"You Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee!"
What a difference a little hot water makes! The house is a little less like a refugee camp. Chris and Jerry got the water heater installed over the weekend, so now we have hot running water. We chose a 50 gallon because it was the largest the space would allow. We chose electric so we wouldn't have to run a vent through the cieling and roof. We were in such a hurry to get hot water we didn't even paint or remove the nice wallpaper in the closet. You don't know how much of a difference until you are washing your face for bed in ice cold water, not so much fun. Now if we could just get that upstairs bathroom done...We also have an uninvited visitor - a mouse. It's funny how something so cute can cause such a scare when it runs close to your foot! Not so cute in a house either. The mouse took my screaming as his cue to leave. He ran behind the kitchen cabinets where there is about a 3 inch gap 
between them and the wall. We got the cats and showed them where he ran and they were on a stakeout for part of the evening. Too bad they are so well-fed, because they gave up way too soon.
between them and the wall. We got the cats and showed them where he ran and they were on a stakeout for part of the evening. Too bad they are so well-fed, because they gave up way too soon.
posted by C&C at 10:02 AM
6 Comments:
Forget the cats, they hunt for sport, not food.
Use that poison that kills them and embalms them (so they don't die in your wall and stink up the place).
Go overkill on the traps/poison. You don't want them coming back.
Congrats on the hot water!
I added a pic of the hunters to the post. I wanted to get the old fashion mouse traps but thought paws or tails might get caught more than mice. Any thoughts on the glue traps?
-chris
I have battled both mice and shrews in my quaint suburban townhouse over the past 4 years. Ick. While I disagree that the cats won't take care of it (or them, there is probably more than 1, sorry;)eventually, I just discovered a trap made by DCon that is a round contrapction called "No Touch". Link at http://doityourself.com/store/2376432.htm
I picked them up at Walmart, about $5 for 2 of them.
You put some bait (peanut butter worked for me) in the bottom, then you wind it up. There is a little opening that kitty might get a paw in, but I'll guarantee it's safer than the old school snap traps or the glue traps. That glue is super tacky and you'd probably end up with a kitty or 2 at the vet. Same with the bait, if the mouse dies in the middle of the kitchen and they decide to snack, you could have some trouble.
I just happened to see a shrew in my garage and set the trap out there and I put another in the drawer under the stove. The kitties have taken out 3 critters and left them dead, but my little brother just had his dog or cat bring a dead mouse into his bed to "play fetch" with so I'd recommend being proactive to avoid the unpleasantness. I also stumbled on several cats a few weeks ago in the process of taking care of the shrew, but I threw a bowl over it and released it. Bad idea as it did come back. The cats were going nuts by the kitchen cabinets, so that's when I picked up the DCon traps. Most of my cats were strays at one point, which I think makes a difference in their "hunting" abilities! Good luck!
My Grandma uses peanut butter and it works very well! Who would have thought! (I guess it is made out of nuts ;)
I'm glad you have hot water!!!!
J
Wow, that's the second recommendation for peanut butter. I still havn't bought any traps yet, but we havn't seen the mouse again either. Cara's shrill "EEEEEEEEK" was enough to stop the hearts of tiny mammals in a 100 yard radius (I'm thinking banshee here).
-chris
No sign as of yet...I guess all the commotion of having electricians cutting the walls and crawling around the crawl space may have been too much for the little guy.
-chris
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