough poison to win the right to life, yes?


EDIT: Just to give perspective - this an unzoomed, uncropped shot taken by raising my camera above my head from where I'm sitting in "PYat's Office of Solitude." My basement is something of a... um... garbage dump, really. :) The block of poison is in the top left "pantry" shelf.

Comments

[catarzyna.livejournal.com]

I know you're frustrated but that is a darn cute picture.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

It really is. :)

[j-cat.livejournal.com]

Oh it is not! It's happily chowing down on bright blue DEATH!

I mean, I'm not giving you any grief about using poison. You gotta do what you gotta do, but it's about as cute as a picture of a puppy chewing on a hand grenade!

I suppose in context it's kind of cute. This mouse has clearly demonstrated that it laughs at your poison. "OM NOM NOM TRY HARDER PYAT! I POOPED IN YOUR KEYBOARD!"

This mouse has moxy. You should make a pet of it. avain says to call it 'Rasputin'.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

I had suggested Ratsputin last week...even though it's you know...a mouse ;)

[j-cat.livejournal.com]

It took me a moment to get that.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Ra-Ra ratsputin!

[j-cat.livejournal.com]

I'm serious by the way. Make a pet of it. You can keep it down in the fortress where the girls aren't going to be tempted to take it out for walks.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Wild mice don't make good pets - it would not likely be very happy. And I fear it's going to keel over, still. But... we'll see!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Arrrgh! It DID poop on the keyboard!

[melstra.livejournal.com]

My heavens! Bold little blighter to sit out long enough for you to snap that shot-- wonderful pic, btw! Yes, I'd say he's probably earned a stay of execution...but definitely exile. Good luck!!

Btw, if you have more mice issues, I can highly recommend glue traps. We have used them with good success and they are relatively inexpensive.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

The glue traps squick me, because they take so long to kill. But then again, the poison obviously ain't taking the little blighters down.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

Get the wee boxes of mouse treat. They work well, particularly in conjunction with other poisons. You don't want to have hordes of super immune mice in your house.

[neosis.livejournal.com]

Did you remember to close off all water sources? The poison usually works by dehydrating them to death. If they have access to a good water supply the poison is just a nuisance to the mice.

[racing-girl.livejournal.com]

i think it's time to get a cat- or borrow one. we adopted ours in feb and she has caught several. she's wonderful. I haven't found mouse poop in our kitchen since she's moved in. best mouser we've ever had. :D

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Alas, I am allergic!

[racing-girl.livejournal.com]

oh. that is unfortunate. lets hope the traps work.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Also I can't imagine eating poison filled mutant mice would be terribly good for a cat.

[racing-girl.livejournal.com]

yes, at this stage, it wouldn't be a good idea.

[stress-kitten.livejournal.com]

That's a big mouse!

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

At least trapping him and sending him far away will let you know for sure if it's just the one mouse! :D

As you know, I have those blocks too. I put them in a disposable dish on a sheet of paper in the cold air return. It's great when you have a cat, as it turns a regular cold air return into Mouse TV for cats!

[hammergrrl.livejournal.com]

I know the snap traps are a pain to set but at least you know where the little buggers are. With poison you only know where they are once you smell their rotting corpse. Gross!

I speak from experience when as a teen my Dad put out poison and the rat ended up decaying under my bed. It SERIOUSLY skeeved me out.

Good luck and happy hunting.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

EWWWWWW!!!!!!!

[tigerwolfvix.livejournal.com]

most poisons now are the type that first make the rodent very thirsty, causing them to leave in search of water. Apparently if they don't die on the way, they die from the water suddenly rushing the poison along. I learned that from the rat poison my parents had to get once.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

That is quite a doughty little fellow!!!

[relee.livejournal.com]

My family had the best luck with snap traps baited with bacon. Mice love bacon. *offers you bacon*

Poison seems like a good idea untill you realize you have dead mice in your walls where you can't reach them but the smell can reach you, and then the bugs start showing up to eat the dead mice... Well you already had giant centipedes and carrion crawlers anyways didn't you?

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

This. My parents had raccoons in the fireplace once many years ago, and the babies died on a Friday morning when my sister was scheduled to have her birthday sleepover in the evening. (Yes, in the same room.) The guy who came to get them out and put a cap on our chimney said the house would have been uninhabitable if we'd waited till Monday.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

I should probably dig up a humane trap again for this one. He's eaten enough poison to win the right to life, yes?

Assuming he doesn't just open the trap with his super mouse strength of course.

Mind you, when the snap on the regular trap bounces off his adamantine skin you'll probably also be creeped out.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

I've been using a pair of ultrasonic vermin-repellers to cover most of the basement. They seem to work very well. That might give him an incentive to leave.

[tigerwolfvix.livejournal.com]

guy's smarter than the rats my parents ended up poisoning (cat didn't discourage them enough, my own rats smell didn't discourage them enough, the dog didn't... ect). They layed out one brick and put the other four from the pack up on a shelf only accessible by climbing the wall... the entire pack was gone in the morning of course. Those rats were VERY poisoned that night.

Mouse-sputin there is smart and only nibbles a little at a time.

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

TWO MICE ENTER, ONE MOUSE LEAVES!