A Mouse Tale

It was about a month ago that my husband first saw the little brown mouse.  It was scurrying about in the side yard beside the upper deck.  We were not particularly concerned at first – maybe the little guy was just passing through our yard on his way to somewhere else. After all, the side yard is where the dog lives.  Mindy is an old dog but I’m certain a mouse would still feel intimidated by her.

A few days later my husband spotted the mouse again in the same area.  It was a bright sunny afternoon and the little mouse did not seem all that concerned by the presence of a human being.  I was getting concerned though.  The little mouse seemed to be content here – very close to my storage shed.  This was not a place I want him to make his home especially since he wasn’t very timid.

On our next trip to Rona we took a look at the various items available in the pest control aisle.  I certainly didn’t want to poison the little fellow.  At this point he wasn’t even being a nuisance but I didn’t want him to expand his family or move indoors when winter arrived.  We chose to get a live trap – if we caught him we could then relocate him.  I thought he might enjoy moving to the wooded area by the river.

We decided to get a Predator multi catch trap made by Wilson.  Just look at the picture on the box – cute little mice lining up to get inside — the ones already inside chatting excitedly about their upcoming move to their new home.  It was perfect.

We brought it home and set it up beside the steps where the little mouse had been seen to frequently visit.  We believed he probably lived under the deck.  We waited.  Every day we checked the trap but it was always empty.  In fact, for the next two weeks we didn’t see the mouse at all – anywhere.  Maybe he relocated on his own?

The instructions say the trap does not need any bait.  We wondered if maybe it did so on Tuesday we put a few Cheerios inside the box.  Then Thursday morning, as the children and I were heading out into the back yard to play, I looked over the rail into the side yard. Through the clear plastic lid on the trap I could see the little brown body.  It was huddled in the corner, motionless.  It looked….dead.  We assumed it must have had a heart attack from the ordeal.

We waited until after the last of the children had left for the day and then we went to empty the trap.  My husband was going to hold a bag while I opened the trap lid and dumped the poor little guy out.  As I picked up the trap my husband asked “What’s stuck on the bottom of the trap?”  I turned it over and saw two tiny little back legs and a really long tail hanging off the OUTSIDE of the trap door.

Eww, ewwwww, EWWWWW!  I dropped the trap – with force.  My husband bolted to the far side of the yard – I thought he might try to vault over the fence.  “Don’t throw it at me!” he yelled.

Poor little mouse.  It was supposed to be a safe, reusable mouse trap.  It turned out to be a single use mouse guillotine.  The mouse trap is in a bag in the garbage bin by the back lane.  It’s not the ‘new home’ I envisioned for the little mouse.  The trap could be used again – or recycled — but it would have to be cleaned out first and there’s no one here who’s willing to do it.

If we ever see another mouse we’ll have to find a different way to deal with it.