Further mouse news
The famous mouse has now been spotted helping itself to turkey whiskas chunks out of Miff's bowl. It was licking its whiskers in satisfaction when I walked in. Miff has meanwhile taken to hiding in the study on a bookshelf rather than face predatory rodents who bully her mercilessly in the sitting room.
I am running out of ideas as to how to establish a vermin-free household. It's a plague, you know, ( hat-tip newshound/prophet of mousedoom Hendo)
I would like to reassure everyone who has been emailing me expressing concern for Miff's welfare, that she is much recovered following the antibiotics course, receiving daily affection and adoration, despite her utter uselessness as a predator, and is losing weight steadily as per vet's diet instructions. Meanwhile, the mouse is putting weight on, and also appears to be extremely comfortable.
UPDATE: The end of the saga
UPDATE: The end of the saga
Labels: light relief, mouse in the house
posted by Rachel at 5:03 pm
Why not get a humane trap or something from these people
http://www.martleyelectronics.co.uk/mouse_traps.htm#sureset_mouse_trap
Ive got one of the electronic zappers and it used to be really worthwhile but they soon learn that its not worth going in there.
Glue traps seem to be the way forward.
Death to vermin etc
Henry x
Miff is, to be honest, a disgrace to catkind. Even though she does look very lovely sitting on the books.
I would offer to lend you my cat, but I live several hundred miles away. I suspect Miff might get the idea if she saw another cat killing mice.
As for getting rid of the rodents, have you tried the plug-in boxes that make an ultrasonic noise? Mice don't like the sound, apparently.
Hi Rachel, myself and Nyree had tons of them in Bounds Green and we tried traditional traps (ignored by the mice) humane traps (mice took the bait without getting caught) and eventually we gave in and got pest control man in (lots of money but did the trick) After that we had seasonal invasions during every early spring when they were obviously breeding up a storm. I ended up buying the same blue pellets that pest control man used (from B&Q)and pulling up floorboards to put the stuff down/retrieve corpses. Not much fun but better than hearing the rodents scuttling around in the wall cavity behind our bed...yech!
Every house should have a mouse. My cats bring them in regularly in case I'm hungry. Then the dogs slobber on them and they die of shock. The bin always contains a mouse or its innards.
You could just adopt the mouse :)
This just gets funnier, thank you
Rachel, simple solution - kick the cat out and keep the mouse as a pet. You can get him a cage and a wheel to run around on, and feed him cheese and other mouse things
Rachel, this stuff is priceless.
Do I sense another book coming on?
Joanna
They've obviously escaped from the same vivisection lab, where they had their brains swapped. Don't ask me how.
Hey Rachel
You may not want to kill it (just catch it) so when I saw this I thought of you
http://www.instructables.com/id/EBC1ZQ5F4WXXKZ7/?ALLSTEPS
Cheers
Parky
PS our cat, Fred, thinks it is the height of catly power to catch a frog. A mouse? Too much like hard work!
rachel, don't wish to worry you... but are you perfectly sure it's the same mouse?
(if you do resort to one of those humane traps, i'm told mice are awfully fond of peanut butter)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6935471.stm
Get the Council to come along. They are usually free.
My girlfriend says that I should come over to you with some of my apple pie. The cake would probably kill the poor mouse.
It's a little-known fact that soap is the favourite food stuff of mices (our company pest controller told me the other day when I had him in to deal with our accountant!)
Box trap with soap at the end & then you can release the little blighter in nearest park.
Great puddy tat piccies by the way! Keep 'em coming.
the best mouse trap that i have ever come across is one my mum gave me from cameroon. i didn't need it as i had a rather savage cat back then, but i liked it.
if you are any good at weaving, buy some supple but strong weavable strips of bamboo. weave it into a long, narrow cone shape and secure the end so that the mouse can't get out.
the idea is that the mice can get in - but they can't get out. all africans use them and they are absolutely great for catching rodents.
if you don't quite catch what i'm trying to explain, i'll take a photo of my mouse trap (presently used for decoration, would you believe it) and send it to you.
What's all this about 'releasing humanely into the wild' ? We (that's me and my extended family who take care to be seen only one at a time) are having far too much of a good time at Rachel's expense for that.
Traps ? seen 'em all, defeated them. Bring on the peanut butter and raisins ...
BTW that new book of Rachel's tasted just great, and the remains made a perfect nest ...
I once had a mouse who caught himself by leaping into a plastic bucket. Eejit creature.
The other way of foiling the wee beasties is to stuff EVERY mouse hole / crack in the skirting boards / tiny gaps around water pipes etc with wire wool, as they can't chew through.
Oh, and removing all food from the house eventually works :)
Obviously, Miff is bored and has turned to her whiskas for comfort.
Cats are better off in pairs. I think little Miff needs a feline friend. Then both of them can go hunting together.
Didn't I say I LOVE your cat. But the mouse less - if it was mine. Make sure it doesn't find a spouse...Otherwise can't offer solutions. We have a similar problem - and a not quite as useless and much smaller cat ....but still no willing mouser. And don't the little dears know it.
Fraid someone beat you to the blog for mice
http://getridofmice.blogspot.com/
Henry x
Rachel - good to meet you courtesy of the thinker! From another writer...
Overweight cat health news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6933482.stm
iainc
You can forget those subsonic mouse frightener things. We tried them, they are crap. We tried the "flattened toilet roll with peanut butter dangled off the edge of the table over a bucket" -also crap.
We resorted to borrowing a neighbours cat. Would put Miff's nose out of joint but you need a proven killer eh.
You could try traps but with the recent experience my friend had they don't work. She also had one of those plug things that makes a noise that you can't hear but the mouse can hear and is meant to keep them away. She came home to find the mouse sitting right next to it!!!
Your best bet is the Council but it isn't free. It's free for rats but not mice.
Borrowing a cat that might catch it may be the best option :).
Friend did some food research when she lost both her cats in two weeks. Wound up adopting two very obese cats, got them slim(mer) on only wet food (reading labels, cats don't need grain or sugar), and exercising. Not having kibble around might be less of a mouse inducement as well.