Roger, I can see your point, really I do, but I guess it depends on what condition Jespah would like the mouse to be.
Is it better to have a free and independent mouse, happy, self-sufficient and kind,
or a debilitated, miserable mouse, who struggles and works for the benefit of others only because of his dependency on their Velveeta?
I think a mouse that can feed itself and share its good fortune with others would be a good thing, as long as we ourselves had the consideration, tact and willfullness to remain good friends.
A mouse that knows how to fish could be a formidable enemy.
Can we take the risk of teaching others how to be free?
I'll have to ponder with that one for awhile.
These are all really great and amusing thoughts ,worthy of a call-in to Rush Limbaugh (please somebody do it) but I must bring you back to reality. Mice are not solitary animals, they travel in masses . They are now looking for winter quarters. Where there is one.....
the thought of our worthy jespah on top of a kitchen chair, shrieking and pointing and demanding that Mr. jespah 'DO SOMETHING!' has given me a smirk that it may require coffee to erase!
Sorry jes, but I say kill the little bahstids!
Masses? Why do you think I mentioned the mousie contraceptive?
What is velveeta?
I had a cat which used to catch 'em alive, and put 'em in my ear. At 3.00 am, usually. From my ear - with me barely, after a while, waking up - they went to a box in my bedside table drawer, and from there to the great outdoors - but waaaaay down the road.
I guess the cat dandee puts paid to that one though.
Unless she gets a Sphynx?
Here's what I did, Jespah, when I had a similar problem. I had been working late one night in the back shed and upon returning to my shack and turning the lights on I discovered 11 small mice in the center of my kitchen floor. They were nibbling on an ear of corn which I had dropped the previous week. When they saw me, the mice scattered to various hiding spots around the kitchen, but I knew the little bastards would come back out as soon as I went to bed.
I opened up my cupboard and took out a quart of Jack Daniels. Next I loaded my shotgun and laid it on the kitchen table. I then turned off the lights with the exception of a small Mickey Mouse nightlight which serves as sort of an eternal flame in the Ratzenhofer house. I sat down and started drinking the whiskey... quietly. One bottle later I was getting pretty drunk, but the mice had not yet appeared. I grabbed another bottle. Around dawn I dozed off. When I awoke, the mice were back at the corn. I grabbed my shotgun.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
I kept firing and reloading. The noise was deafening. Plates shattered, furniture explodes, pipes ruptured. A cloud of dust from the sheetrock filled the air. I choked and gasped and tried to see if the damn mice were gone. When the dust finally settled... I threw my hands skyward in a triumphant gesture. I HAD DEFEATED THE MICE! The little sons of bitches were either vaporized or so damn scared that they took off for the hills. They never came back.
One of these days I am going to get around to tidying up the kitchen.
So, anyways, that's my method. Try it. Make sure you let me know how things worked out for you.
Gus
per omnia secula secularum. AMENSKI
I had a friend who came up with an amusing solution for a rat problem. He left out two bowls one night, one with water, the other with plaster of Paris. Sure enough, the next day, the rat was stiff as a board, and stone-cold dead, so to speak.
Search the entire forum and throw in abuzz; you are not going to get an anti-rodent statement from this person. Yet, what is the value of freedom and education to a mouse - if they're handed to in on a platter?
Keep them for a food emergency. They taste like chicken.
Jespah, you've provoked some delightful conversation.
Unfortunately, my contribution will be illusion busting.
The Have-A-Heart traps are not very humane. Mice--like all other animals--are territorial. If you trap your unwanted beastie and let it go "down the road a piece" you are probably dooming it to a terrible death.
He won't be able to find safe shelter. He doesn't know reliable sources for food or water.
He may well be infringing on the territory of Mouse A who will drive him into the territory of Mouse B who will harry him over the boundary to the territory of Mouse C.....
Realistically, the old fashioned traps that snap are more humane.
Good luck.
Mice taste like chicken huh ? Cats like chicken so they like mice as well. I spose on the same comparison, rats must taste like turkey & dogs like turkey so........................................
Well in fact dogs will eat just about everything except cats
more dark meat on a mouse.
o&k: I think the way it works is, that if you don't know what it tastes like, you say it tastes like chicken. In my town, when they bring in a dog to the animal shelter, and they can't identify the breed, they call it a "Lab." I have eaten deep fried chicken in fast food places that doesn't taste like chicken.
Olen, I've eaten beefburgers that never saw a cow, hamburgers that never saw a pig & chicken that never saw daylight. I'm going right off meat products these days.
Okay, hmm, let me see if I've got this straight. Plus, I'll give you all some more information, though you seem to be doing just fine without it. :-D
The mouse was on the stove (on top of the grill plate) and then skittered inside the top part of the stove, where the electronic clock is (it's a new stove, maybe a year or 2 old, something like that. It's almond-colored, with black trim if that matters). So I think it's living on bits of crumbs from the grill plating and wiring. I fully expect to leave for a day and find it to have rewired the kitchen.
So, my questions to you are:
- is Ripple a good electricity conductor?
- do mice follow the electrical code?
- if I feed a mouse Velveeta (dlowan, it's this fakey cheese that tastes sort of like plastic) and Wonder Bread, will that affect the taste? Of the mouse, that is.
- if white wine goes with peanut butter, is there a more specific white wine that goes with smooth versus chunky peanut butter? That is, is it Zinfandel with smooth and Riesling with chunky, or something like that?
- if the wine must be served in a paper bag, how do I find bags small enough for a mouse to carry?
- if I shoot up my kitchen, do you think my drunken (possibly on Ripple; I can't be too sure, but I suspect it's more likely to be kegs of cheap beer) next-door neighbors will notice? Do you think they'll invite me over in the morning for flat beer and leftovers?
- knowing that my yard is one giant rodential ecosystem, does that explain why the 2 fig shoots we planted last year were uprooted? Do you suppose the mouse colony living in the wiring of my stove (good thing the burners are gas or I wouldn't be able to cook mouse or anything else) is cultivating figs to go with their Velveeta and Wonder Bread hors d'ouevres?
- and, last but not least, if they're having a mouse party, why wasn't I invited?
PS I did not climb on top of a chair and eek, as I was already upstairs doing my A2K duty of, um, typing snarky remarks. Yeah, that's it. But I assure you, SealPoet, that if I were downstairs during the discovery of said rodent I would have climbed up on one of the kitchen stools (there are no chairs in that room. I have no idea why) and eeked.
Carry on.
I guess this means we haven't solved the problem to your complete satisfaction - yet?
I just want to read what you'll all come up with.
mice carry Hanta . Something else to throw in this fun laced mix.
Usually just deer mice, and there more common here than up there, aren't they?
