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Life is sometimes sort of okay because...

Started by House of Usher, 23 March, 2009, 05:17:47 PM

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Tiplodocus

During the Great Mouse War of 2000, we were up to our ears in humane traps. One day I took five of the buggers out and released them - it was about  three hundred yards from our house and across a river but I'm sure they just came back.

Except for one. I released that quite late at night and saw it scampering away and I was feeling all proud about how humane I was. And an owl swooped down, picked it up and carried it off.

I'm ashamed to say this ended in putting poison down when they started getting into Tiny (when he really was Tiny) Tips bedroom. The noises stopped. There was a strange smell from some parts of the house for a couple of weeks and then the war was over.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

JayzusB.Christ

I found another one in the humane trap last night - Bastard.  I'd really thought that was it.  I've set proper traps now.  I don't want to use poison - apparently it's a horrific way to go; and also local pets could find their poisonous corpses - but I have about 12 old fashioned traps now, so it's war.  I'm considering the ship's cat option too - trouble is, in normal non-pandemic times I'm sometimes away all day or even a couple of days without planning to be, and don't want to leave old Crowley (which would be its name, after my folks' old cat Alistair) neglected.

My brother and I, when we were small, once rescued two mice from the cat.  We put them in a cage, delighted with our new pets.  After one night together, one had literally disembowelled the other one.  Mice aren't nice people.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Tiplodocus

I felt terrible about the poison at the time and still do. But it was effective, apparently it gets taken back to any nest and do takes out whole gangs of them. And we could keep it out of other animals way. 

Wouldn't countenance it now though.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 23 November, 2020, 11:51:01 AM
I felt terrible about the poison at the time and still do. But it was effective, apparently it gets taken back to any nest and do takes out whole gangs of them. And we could keep it out of other animals way. 

Wouldn't countenance it now though.

Ah yeah, I wasn't passing judgement on you or anything. I may yet have to resort to it myself - I hope not but if it's the only way, then I'll consider it.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

paddykafka

I was listening to a guy on a chat show last week and he was talking about the time that he caught a mouse in one of the traps he had set. As he went to remove the mouse from the trap, it bit him on the finger. This resulted in the chap having to fork out over a 100 euro for a Tetanus shot and doctor's visit. To cap off a bad day, he had to cancel on a social or work engagement that he was looking forward to attending that day.

Might be a good idea to invest in a thick pair of industrial gloves, Jayzus.


Tiplodocus

One thing with mice is that they weigh bugger all. I could barely tell when one of the traps had a mice in it or not. Opening them up was always exciting...
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Barrington Boots

Forget a ships cat, what you want is a ships snake. That'll clean up your mouse problem in no time and it won't care if you shoot off for a couple of days as they're uncaring bastards at the best of times.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 23 November, 2020, 01:28:06 PM
One thing with mice is that they weigh bugger all. I could barely tell when one of the traps had a mice in it or not. Opening them up was always exciting...

Yep, it's like Christmas every day with a humane trap  ;).

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 23 November, 2020, 01:37:53 PM
Forget a ships cat, what you want is a ships snake. That'll clean up your mouse problem in no time and it won't care if you shoot off for a couple of days as they're uncaring bastards at the best of times.

NOW we're talking.  (I laughed out loud at the expression 'ship's snake'.)
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Rately

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 23 November, 2020, 01:50:45 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 23 November, 2020, 01:28:06 PM
One thing with mice is that they weigh bugger all. I could barely tell when one of the traps had a mice in it or not. Opening them up was always exciting...

Yep, it's like Christmas every day with a humane trap  ;).

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 23 November, 2020, 01:37:53 PM
Forget a ships cat, what you want is a ships snake. That'll clean up your mouse problem in no time and it won't care if you shoot off for a couple of days as they're uncaring bastards at the best of times.

NOW we're talking.  (I laughed out loud at the expression 'ship's snake'.)

Brilliant  :lol:

Now, I think I prefer the thought of mice running around, rather than a snake that could just appear out of nowhere at an inopportune moment, leaving me shrieking!

Woolly

Me and a friend once saved a shrew from a shoe, and then had to watch in horror after freeing it as one of her cats caught and ate it right in front of us.

Shame, as 'shrew in a shoe' sounds great!

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Woolly on 23 November, 2020, 04:13:09 PM
Me and a friend once saved a shrew from a shoe, and then had to watch in horror after freeing it as one of her cats caught and ate it right in front of us.

Shame, as 'shrew in a shoe' sounds great!

Oh man, you've just brought back another memory I've tried to shut out. Another mouse we rescued - we put it in a cardboard box. My brother thought it would be hilarious to show it to the Other Cat, full sure that he could stop the cat from doing exactly what cats are supposed to. He was too late, needless to say, and the cat killed the thing in a split second. I was traumatised and he refused to speak about it afterwards. In fact I don't we've ever mentioned it since, 30-odd years down the line.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Dandontdare

An old flatmate spent ages designing and constructing a humane mouse trap, and on the very first night, he caught a live mouse. He then set his mind to what he should do with it  - by the time he'd reached a decision, the poor thing had either starved or died of fright, so not that humane after all.

And when I was about 10, me and a schoolfriend made a fake mouse out of painted cotton wool and string, stuck it in one of the traps around his cellar, applied a big dollop of ketchup and then took it to show his mum - I swear she must've jumped three feet in the air!

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Dandontdare on 23 November, 2020, 08:51:18 PM
An old flatmate spent ages designing and constructing a humane mouse trap, and on the very first night, he caught a live mouse. He then set his mind to what he should do with it  - by the time he'd reached a decision, the poor thing had either starved or died of fright

I have a feeling the one I caught last night may have had a similar fright-related death.  I emptied the trap in the dark and didn't stick around to watch, but it didn't seem too lively when it hit the ground.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Mardroid

We had issues with mice in our house too a couple of years ago.I'd hear them scurrying around late at night in my bedroom.

I got some humane traps, and they worked! I tend to be awake very late and I'd hear the moment the trap closed. First time I made the mistake of opening the trap to check (as rightfully mentioned above, they really are very light) and it jumped out rather startling me.

From then on I'd make sure I left the trap close sans take the trap down the bottom of our garden and open it there. Sometimes there was nothing, but quite a few times a little fella would scuttle out. I think I must have caught over 8 in total. Sometimes 2-3 nights running. Or maybe it was the same mouse returning. Down the bottom of the garden isn't really far enough (I think you're supposed to take them at least a mile away) but as this would always happen in the early hours of the morning, and I didn't want to go for an nighttime ramble, or leave them in the trap for hours, I compromised with the garden.

Eventually they stopped due to a combination of my trapping and my dad taking measures to enclose the inside of the cupboards (I forget exactly what he did) preventing them accessing food, etc.

This year we had rats in our garage though. I never saw them, but they would help themselves to the fish food we had stored there any even chewed through the lid of a plastic container to get to it! This was after I had relocated the food on top of our freezer, and the blighters would still find their way up there.

I'd smell their urine and hear them scuttle away when I'd open the garage door at night. I bought some rat traps, but this time the traps did not work at all. I'm not sure why. I'm sure I put them in the correct areas. I think rats are just that much more intelligent than mice.

In the end we relocated the food and the rats just stopped their raids. Also cleared up a nest they'd made from the ends of a mop. I haven't heard any scuttling or the smells (well, occasionally cat pee which smells different). I'm sure their still around outside, which is fine. (Unless the foxes have gobbled them up or scared them off. They've been around a lot lately.) I actually like that the rats are about- but I'm glad they're staying outside.

That's not the only thing that's been in our garage. One day I'll tell you about the snake*, if you like, but this post is getting a bit long.

*A wild snake, not a pet. A grass snake in this case.**

** I watched QI the other day, and I learned something interesting about snakes from that Stephen Fry. Did you know that ALL snakes are venomous? This includes snakes that kill by constriction like pythons and boas. And yes our grass snakes have venom also, although if they bite you, you'll suffer nothing worse than a mildly burning rash. Apparently the venom of the 'non venomous' snakes just has a very low toxicity. I get the impression it's so low that it isn't any good as a weapon for them (there was mention of it aiding with digestion of prey already killed) but its there.

This is apparently a relatively recent finding. (Relative as I saw the episode on Dave, which means the episode is probably 2-5 years old.) Oh and Komodo dragons have venom too. In their case, it's nasty, and will likely kill you very slowly, if untreated. Their bite was known to be toxic, but for years it was thought to be toxins due to bacteria from gum disease, etc, resulting from rotting meat between their teeth. Just a few years ago it was discovered they actually employ a kind of venom.

So much for me ending the post without wittering on about snakes. Heh.

JayzusB.Christ

Well I never knew all snakes were venomous.  I remember in Thailand that the green ones were but the red ones weren't, sadly, as the green ones were the ones you couldn't spot (though the locals were way better at spotting them than us foreigners).

As for the mouse situation, I just checked the traps down in the bilge and they were the only ones with dead mice in them, so I put down five more traps.  I felt like a right bastard, I have to say - the only things I've knowingly killed in my adult life have been mosquitoes and other bitey insects.  Even the wasps I just trap and throw out.  Spiders I used to hate but now like, and I let them stay and do their bit for pest control.

I suppose I eat meat, so I can't consider myself too morally high and mighty when it comes to animal welfare, but I did feel bad for those mice and hope it was quick.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"