topic Re: Me and My Designer Mouse in Community Chat

Me and My Designer Mouse

PickyPicky3 — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:51:33 GMT

I have had a mouse with unique fur coloring in my house for three months. It was still a baby when I first saw it; now it's full grown. He/she has dark camel-colored background fur with dark brown and black markings. Quite striking! I learned on line that tri-color mice are bred for sale as pets.

I've used various traps, but this mouse won't be caught. I've never seen any droppings or signs of anything being chewed. We usually see each other around 10:00 pm.

I don't want to call an exterminator for one friendly high class mouse. Maybe I should put out brie and crackers? I don't have pets.

Any ideas?

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Kachina624 — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:03:56 GMT

@PickyPicky3 I once had a mouse problem when I lived in a townhouse in Houston. I caught about 15 of them in traps and at least half were white. Obviously somebody's pet had escaped and was living the high life. I wasn't as hospitable as you.

I hate to tell you this but there's never just one.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

J Town Girl — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 03:23:31 GMT

Why don't you use a trap that catches the little guy alive and then release him away from your home.

I can't bear the thought of killing anything. I once caught a mouse with a live trap and took him /her to a local park. When I opened the trap door the mouse came out and for just a second he looked at me, and then he ran into the woods.

While I have no idea of how his life went after I released him, I just knew that I couldn't be the one to end it.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

gidgetgh — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:23:55 GMT

Ok, I'll be the one. I can be the one to end it. I don't want them living with me, for 3 minutes, let alone 3 months. They can carry illness and they don't belong in my living space. The thought makes me get chills. I would never sleep.

Call an exterminator Monday morning.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

eddyandme — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:24:00 GMT

I had an exterminator after a contractor pulled out tons of trees next to my property to put in two hundred houses!!! Eddy traced ther entry - around where the pipe is for the heating oil to go in.

Found out: 1) @Kachina624 is right. There never is only one!

2) they really don't necessarily seek cheese; assume crackers, etc

would be fine - if you want to sustain them - and they will multiply!

3) exterminators don't kill them: they just put down food traps and

the mice eat that stuff, get very thirsty and vacate the premises

in search of water. No harm done.

I suggest if you want to keep them, go to a pet store who can give you the proper food and 'housing' for them. If you let them roam free, you'll probably land up with a ton of mice.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Sweetbay magnolia — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:30:58 GMT

Quick and painless, whatever you choose.

I hate setting traps, myself - I'm always afraid I'll lose a finger - but they are effective.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Witchy Woman — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:32:25 GMT

@PickyPicky3

As another poster suggested, get a humane trap (I got mine on Amazon), and put peanut butter in it.

You might want to set up several and check them often.

I've had great luck with the humane traps and cannot stand the idea of killing a mouse.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Bri369 — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:33:51 GMT

I have a pest service every 3 months as a preventative measure. I do not share my home with rodents. We had some in the garage and it was taken care of quickly before they caused any damage or got into the house. I feel no regret or remorse

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

eddyandme — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:34:24 GMT

@J Town Girl wrote:
Why don't you use a trap that catches the little guy alive and then release him away from your home.

I can't bear the thought of killing anything. I once caught a mouse with a live trap and took him /her to a local park. When I opened the trap door the mouse came out and for just a second looked at me and then he ran into the woods.

While I have no idea of how his life went after I released him, I just knew that I couldn't be the one to end it.

@J Town Girl, I've tried those traps. I'd walk the mouse back into the woods and let it out; then, went way down the street to let it out. Although the mice couldn't eat the cracker left in the trap, they kept coming back!! I kept leaving traps, etc. The last time I tried the trap thing, walked into the woods to release it, the mouse did not want to leave!!!!! I had to hold the trap up and open, tap the other end, until it fell out and ran off. Thnik they thought it was some kind of game!

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Kachina624 — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:49:28 GMT

I've had them fall into slick-sided buckets and wastebaskets where they can't climb out. I take them outside and dump them out.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Kachina624 — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:56:53 GMT

Here is the latest thing in mouse traps and it's humane.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

deja vu — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:01:37 GMT

Any time I've had to set a trap I use peanut butter as the bait... I'm sorry to be the cruel extinguisher here. I use a sticky trap on each side of a snap one and all in a row against a baseboard.

I said I'm sorry !!

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

PickyPicky3 — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:05:22 GMT

I have tried traditional mousetraps, glue boards, and little cages. Nothing works. It may have been bred for trap-avoidance skills as well as appearance. I'm not new to mousecatching.

I prefer not to use poisons.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

itsmagic — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:08:47 GMT

We have had mice in the past but used a service to get rid of them. It’s true - there is never only one. They can gnaw on wires, etc. in your house and carry disease.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

hckynut — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:19:06 GMT

@PickyPicky3

1 of our 3 remaining felines is our mouser, and Lily our canine likes to join in the Chase. The good part is that most of the time he does not break the skin of the mouse. He comes and shows me his catch. My wife can't stand them, but doesn't want them to be killed.

I grab 1 of our paper towels off the roll, and I take it from his mouth and put them back outside. They are very much alive, as I mentioned in another "mouse" thread a while back, I got bit by 1 of them. Cleaned it up good and had no problems from it.

That's my mouse story for today. These are mice the color of a mouse, nothing distinctive about them.

hckynut

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Sooner — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:17:37 GMT

When you trap and release you just move the problem. There are enough mice in the world and they carry diseases.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

hckynut — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:24:16 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
When you trap and release you just move the problem. There are enough mice in the world and they carry diseases.

@Sooner

I know that is true. There are also people that carry diseases. From my understanding, mice exhalations are not aerosolized, as are those of the human species.

C'mon now, have you contracted a disease more often from a mouse or a human?
=^..^=

hckynut

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Sooner — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:32:03 GMT

@hckynut wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
When you trap and release you just move the problem. There are enough mice in the world and they carry diseases.

@Sooner

I know that is true. There are also people that carry diseases. From my understanding, mice exhalations are not aerosolized, as are those of the human species.

C'mon now, have you contracted a disease more often from a mouse or a human?
=^..^=

hckynut

@hckynut Well, if we compare the amount of contact to the resulting diseases and figure up that ratio, I don't know. The mice may be in front.

No mercy for mice here! If you are raised on a wheat farm, they aren't cute. They can multiply explosively and then you are fighting an uphill and chemical war that might be hard to win. Especially as cool weather comes around and more try to get in your house or grain bin.

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

eddyandme — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:46:55 GMT

@hckynut

My Eddy caught two mice: one in the mudroom, which he proudly ran into the kitchen with and presented at my feet! I know I should have thanked him, but like your wife, I don't like mice. I promptly got the pooper scooper and put it in the woods.

The second mouse he caught had somehow climbed up the laundry shoot in the bathroom. He ran into the kitchen, then the mudroom, then his yard, where I caught up with him and made him drop it. Got the scooper and into the woods.

Sadly both mice were deceased as Eddy's teeth are sharp - so assume they felt no pain.

Though a little handicapped - when he runs his back legs can't hold him up so he drags them - my guy is super fast when he sees a mouse, rabbit, etc. He's half Cocker Spaniel and I found out that this breed does go after mice, etc.

Ironically, my friends have a huge cat, Grayson. Grayson doesn't catch the field mice - or anything else - they have to do it!

Re: Me and My Designer Mouse

Sushismom — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 21:22:29 GMT

I've used the electronic mouse traps very successfully in the past. Haven't had a mouse in the house for quite a while. None of my cats at the time were mousers. I now have only one cat and I don't think he's a mouser, either.