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Archive through January 23, 2005

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Mar. ~ 2005 May: HELP!!! I have a MOUSE in my apartment!!!!: Archive through January 23, 2005 users admin

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Rslover
Member

11-19-2002

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 9:59 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I have heard mice love peanut butter. Sometimes they can easily grab the cheese and avoid the traps too. They can fit into any hole the size of a pencil because they don't have a backbone. So close up every little crack with the steel wool. Yes, they can easily climb up sides of counters. Just remember, you are much bigger!!

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 1:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
MOUSE SKELETON

mouseskeleton

They DO have backbones....but I'd venture to say that that backbone could fit through a pencil-width hole. It was the knowledge that the mousie could fit under my door, or through a hole I have in the wall between my bedroom and living room(for cable wire)!! I had SUCH a bad sleep!! I had a dream that Wargod said the were on my BED. EEEK!! I only half-slept for most of the night. Then, I think I was into DEEP sleep finally, and my bf calls and wakes me up! Mind you, I'm usually UP by 11:45. But I hadn't GONE to sleep until about 3:30, and the sleep was so bad.

You know, I kind of don't mind living in my bedroom. Every so often, go to the kitchen for food.

I've thought about how mice can pretty much squish into any place. That makes me think about ALL of the little places in my apartment. I have this HUGE storage closet, about 7'X 7', that is full of boxes, xmas decorations, fake tree, sports equipment, empty computer boxes....It is a virtual CARNIVAL for mice, minus the food.

DDR - How on EARTH did you use your car knowing a mousie was in it? I'd be riding the bus til someone else got it out for me.

Phatcat - I can TOTALLY relate to tlaking to the possum!! I talk to animals all the time. This is sad, as I don't PERSONALLY have any pets (other than Jujumouse), so most of my conversations with animals are in public, where peope think I'm weird.

Reader - I would have crapped my pants if a HAWK was in my living room!


So....I'm feeling kinda lazy. And the room situations isnot too bad. I may just make phone calls to see who has traps today. I've walked through the rest of my place a few times now, and haven't seen the mouse since I propped one end of the couch up about 18 inches and left it like that. I have no other places along walls that the mousie could go, which makes me think either it has LEFT, or it is behind the fridge or stove, or it has squeezed SOMEWHERE that I don't want it, like in my storage closet, or back in my bedroom while I was sleeping (eeek!).

I will keep everyone posted. Oh, there are no holes along the outside wall of my bedroom. HOWEVER, both of my baseboard heaters are against the outside walls of my place. I'm wondering if there could be HOLES behind them that no one fixed? The last thing I want to do is to get down on my hand and knees, start taking off the baseboards, only for some little mousie to go "BOO!" out of some hole!!

I'll keep everyone posted. Yoo hoo.....Karen.......you live a few blocks from me.....do any of YOUR kitties like mice?


Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 1:44 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Bwahahahaha, Ddr! Juju is indeed an excellent name for a pet mouse. But maybe not so good for a dead mouse.

Graceunderfyre
Member

01-21-2004

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 1:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Eeyore- I hate things scurrying around too! We used glue traps before we got our ferrets. . .they sell them at the store where the poison is. . . there were 2 problems I had with the glue traps. The first is the little guys were so small they had heartattacks when they realized they were caught so we really only released 1 or 2 of them on the other side of the river. The second problem I had is they started chewing through the cardboard and getting loose before I came back from school. It was horrible. But once we got ferrets they went away - not that my ferrets would have done more than stare at them. They are too docile to attack unless they've had a bad experience. My mom used to use these blue pellet things that the mice eat and then it makes them thirsty and they either die from thirst or they drown themselves in water when we were kids - just watch out for sump pumps.

Karen
Member

09-07-2004

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 2:00 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yes, Eeyore, they do... we found that out the hard way in our old place when we found Sofie attacking the door to the hall closet. We opened the closet for her, and she went right to the little guy hiding in the back corner.

Do you live in an apartment, or do you own? If you rent, I'm curious as to why you haven't told your landlord yet that you found a mouse? Do any of your neighbors have mice, too? I think Vee is right that you want to make sure you get rid of all of them, as soon as possible, cause they're just such dirty little creatures. See if your neighbors have seen any, 'cause you might have a bigger problem on your hand than just this guy, and if that's the case, your landlord/building manager should be taking care of that.

Karen
Member

09-07-2004

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 2:01 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
How did I miss this thread for the update last night????

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 2:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Karen, I think you missed it, because you posted very shortly after I posted this, so you maybe had gotten all of your information already, and were typing the update up when I was posting?

I'm going to tell my landlord, but I personally don't feel that it is an emergency, so I'll just leave a message on the machine. He has a pager number, but considering I can't FIND the little bugger anymore, it would be useless to make him drop what he's doing, only to come over to ALSO not be able to find the mouse.


Zachsmom
Moderator

07-13-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 2:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Don't hurt me Eeyore!

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 4:40 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
LOL Eeyores, I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to freak you out last night. I just know from experience the types of places they can squeeze into. I did not know about them hating to chew through foil! Wish I had though cuz I can think of a few places we would have used it.

Wouldn't it be the responsibility of the landlord to supply the traps? And to come collect them when you've caught something?

We had a bird in the house last year. For anyone who doesn't know, lol, I am terrified of birds. Have been since I was a kid. Haven't been able to ever watch that movie The Birds (or whatever it's called) without having to leave the room freaking out. Anyways, we usually keep the back door open for the dog when it's warm out, and I walked out of the back part of the house just in time to see him fly in. I thought my husband was going to have a heart attack laughing as I screamed, ran back into the hall, slammed the door shut and refused to budge til he got it out of the house. Took him awhile since ever so often he'd have to stop chasing the damn thing to gasp for air laughing at me!

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 4:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
OK new developments:

First, the mouse is no longer named Jujumouse, I am calling it Dubya-mouse. I bought some of the EVIL traps at the local grocery store, because the hardware store near me is sold out of the humane kind. I believe that it is bad news to name a mouse after someone you like, and then potentially kill it. Call is some kind of superstition.

So if the mouse will die, I would rather it be an effigy of George Bush, or some other venerable character.

Second development (and the punchline): I can't work the disposable mouse trap. I don't understand the diagram, and don't know where to stick the bar.

So I guess I'm back to my room. But I bought a carrot cake and will pour a big glass of milk, and just sit in here for a bit.

I'm an idiot!

PS - Here is a brighter, more clear version of my mousie pic. What a long tail. That makes him extra evil.

evilmouse


Resortgirl
Member

09-23-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 4:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
ROFL!! Eeyore you are funny!!

Edited to add... landlords typically do not put down traps, they put out poison. And that is another horror story of it's own!!

Zachsmom
Moderator

07-13-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 4:53 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
make sure you stuff towels under your door, cuz mice love carrot cake..

and for every mouse you see..there are 10 hiding..and of those 10 one of them is pregnant..and mice give birth every 22nd of the month..they have quite a few babies too..like 20 or so..<shiver>

just kidding.. i would be freaked out too..but stuff towels under your door..

Zachsmom
Moderator

07-13-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 4:54 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
better yet..stuff aluminum foil under your door..

Rslover
Member

11-19-2002

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 5:36 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I guess they meant a soft backbone. How is it that you are able to get all these photos but you can't catch it? LOL

Kristylovesbb
Member

09-14-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 5:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
pssst, towels don't do any good. I had a mouse in my basement and I tightly stuffed a huge towel between the door and the floor. ps mouse ate through the towel played in the living room, probably danced on my head while I was asleep and raided my husbands candy dish that sits beside his chair. He snatched the candy ran under the rug made him a little tent and proceeded to eat piles of candy. I found the wrappers when I vacuumed the next day. Before I realized the mouse ate the candy I accused my husband of being a closet chocoholic who hid his evidence under rugs.LOL

Mice are better to have in your house than snakes, had me one of them last year! I have had so many critters and creatures in my house and on my lawn I can't count them all. Called dh once because two creatures were lurking around in my yard that I didn't recognize, they looked like huge turkeys with no heads. Dh said, laughing, haven't you ever seen a Ginny? Well hell no I'm from the city! I counted eleven snakes, nonvenomous, in my yard one year. Dh will not move to the city so when it gets to me too much I just take a long hot bath in Calgon.

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 6:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Aside from the general "ick" factor of living with a mouse or two, they really won't hurt you. It's rats you need to worry about. That mouse is probably more scared of you than you are of him (or her). I mean, think how BIG you must look!

If you have one mouse, you'll likely have more of 'em. Unless this one was a scout, looking for food, bedding, or a new home.

My mom in Colorado Springs lives out on the prairie. They have two cats. One of 'em is a real mouser, although he doesn't kill 'em to eat 'em. He plays with 'em for a really long time. Mom says she hears run-run-run-thump as Shadow chases meeses into closets and runs into the wall. Eventually, he tires of the game and kills the mouse. Sometimes the mouse figures out its not got long to live and remembers how it got in, and manages to sneak past Shadow and leave.

But Eeyore... your little friend is more afraid of you. If you leave him to have the run of the rest of the house, he may never leave. You should be moving around, and freaking him out. More than he freaks you out!

Graceunderfyre
Member

01-21-2004

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 6:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I was told that mice reproduce every 5 days or some short amount like that so if you don't get them quick. . . I went to walmart and bought this thing that plugs in and sends out high frequency noises that mice (and dogs and cats) don't like - it only works temp. because I heard the mice adjust to the noises if they stay at the same tone and don't move around which most of those devices do.

Mak1
Member

08-12-2002

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 6:44 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Oh Kristy, I'm laughing so hard tears are pouring down my cheeks....turkeys with no heads, LOL!! I tried to tell dh what I was laughing about, but I got hysterical. It took me about three minutes to spit it out. I don't think I would have known what it was either.

If I were Eeyore, I think I would be making tinfoil jammies for tonight. I like the name, by the way.

Kristylovesbb
Member

09-14-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 8:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I know what you mean about the laughing Mak1, dh is still laughing about it. He told everyone at work that his wife was on the phone screaming that two turkeys without heads were running around the front yard. I was almost to the point of hysteria given that the day before two snakes were having sex in my front yard and three days prior, while shoveling mulch a snake ran out at me!!!LOL

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 8:51 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
What the hell is that thing?

Rslover
Member

11-19-2002

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 9:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Most activity and feeding takes place between a half-hour after sunset and a half-hour before sunrise. See if you can catch it then.

I just remembered my sister had a mouse awhile back and she had baseboard heat too. She turned it up the highest and put towels by the door. The mouse will attempt to run out. If you can trap it in one room, it might work.

Mice can survive an 8-foot fall onto a hard surface and travel 12 feet per second. (Wow, wonder if that's how Mighty Mouse got his name).

(This thread should be changed to All you never wanted to know about a mouse!)

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 9:45 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We had a mouse in an apartment we had a few years ago. My wife and I were sitting in the living room when we heard this rustling sound behind us. She asked me what it was and I replied, “I have no idea” .

Anyway the little guy was fairly reclusive and we didn’t see or hear him again. I actually forgot about him until a couple of months later when my wife decided to make some oatmeal cookies. She got out this huge bag of oatmeal. It was completely empty as he had eaten his way right through the entire bag.

We never saw him again so we think he probably died of obesity!

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 11:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Well, I've figured out the mouse trap, and cannot bring myself to put it out. WOW are those things ever forceful!! But I'm wimpy when it comes to animal death of any kind. When I was little, and my mom and I would watch nature shows, I would cry at any animal eating another one.

I've resolved to stop caring.

While I'm not a messy person, I have to admit I'm lazy at unpacking boxes (from my move October 1st), and they were all along the perimeter of my living room. So tonight I have put together a shelf, and am going to unpack lots of the boxes. That way, the perimeter isn't so great a hiding place any more.

And I've looked in my cupboards, bot no mouse evidence(poops or nibbles). My food is all in my upper cabinets anyways, that's why I had asked how high they could jump.

Now, I'm still closing my bedroom door, but if I don't see him for a week, I will just foolishly assume he has left.

I am also thinking of adopting a cat. How does this sound: I tell my landlord I have seen a mouse. Typical landlord will most likely not do much about it. So I will deal with it if he puts a clause in my lease, saying "PETS OK" and then I can get a dog. (I don't really want a cat. I only like them outside, and in pictures, but often find them smelly, no matter how clean the owner is).

Mouse Gestational period:

These mice are exceedingly prolific breeders; as many as 13 litters can be produced in one year. The number of young per litter averages about six. The gestation period is approximately 19 days, varying from 18 to 20. At birth the young mice are nearly naked with their eyes and ears closed. They develop rapidly; at the age of 3 weeks they are fully weaned and at the age of 4 weeks some of the young females are ready to assume family duties, although the average age of sexual maturity is about 35 days in females and 60 days in males. With commensals, breeding occurs throughout the year although it is somewhat curtailed in the colder months. In the wild state breeding appears to be restricted to the period from early June to late fall.

Mak1
Member

08-12-2002

Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 7:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Tishala, that is the creature that was lurking in Kristy's yard, a guinea hen (with her keets).

Snakes? I would become a recluse! I'm so irrationally afraid of them. On topic: Good luck, Eeyore. I hope you can chase it out.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 7:36 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Eeyore, they really are not smelly. You do need to keep up with keeping the litterbox clean, but that is not a huge deal. And stay away from generic litter. Scoop Away is a good litter, not too expensive and not perfumey either. And if you check out shelters/rescues in your area, you can adopt a cat from a foster mom who can tell you about its personality. That way you can guarantee that it has qualities you want. And you can also find one that prefers to be an only cat (assuming you want only one.) Check out petfinder.org --I think they do CA.

My best friend just found a mouse in her house and her dad wrote this:

"mouse in the house,
crap on the plate,
D Con the little bast@rd,
mice I do hate."