the mice will play. And so they did. A few weeks ago, while the kids and I were in Georgia visiting my parents during my spring break, we dealt with another household pest -- some mice. We've had mice in the house before, months ago. I found their pellets under the kitchen sink, behind the trash can and plumbing. We tried a trap here and there but never caught anything, and eventually, they just disappeared. I'm not scared of mice, but they kind of freak me out with their skittering around in the dark. I usually make Lucy sleep in the kitchen when we've spotted one, just to keep them at bay.
But then the day I was leaving for Georgia, I opened up a cabinet in the kitchen to move some bagels into the refrigerator and found a nicely chewed hole in the bag and bottom bagel (one of which Oliver had just eaten for lunch). They'd chewed through a package of Ramen soup and left poop all over the cabinet. I left a note for Wes to do something about the mice.
When I returned home, however, nothing had been done -- and the mice had clearly been at play. They were obviously hanging out not only under the sink but now also in the pantry cabinet next to the refrigerator. We cleaned everything out, put down some kid-safe mouse poison, and set a trap under the kitchen sink.
It took a few days, and one night of me listening to a mouse unwrap the bait poison under the sink and (I have to assume) chow down on it. There were several more days of cleaning out mouse pellets -- the only sign of whether they'd been back or not. One of them managed to get the bait off of Wes's trap without getting snared, so we gave up on that and went just with the poison, hoping they'd make it outside the house before they died.
So for now, the mice are gone. We've seen neither skittering in the dark nor any poop. We've also fortunately neither found a dead mouse nor had one stink up the house. Between the ants, the mice, and the neighbor dog (who still visits several times a week and poops in our yard each time), it seems we're constantly being invaded. Fortunately, the bunny and the possum seem to be staying outside.
But then the day I was leaving for Georgia, I opened up a cabinet in the kitchen to move some bagels into the refrigerator and found a nicely chewed hole in the bag and bottom bagel (one of which Oliver had just eaten for lunch). They'd chewed through a package of Ramen soup and left poop all over the cabinet. I left a note for Wes to do something about the mice.
When I returned home, however, nothing had been done -- and the mice had clearly been at play. They were obviously hanging out not only under the sink but now also in the pantry cabinet next to the refrigerator. We cleaned everything out, put down some kid-safe mouse poison, and set a trap under the kitchen sink.
It took a few days, and one night of me listening to a mouse unwrap the bait poison under the sink and (I have to assume) chow down on it. There were several more days of cleaning out mouse pellets -- the only sign of whether they'd been back or not. One of them managed to get the bait off of Wes's trap without getting snared, so we gave up on that and went just with the poison, hoping they'd make it outside the house before they died.
So for now, the mice are gone. We've seen neither skittering in the dark nor any poop. We've also fortunately neither found a dead mouse nor had one stink up the house. Between the ants, the mice, and the neighbor dog (who still visits several times a week and poops in our yard each time), it seems we're constantly being invaded. Fortunately, the bunny and the possum seem to be staying outside.
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