At our house, as you know we have rodent visitors in the spring. Kind of odd, shouldn't this happen during the fall instead? Small meeces come up from the basement underneath the dishwasher, where there's a large gap that a platoon of mice could deploy from (and results in nasty drafts of cold air in the winter). They are lured in by Oren & Rambo's food dishes. The first sign of trouble is noticing kitty interest in watching this area of the kitchen.
We use a "tupperware live catch - feline assisted" control process. Quite comical, really. Plus not very efficient, since it's likely that some of the mice come back. We rely a lot on our resident expert mouse catcher Rob. The mousy container is brought out from the cabinet under the kitchen sink, and it's off to the races. Yesterday Oren the Great Hunter had not arrived for breakfast, which was unusual. Turns out he was in the front hallway staring suspiciously underneath the treadmill. Earlier this year, we had some good luck with this same situation - Steve lifted up the deck, I held open the front door and a mouse ran outside then scurried off into the bushes. Once again, there was a mouse but unfortunately Oren immediately caught it. He prowled around the first floor including behind the couch, growling and rightfully proud of himself. First he had the mouse by the tail, then he switched to the body with the tail sticking out. The chase was on, of course Steve and I had no luck. So Rob, you were woken from slumbers around 7:30 a.m. to your familiar duty. By the time you left your room, Oren had run upstairs (I especially hate when this happens) into Alex's room. Presumably you guys have watched Tom & Jerry cartoons....
By the time I got there, you were already holding Oren with mousy. I closed the door, then put the tupperware container in front of Oren and told him to "drop it!". At our house, cats periodically get lectures from Steve (about coming to eat when called, not venturing into the big bad world outside, how to use the kitty door to the basement which Oren struggles with). Of course Oren didn't let go. So next I held Oren, while Rob you massaged his jaw (a techique you showed me later) and the mouse was free. He ran into the corner, where you missed catching him and then under the baseboard heating unit. After fierce wriggling, I put Oren down and he investigated. The mouse squeaked a bit - finally he ran across the room under the desk, where Rob you got him into the container. Yay!
He rested in the kitchen, probably stunned, for some time. (Oren is primarily interested in playing like batting the mouse into the air, thankfully there is no sign of eating it.) Normally we deposit meeces by the garage. But this time, the mouse went off to pursue his education at college about 20 miles away. Rob, you let him out of the tupperware in grass by the LCCC parking lot - there was no sign of him after class was over.
As you mentioned, perhaps live mice removal could be listed as a skill on your resume. After you go off to ESF this fall, we'll probably change our methodology to a regular live catch mouse trap. For now, we'll hope the 2024 mouse visitation season is over. While we were in St Augustine last month, it was a treat to get your text with this picture of the previous (and maybe the same!) mouse you & Oren captured.
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