My mouse war

Mel Makaw.

I understand that a lot of people have been dealing with a lot of mice over the last few months, and I have not been spared. As I settled in to write my column for the last issue of The Loop, I saw a little mouse run across the floor in my living room. It was not an isolated incident. Indeed, it had become a common one in what I was beginning to think of as my own personal mouse war.

I've lost track of how many mice I've caught in traps so far (since sometime in July), and I know others have bagged more than I have. Lucky are you if you don't know what I'm talking about.

I hate killing mice, but it is what I've had to resort to. I've discovered some traps that work really well: Tomcat, a brand that pretty much kills quickly and cleanly and every time. You can get them at several places here in town or online through Amazon.

Unfortunately for me, I sometimes feel they work too well. I load each white plastic trap up with a little peanut butter, place it in a cardboard tray (box lid) along the baseboard, and it doesn't take long. Once I set one in the kitchen and before I got into the family room to sit down, I heard the trap snap to score another body.

I did have a sort of funny experience in this war against the rodents (funny now that it's over). One evening I was sitting in the family room watching TV when I heard a scratching sound. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen area. The sound kept up, and I got curious because it seemed uncharacteristically loud and consistent.

I went into the kitchen and at first I couldn't discern exactly where the sound was coming from... but it was definitely little toenails on something. I yelled and the noise stopped for a second or two. I slammed a book on the counter and the noise stopped for another second or two. No matter what I did to scare the mouse away, the noise started up again.

As it turns out, I have an open trash can in the middle of the kitchen, a tall plastic receptacle that sits under the lip of my kitchen island. I just happened to glance at it as a little mouse jumped up into view, trying to jump out of it. Then more scratching and more jumping. Man could that thing jump – it almost made it out of the trash can while I watched.

I have no idea how the little critter got in there. I don't know if it jumped in, or fell in from above, although there was no indication that it had been anywhere near the can either on the floor or the island. I guess I'll never know how it got in that wastebasket, but it was evident it desperately wanted out and wasn't able to jump quite high enough.

I didn't have the heart to try to catch it and kill it with my own two hands, so I drug the trash can outside and laid it over on its side on my back porch. I silently wished the little thing well and went back inside to get ready for bed, relieved... although I figured the mouse would probably find its way back inside and sooner or later, into a trap.

Emptying the traps of dead mice gives me the shivers, and so did putting the trash can outside for the little mouse to escape. But it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I've caught a few more mice in the traps since that incident, and I have no way of knowing if I got that little jumper or if it went on to some other more mouse-friendly (or most likely, unfriendly) place.

Meanwhile, in addition to setting the traps, I've also purchased peppermint infused balls that are supposed to repel rodents, and I've spread them around my house. The good news is I have four traps set now – one in the kitchen, one in the living room, one in the family room, and one in the bedroom – and at this writing it has been five days since I've caught anything in them (or seen or heard anything jumping around in the trash can).

I'm cautiously optimistic that I might have finally won this war... and I'm hoping against hope that I don't get in another one any time soon.

© 2024 Mel Makaw. Mel, author of several books including On the Bright Side, a Collection of Columns (all available locally at Tehachapi Arts Center), has been looking on the bright side for various publications since 1996. She welcomes your comments at [email protected].