Well, according to the folks at the stores I went to yesterday, I have gone off the deep end.
Why do you ask?
The other night a mouse was seen out in the playroom. Geez, a mouse in the house! Come on you guys. You have plenty of room outside, no need to come indoors.
Then came the debating whether to put out a trap or let it be. Knowing the damage mice can cause with electrical wires and insulation plus not having the money to repair the damage, the trap was set.
Not too long after it was set, it went off. A quick look revealed sure enough the mouse had been caught, but sadly it wasn't a clean quick kill. Poor little thing struggled and squeaked a bit before finally passing away.
That's when I decided to get some humane mouse traps. So off to town I went. After several stops at different stores there wasn't one to be found. In fact, the looks I got when I inquired about them was on the lines of, " This lady is a nut!". "Why in the world do I want to live trap mice and then set them free" was the question posed to me. " You do know that they carry diseases and will make you sick?" I was asked.
Answer each time, "Yes I realize they carry diseases. Especially if you don't clean and let the poo and pee just lay around. No, I don't want them in my house to multiply a hundred fold. But, a life is a life. I cannot let a living creature suffer if I have anything to do with it. Yes, I take the bees and yellow jackets and ladybugs out of the water troughs when I see them in there so they won't drown.".
Then came the question about how I felt about flies. "Do I save them too?" Okay, no I don't. The flies can live outside where they belong, but I do draw the line when they come into the house.
There wasn't a humane trap to be found. Hmmm. Maybe I have gone off the deep end when it comes to saving the critters. With all the cats around here, a mouse is very rarely seen. No droppings in the barn. None in or around the chicken house. Nothing in the hay area. So maybe there really was just one that got into the house.
Have I gone off the deep end? Have I gone too far?
Oh, in answer to whether I will be complaining about winter and snow and rain and the cold temps. Nope. Not one complaint. I adore winter especially the snow.
Until next time..................
We have mousie humane traps here. Try a Google search and you'll find them. We don't think you are nuts, says the lady typing for the goat looking over her shoulder. Tee hee.
ReplyDeleteSo surprised you couldn't find a live trap for the mice! I have had mine for years and occasionally I catch two at a time! We catch 'em and let them out across the street, they are short, they can't see the house from there ;o)
ReplyDeleteThanks Isobelle. I will Google it. And thanks for the giggle!! :)
ReplyDeleteSharon- Glad to hear you catch them live too. Now I don't feel like I have gone off the deep end. :)
ReplyDeleteWe do the same thing--My husband refused to allow any kind of traps for the mice in our barn. So, he gets them out, and I don't go in there--It works! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think humane traps are pretty darn common. And I will be happy to hear your delight for the winter weather! I grew up in the snow belt, so I've had just about enough winter for a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteOk, so I am not the only one, huh? I am very amazed that there are no humane traps around. Googling would be my suggestion, if a certain lovely goat hadn't suggested it first... I seem to even remember the local Wally World had some in this area. But things seem to come and go, and your local stores might not have sold enough to keep them in stock. Will not comment on what this means...
ReplyDeleteCat
With four cats in the house, I don't have many mice, but I do have a couple of humane traps in the basement. Little mousies get put in the car and taken for a ride, to be let out in a big field. So, nope, I don't think you're nuts. Hmmm, unless I am too.
ReplyDeleteHow's your sick chicken doing?
Every life is precious so we should do our best to remember that and act accordingly. I once found a flying ant (well, that is what I call them, they look like ants with wings) in the deep see. The wings were wet so it couldn't fly. I put it on my finger and swam with one hand only. When I got on the shore, I splashed it with some fresh water and watched it dry its wings and eventually fly away. I feel silly just writing about this:)) And yes, people saw me. But I CAN give the meanest look:))
ReplyDeleteWhen we used to only have older cats, who were slower in the mousing dept, we had mice in the house. And we had to have traps, and yes, I'm nuts, too, because they were humane traps bought at home depot. The mice we caught we brought down the street & released.
ReplyDeleteOne particularly cold & freezing winter a few mice who were caught lived inside in a mouse cage until the weather got nicer for them to be released and there was no fear of the poor little guys freezing. One of them, a female, became very friendly. The next spring we released her, and a month later, after she had a litter of babies with her, we found her out near the woodpile where we released her. And she was still friendly, she came right up to us, babies and all.
Nope, you're not the only crazy one out there!
~Lynn
You're not nuts at all! We found live traps at the Home Depot (he types ashamedly), as we spotted some mice in our place. Unfortunately, we don't have any cats in the house, just dogs (one of whom is an awful cat chaser). Alas, our live traps have proved a woeful failure, as the mice are still with us and the traps remain empty. I may have to resort to another type. We had a real mouse problem in our bunny barn, but we imported a couple of barn cats from barn cats, incorp. a rescue group that takes mostly feral cats, spays/neuters them and provides them to folks, anyway these two boys went to work and eradicated the mouse problem and received a good home. I just wish my live traps would work.
ReplyDeleteBefore we actually moved into the house with our 3 cats, we had house mice, and pretty little deer mice here. My friends laughed at me, but I bought a humane trap on line. The first time I released one, I watched him run right back into the house through a tiny crack. He actually beat me back into the house! My cats and I haven't seen a mouse in a long time.
ReplyDeleteWell it's like you said...a life is a life...doesn't matter what critters they are....I do draw the line with some insects though and I do feel bad about that....but...! I am flagging this post for keeps to remind you in the winter about not complaining lol....
ReplyDeleteI went through that same problem last fall. I couldn't find a humane one either. I'll have to see if I can find one. I must say, though, I've never seen a cat be humane with a mouse!
ReplyDeleteTeresa
Oh goodness ~ there is NO way I could harm that sweet little mousey face either! ADORABLE!!! As for a fly in the house, I don't have to worry about that, my kitty takes care of that. Nature taking care of nature. That's how it's supposed to be, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteLove all your thoughts below (especially about the fur being 'in' this year... grrrrrr!!!), love your blog ~ so glad I found it!
I will be back!
xo Catherine
I should have added that I found you through Kim at Life at Golden Pines. :)
ReplyDeleteTake care!
xo Catherine
No, you are not nuts. You are kind and compassionate. I would do the same thing. I am sure you will be able to find humane traps online somewhere. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWell, what you NEED of course is a cat in the house! hahahaha... Says one cat lady to another. :-) I have something living in the ceiling of my house (drop ceilings) and I swear it has a cat toy up there as I hear it pushing it around! Haven't figured out how to do anything about it yet. Yes, I have the live traps too, but I think if a mouse ever got into the house now, it would be a massacere with the kittens on duty. One time in my life I set the regular traps and lay there for hours listening for that awful snap. The next morning, there were no mice in the traps, I sprung them and threw them in the trash and went out and got some live traps.
ReplyDeleteTammy
I feel the same as you....guess we are both nuts! I agree that each living creature has the right to live it's life.
ReplyDeleteTry online for those 'live' traps.
We have some humane mouse traps and I always love to watch them run and bounce away. Walmart used to sale them. Lowes had them too. But you can order them from a hundred places online.
ReplyDeleteWe have 6 indoor cats but the mice every once in a while seem to brave coming into the house. Some of them make it to the traps which the cats can't get to. But some times the cats find the mice before they make it to the live traps. I always feel so bad when the cats find them first .
But good luck. Its great that you have decided to get humane traps! Good luck.