The other day, I was in my laundry room when I saw a tiny little mouse scurry across the floor in front of my feet. And while I think mice are adorable, I don’t really want to share my living space with them. Of course, this also explained why Allegra and Ruby had been hanging out outside the laundry room door quite a bit lately!
The girls are not allowed in the laundry room. It’s unfinished, and there are too many nooks and crannies they could get stuck in, so it’s off limits to them. So letting them loose in there to catch the mouse wasn’t an option – and quite frankly, even though I’m all for letting cats be cats and exercising their natural instincts on a toy mouse, I really didn’t want that poor little mouse to get killed.
So I set a humane trap. I baited it with cheese. I checked it several times throughout the day, before I went to bed, and first thing in the morning. Two days in a row, the trap was empty, but it hadn’t sprung. Our little mouse was apparently pretty smart. On the third day, I baited the trap with peanut butter.
I had just gotten comfortable in my jammies, settled in for an evening of watching TV. All of a sudden, something said “go check the trap.” And sure enough, the trap had worked, and there was a very unhappy little mouse inside.
It was cold and rainy outside. I really didn’t want to outside, but I knew I couldn’t just let the mouse loose right outside my door or she would run right back inside. So I got dressed, and drove the mouse to my neighborhood park, where I released her in the cold rain. Godspeed, little mouse.
I could swear that Allegra and Ruby gave me dirty looks when I got back home for spoiling their fun, though… I can just imagine how that conversation went.
Ruby: Why is Mom spending so much time in the laundry room, Allegra?
Allegra: I don’t know, Ruby. Maybe she smells that strange smell we’ve been smelling? And she went in there with some cheese. And she didn’t give us a piece first! That’s just so wrong!
Ruby: Why won’t she let us in that room?
Allegra: She says we could get in trouble in there.
Ruby: Mom always says my middle name is Trouble! I should be allowed in there!
Allegra: rolls her eyes.
Ruby: I don’t smell that strange smell anymore. Do you?
Allegra: No, I don’t. I stopped smelling it after that night when Mom went out in the rain for just a few minutes and then came right back.
Ruby: Huh. Oh well. Mom, can we have some tuna?
Good story! Our cats caught a mouse once. They sat together upright and at attention looking intently in the corner of the room at their unmarked but diseased trophy…
When we got Rufus, he had been living outside with a feral colony and was full of parasites from eating whatever he could. Now I worry about what he might catch besides the mouse!
Allegra and Ruby your Mama is BRAVE! My mom probably couldn’t have touched it! Hoping that mouse didn’t have family!
Ours were lizzard hunters as well, it was great fun to bring in, they have a enclosed courtyard to play in that is safe but somehow Lizards know they should put on a chase. Noise always erupts in a chatter to let us know they have caught one. Usually the tail falls off, but they are always careful enough, to play, not maul, or eat, and I return them in the wild, to be caught another year after tail regrowth….
We always rescue lizards at our house, too. We’ve never had mice and I always attribute it to having cats. I’m not sure what they’d do with a mouse or lizard, since they are strictly indoor kitties, but they love a good moth or daddy longleg hunt.
Allegra and Ruby are expert cricket hunters. 🙂
Former hamster owner here, so I empathize. However, I wish you would have let your cats at it. They would probably leave it at your bedroom door as a present for taking care of them so well! 🙂
Ha ha, the ending is not so sweet for the mouse in our house. That’s why they call us “housepanthers”. We think you shouldn’t turn your back on your girls for a few days. You just ruined their Thanksgiving.
No mouse in the world would stand a chance with my Tordie.
I am a champion Lizard rescuer, I will open the front door or door to that leads into the garage and sometimes a lizard will run in, and with six cats it will never survive, plus more than once I have found the remains of a lizard after it upset their tummies, so I will try to catch it without squashing it, or if one of my cats gets it try to catch the cat and get it to release the lizard, which then the lizard runs to hide or gets caught by another cat, I could probably make a lot of money by posting videos of me trying to save lizards from six cats in my house. I also am the chief lizard rescuer at work, the office staff get freaked when a lizard runs across their desks at work.
HAH! If I had videos of me and 4 or 5 of my cats trying to catch the mouse one snags in partially finished basement and then brings up the stairs and through the kitty door, only to let it loose so that group can all “play” with it…. we could video rivalry! I also try to “save” them and relocate them. Sometimes successful, sometimes not.
I also worry about what Maggie mentioned – what they might catch from the mice if eaten (none of the cats go out.) Only that one who brings them up seems to eat them, but generally vomits it right back up, so hopefully no parasites…
I mentioned in previous posts how if you see one mouse, there are others… previous owners did not take good care of this place and there was MUCH evidence! The mice haven’t been as prolific (or only the smarter ones are left – and yes, I see evidence of them still), but recently we had a little surge (2 brought up to kitchen, and worst nightmare, one snagged in my BR was brought to me and placed next to me on the bed – yuck! Mice don’t bother me, dead mice, that’s a different story!
So, the mousecapades continue, but today after cleaning the pellet stove in the solarium and watering a couple of plants, I discovered a SNAKE!!! Mice, not a big deal (except I would rather they all moved out – not good for your insulation, wiring, etc), but SNAKE????? Hopefully it finds it’s way back out the same way it came in!!!
I bet the girls were upset about not being able to play with the little mousie. My crew goes crazy when we get geckos in the house during the summer.
Lol
Loved iT! Always an interesting Reading!
MOL! We have had periods at our house with rats, and I had loads of fun chasing them and cornering them for my human to catch! (I have no idea what to do with them once they’re cornered.) For some reason, my human didn’t think it was as much fun as I did. My human’s boyfriend wound up setting humane traps and taking them away.
I’m with your human on this, Summer.
I’ve never seen a mouse anywhere in the house where my cats have lived. Only the attic or unfinished part of the basement. I’m not sure if it helps, but I leave fur in the finished side of the basement to discourage mice. Might be worth a try in your laundry room.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll try that, Debi! We certainly always have enough fur available!
That’s a cool idea! Sounds a lot nicer than leaving cat pee.
SO CUTE! I LOVE YOUR STORIES ;O)