Three Foot Wu or the Invasion of the Cheesy Snackers

[woodchip]

So I was at the grocery store the other day and decided to buy a Entermans Cheese Danish. Haven't bought one in a year or so and the urge just came upon me. Got home and after I put everything away I cut a slice of the cheese cake and then watched some TV. Just before hitting the sack I went back to the kitchen, closed the Entermans box up and put the cheese danish into the frig.

The next day after supper I got the danish out, cut a slice off and sat at the computer to surf the net a bit. When I went to take my second bite of the danish I noticed two black specks on it. I though they were burnt crumbs of some sort...until I looked closer and saw they were mouse droppings! WTF! I haven't had any mice in the kitchen for three or four months. In between the time I first opened the cheese danish box and put it in the frig, the blighters somehow magically appeared. So I get the traps out.

I set the trap on the counter and bait it with some Mexican style shredded cheese. I no more than turn out the lights, climb into bed and I hear a click of the trap being sprung. Out of bed I go, turn on the kitchen light and see a mouse in the trap with a second mouse disappearing through a gap in the stove's back panel. So I've been tagged teamed eh?

I dispose of the first mouse and reset the trap, placing it by the spot where the second one disappeared. The next morning the second mouse is in the trap all bugged eyed from where the trap did a perfect head shot on em. I dispose of mouse number two and go off to work. Usually there is only one mouse that comes calling so with the second one bagged I'm thinking maybe I'll go but another Cheese Danish to replace the one I threw out.

I get home and when I go to the stove I notice the pieces of shredded cheese that I didn't clean up in the morn are all gone. Huh? A third bandito? O.K. So I set the trap again. In the morning there is a third mouse caught. The trap is getting experienced as this too was a head shot. Again dispose and high-ho, off to work I go. Get home and once again I see the cheese remnants have been devoured. Whoa! What the heck dude. Am I being invaded by Romani gypsy mice?

Over the next few days the body count is up to six and a couple of days have gone by with no sign of Micky. The cheese pieces I left on the stove are drying up with no removal so I'm thinking the problem is solved. I be thinking wrong. I get up the next morning and see the stove is once again swept clean. Once again I set the trap before work. This time when I get home the trap has disappeared. I search high and low and finally discover it when I pull the stove out.

So I retrieve the trap wondering who my trusty 'ole dead-eye trap could of failed. It is when I pull the steel arm up that I see something fall out. I look closer and see it is a teeny tiny little paw with little wee tendons sticking out. Now it would seem I have a real hardcore mouse on the loose. Mean enough to tear out his own foot to escape. I name him Three Foot Wu. My sleep becomes a little less easy. I keep traps set constantly. Why oh why did I ever buy that Cheese Danish. Updates as warranted.

[Gekko71]

AS a kid growing up in rural Western Australia, our personal record for catching mice was 8 mice caught in 1 trap over a three minute period.

Most I ever caught in one night was 14 many years ago - oh the joys of student accommodation.

Keep the updates coming woodchip - I think you're in for a few more surprises yet...

PS: Forget the cheese - go for peanut butter instead.

[dissent]

The raccoons are chasing them inside.

[Krom]

Sounds like me and those horrible destructive red squirrels a couple years ago. Shot more than 30 of them in one week, then we flew out to California for a week and when we got back something had gotten in and chewed through the phone line and parts of the network cables to the upstairs of the house...

I think by that point the 2 or 3 that were the the day we got back had established our house as their territory and driven off the rest of the swarm, so when I blasted them we didn't see any more for a few months.

[TechPro]

Beware of the Cujo Mouse.

[Isaac]

I don't know if I could handel that. I would freak out and just burn the house down.

[Krom]

Pretty much everyone that lives in a house can get mice, it just happens in fall.

We haven't seen a mouse since we got this little ball of energy:

Getting a cat that really likes to eat, and having to keep it on a permanent half cup of food a day diet does have its advantages.

[woodchip]

I wonder how a ferret would handle mice? BTW I think Wu may have died as I started to smell a dead animal today. My homemade stew simmering in the pot has driven the odors away for the time being tho.

[Lothar]

Second the Peanut Butter >> Cheese recommendation. It's always worked well for me on traps.

A few weeks back there was some construction on our apartment complex that apparently let some mice in. My wife's badly allergic and was missing days of work. I finally figured out what was going on when I saw a mouse dart across a doorway. We bought some traps and caught six mice that weekend. No more have been back.

After my 17-year-old cat died duing my teen years, my parents ended up with a mouse problem. We'd catch as many as we could in traps, but sometimes they'd breed and there would be a whole litter of tiny little stupid mice. It was then that I perfected the \"live capture in a dixie cup and flush\" technique... caught close to a dozen in a single day once. My brother once caught a big, slow, pregnant mouse in a box and hit it with a 2x4 because it seemed like the most efficient way to kill it. As you can tell, I'm no fan of mice.

[TigerRaptor]

I've all ready killed 3 mice this year. One death by lawn mower and other two by mouse trap.

[Thenior]

I've got 5 this year. Since I threw a bunch of poison in the attic, I haven't noticed them. I caught one by the foot and it dragged it into the living room and chewed on my clothes.

Gotta love it.