When we got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Utah I discovered we had a mouse problem. I had been cleaning out some things in the garage and started to find evidence of a mouse...or maybe multiple mice. I cleaned everything up (there had been some bags of snacks left in the garage and they got into some other food we had on the shelves out there) and Scott bought some mouse traps. He baited them with peanut butter (which has been successful bait for us before in Colorado) and set them all out.
The next morning I went out to the garage before school, checked all the traps (no mice), then got a few things out of the fridge. As I was pulling milk out of the garage fridge I heard one of the traps snap!!! It snapped WHLIE I WAS STANDING THERE!!! I went over to look and there was a little mouse next to the sprung trap. It didn't get caught in the trap but was bleeding. It was hiding behind some things so I tried to move stuff so I could shoo it out of the garage, but it ran away...further into the garage. I checked all the traps a little closer and noticed that they were all licked clean. The mouse had licked the peanut butter off and only tripped one trap...which didn't even catch him. I was a bit rattled - hearing the trap snap and seeing the bleeding mouse was unpleasant (in my head I was screaming myself hoarse) - but took the kids to school and came home, went on a run and then rebaited all the traps with more peanut butter.
Before I went back in the house I was cleaning some things up in the garage for a few minutes, then went back to look at the traps one last time. One of the traps had been licked clean WHILE I WAS STANDING THERE in the garage!! I could not believe the brazenness of that mouse. So cheeky! I put more peanut butter on the trap and went in.
In the afternoon, after getting the kids I checked again and we finally caught the little guy in one of the traps. I was glad the trap worked because I was starting to feel like we were just feeding him peanut butter.
Scott cleaned everything up when he got home from work (got rid of the dead mouse - THANK YOU SCOTT!!) and got a few more traps to put out in case there were others. We were hoping it was only one mouse.
We didn't catch anything the next day but we did notice that our traps were still getting licked clean during the day. So there were other mice. Gah!!
The mouse problem was really starting to wear on Scott. He felt uncomfortable and unsettled about our unwelcome garage guests. And understandably so.
Sunday before church (a few days after we caught the mouse) I was out in the garage and distinctly heard some rustling around on one of the shelves. I called Scott for back up and we started moving stuff around and sure enough, a little gray mouse made a run for it. We tried to catch him or shoo him out but he was too fast and did not want to leave the garage. There are a lot of hawks outside in our neighborhood after all so I'm sure his odds are better inside. So we rebaited all the traps (which had been licked clean again) with more peanut butter, moved some of them to where we had seen the mouse and got ready for church. Just before leaving for church we found one mouse caught in a trap. After church we came home to two more caught in a trap. Scott got rid of the dead mice and brought home more traps the next day. I know he will not rest easy until they are all gone. No mice in the garage!!
Later in the day we caught one more mouse in a trap, bringing our grand total to FIVE MICE!! The good news is, aside from the fact that we caught those mice, that the traps (of which there are MANY in the garage now) are not getting licked clean as much anymore. So we hope that means we are winning the war against the mice. If only slowly.
Part of our "shock and awe" mouse trap arsenal.
Four different kinds of traps. We ended up with 20 traps set out in the garage, and that's not counting the traps that caught mice and were disposed of.
By Monday (a week or so after getting back from Thanksgiving) we had a full mouse trap arsenal in the garage. Multiple kinds of traps in multiple locations. Every few hours I would go check all the traps - half hoping there was nothing there, half hoping there was. It was kind of horrible.
Monday we caught three more mice, bringing the grand total to EIGHT MICE!!
We got a few more traps and set them out again all baited with peanut butter. We haven't caught any mice or seen any new evidence of mice since Monday, so we're claiming a tentative victory although all the traps are still in place just in case. Thank you Scott for disposing of all the dead mice. I could do it. If he wasn't here or wasn't willing I definitely would do it but I don't object to his offer of mouse disposal.
Next step will be to better seal up the little gaps on the garage door where I assume they were getting in.
All week I've had the Elvis song Suspicious Minds in my head ("We're caught in a trap, I can't walk out..."). Here's hoping we have no more mice friends come to stay with us.
