Well there was another one that showed up and he got caught in the trap also. I know this sounds ridiculous given the fact that I have the trap set again just in case.
I just feel so bad that I killed these little creatures even tho I was hysterical because they were here in my apt.
I am still going thru post traumatic stress, jumping every time I hear a noise. The 2nd one actually flipped over the trap because he was trying to escape fighting for his life.
I just feel terrible. I keep a very clean apt, but I cook every night and the maintenance man said they are looking for food.
I am waiting for the Homeless Mouse Oil to arrive and pray that it keeps them away like it says it's supposed to. Anyone else go thru this or am I just being neurotic?
Gael
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
gael; sorry i could not help but laugh at the situation, NOT YOU!
well, at least you were prepared for this one. best wishes.
i can't be confined to small areas since i was locked in a car trunk as a kid as a practical joke by your younger bro. with him/me in there 2-4 hrs! so i do know what you are talking about gael. best wishes to overcome! bg
Posted by Melodymaker (Member # 16434) on :
Gael, I can sympathize. I hate to kill anything, tthough I make an exception for mosquitoes, roaches and spiders in my house.
Feeling badly about this just shows that you are a caring person....that's a good thing.
However, you can't have mice living in your apartment. I know they make a trap called have a heart that catches things live, but I don't know if they work for mice.
Then the problem is, where would you release it?
You're a good hearted person, and I'm sorry you are having these troubles. Hope there won't be any more mice.
Posted by Ocean (Member # 3496) on :
Awwww...yes, I hate killing them too. BUT the fact that they can bring in ticks (as often they are the first host) has made me feel less sad about it. We take spiders and milipedes outside instead of killing, and if the homeless mouse stuff works, let me know!! I would MUCH rather use that!
take care, Ocean
Posted by sofylyme (Member # 7900) on :
I know how you felt cuz I had the same feeling years ago when I went thru a mouse problem.
You said you were waiting for Homeless Mouse Oil. What is that? I put it in google and nothing about mice came up.
I know someone who lives in an ancient house in lyme center and mice are a real problem so would like to tell them about a product that could help them with their problem.
Posted by MissMari (Member # 11274) on :
Gael,
I can't even kill a spider! Not because they freak me out or anything --- I just can't stand the thought of killing another living thing!
If I can with little creatures, I try to capture them in a cup or something and throw them back outside!
I'm sure many of them find their way back in!
I had a sad time with mice in my old apartment:
When I first moved to this area 14 years ago, my first apartment (ground floor) had a little mouse family, esp during the cold weather.
Maintenance and animal control said they were climbing up the gas lines to under the stove for warmth.
I wasn't worried about them but I knew they were bringing in possible diseases, and of course finding their way into closets, cupboards, etc.
Maintenance fist put down sticky traps. It was AWFUL!!! The first night I heard these little squeals from under the cupboard and the poor little thing was stuck by its hind legs in the trap!
I called maintenance and demanded they come and remove it. They just laughed at me and said "Lady, just throw it in the garbage!"
I called Animal Control, which in our area is a very sweet lady who will save just about anything that can be saved ---
and she sat there on the kitchen floor, cursing at maintenance for the inhumane trap, and PEELED THE POOR LITTLE THING OFF OF IT.
Then she took it away in a box.
Next day maintenance came and put down the snap-traps.
I cried when I heard the first one snap!
Well, here's the worst part! (DON'T READ THIS IF YOU GET SICK TO YOUR STOMACH EASILY):
On Thanksgiving Day I was cooking a turkey in the oven, and after about an hour my apartment began to smell really HORRIBLE.
Of course, my first thought was I had a bad turkey, and immediately I turned off the oven (which smelled), and threw it out.
Had to air out the apartment, and eat microwaved frozen lasagne.
Do I need to tell you what had happened to the poor little thing that had crawled up into my oven for warmth?
To this day it makes me feel awful!!!!!!
Within a week, I was given a new apartment.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Gael, .. Yes, you're a caring person and that's why it breaks your heart. But you MUST keep them out of your home! Bottom line!
Your health is more important than theirs!
I hope you can get over this with time and can eliminate the entry path of the mice. That is key.
Posted by AnnaL (Member # 18464) on :
I've found that the live traps (Have-a-heart and other brands) work really well. Just bait them with peanut butter, and be sure to check on them every day (you don't want to leave a poor mouse in there too long!).
Then you can take the trap and go at least 1/2 mile from your house (preferably into a park or countryside) and release the mouse.
Once you have relocated the active players, the key really is to seal up the entrance points, if you can find them.
I have also heard that peppermint will repel mice. So if you know that the mice like to hide out under the stove (for example), try tossing a few peppermint tea bags or loose peppermint under there.
-AnnaL
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
Thanks Everyone,
I know the reality, and that's why I still have another trap set. I can't take the chance of having them here. The maintenance man sealed up everything that looked like an entry way.
Thanks for the good suggestions as well.
MissMari
Those are some heartwrenching stories. Those sticky traps are awful. Hope you have a better Thanksgiving (Yuk)
Betty,
Trapped and locked in a trunk for 2 hrs? Geeze, that is surely traumatic!!! Anyone would be traumatized after that.
Well, if you want another laugh this has been me the last couple of weeks
The maintenance guy was laughing at me too, but finally admitted his wife gets up on a chair when she sees one.
I wonder why women are so afraid of mice. I think I'll google it.
Gael
Posted by tcw (Member # 15698) on :
The small Hav-a-hart trap works really well for mice - I have one and it has never missed. I used to use the snap traps which work pretty well, but my young daughter told me that solution had to go, so I had to drop the cash for the Hav-a-hart. Now I run a mouse relocation program every spring and fall - if you can actually seal up your house enough to keep out mice, your house is much nicer than mine for sure - mice can crawl through a hole about the width of a pencil.
Releasing the mice a good distance away is a good tip too - I kept on catching two mice a night in my laundry room, and I was releasing them in a wooded area across the street - about 150' from my house. When they started to look familiar I started painting a small spot on them when I trapped them - sure enough I think I trapped this one really large mouse at least three times.
Oddly enough I have caught two shrews as well, which seems like a strange animal to trap inside your house.
What I want to know is why when I catch a mouse in the trap my wife and daughter talk baby-talk to it and say how cute it is, but when they see one in the house they scream like actresses in a B-rate horror movie?
Posted by just don (Member # 1129) on :
Yes mice will come in,squeezing into a crack the size of a pencil.Rats can get thru a hole the size of a dime,I am told.
IF killing them int your thing,then mouse proofing the exterior is plan "A".
Actually as high as all energy is, its a good way to reduce heat bills too.
Caulking and weatherstripping is cheap compared to all costs.
Think of it as a first defense of ticks and hantavirus,,,let alone all the BUGS you keep out to.
Its alot more humane to keep them out,than to risk there entry and sill have to evict them. By that time there damage is done,maybe.
So what do you think if they get into your clothes or valuable paper keepsakes??
Posted by Ocean (Member # 3496) on :
TCW, HAHAHAHA!!!!!
Thanks for the recommendations. It is called Have a Heart, the brand or name of the trap??
Where can you find these traps? Will the mouse be able to bite you, or is it possible to wear heavy gloves to get them out?
Thanks, Ocean
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Carol that's a great link. I just love ingenious people!!!
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
I can't and won't feel for a creature that is causing so much havoc in human beings. That might sound cruel, but it's how I feel.
Others look at deer and get so excited. Oh, they think it's so great to have those "beautiful" creatures come up in their back yards.
I see evil when I see a deer. I know it's not intentional on the deer's part. I know they didn't set out to destroy mankind and their health.
Mice, deer, chipmunks, wild turkeys, etc are carriers. I want them no where near me, my family or friends. I want them deep, deep into the woods where they can infect each other.
Every year in KY during deer hunting season I get so angry when they start doing stories on how healthy and bountiful our deer stock is. Laws are set to protect the deer population(I mean overpopulation).
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. I do love animals such as dogs & cats. Even they are infected by the carriers. I've seen slow death in a dog (not mine) that I loved and adored.
This family has another dog that I love. This dog has deteriated terribly since they built their home in the middle of a forest. I heard the owners say last week "every since we've moved here she has gone downhill"
I just want to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pam
Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
When my large pre-war apartment building was going through a huge amount of demolition/renovation while being converted to 2/3 luxury condo, the rats and mice went crazy. So many of us got infested with mice. I got up at 3 a.m. one night to get some water and a mouse was in my sink. He looked up at me and I looked down at him and before I could scream he went DOWN THE DRAIN HOLE! I have no idea what happened to him down there or if he managed to get UP the drain hole in somebody else's apartment.
Even more disgusting, was, I use Virgin Coconut oil as a moisturizer. I kept an open jar on an open plastic-coated wire shelf beneath my bathroom sink. One morning I look down, and thank God I did not stick my hand in before I looked down, because there was a dead mouse in there. He obviously liked the smell and thought he'd take a drink and drowned. UGGG.
Anyway I set down those glue traps and I felt badly too. The poor mouse squealing away and dying an awful death.
The way to solve the problem is to find their entrance point. They can squeeze through very tiny holes. My entrance point was on the floor base where one radiator pipe went into the floor. A good maintenance man needs to really look over your place. Just plastering or sticking steel wool in will solve the problem.
Posted by tcw (Member # 15698) on :
I do not think a mouse in the trap could bite you while you are holding the trap, and you can release them just by opening the doors. The hardest part is getting them out - I usually have to open one door, tip the trap on an angle and shake it gently. The mice like it in the trap I guess, they certainly tend to eat all the PB that is on the trigger plate.
I am not squeemish around mice, so I just grab the trap and bring them down the street to a wooded area and shake them out. I figure they have it hard enough - every critter from shrews to coyotes will try to eat them, and they are suffering with Lyme too most of the time with no insurance coverage.
Pretty much all mammals carry Lyme, both wild and domestic, and most of them suffer with it too. The mammals and even the tick is not the problem - it is the bacteria. More importantly, it is the sad state of treatment for patients.
When spring comes this year, my family will be back outside, albeit with limits on walking through the woods and other hotspots. I will not let the fear of Lyme keep me and my family locked in the house - if I did that, the bacteria wins, regardless of the outcome of treatment.
Posted by lymeric (Member # 16465) on :
Live trapping may be indicated, as ticks might be likely to leave a
dead mouse and crawl around your space. Relocation of small
wildlife usually results in a slow death due to starvation,
exhaustion and/or exposure. There is also a question of
spreading disease.
The strain of Lyme in my particular Connecticut river valley is
stronger, more virulent than elsewhere in the state, often not
responding well to antibiotics. Relocating the several miles
necessary for a mouse to not return might put others at risk.
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