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[tuftedduck]

TD rises from his sickbed, Lazarus like but twice as ugly, to plague you all once again with drivel and nonsense.


In this instance, plague is the right word as the title of the post does not refer to a PC mouse, but to the real furry job.

A few days back i noticed tell-tale signs of meeces in my outhouse and have been diligently placing my one and only mouse trap in a suitable location.
Over the last five days, I have snared and disposed of five of the little critturs.............don't like killing, but you can't have rodents running about.

Well, and to the mystery. Last night, I baited the trap as usual but on going to check on the slaughter this am..............no mice caught.............in fact no mouse trap.

The trap had gone ! 

If a mouse had been caught but not killed, it may have been able to drag the trap a bit in an effort to get to safety, but in that event it is for sure a strong mouse and not one that I would want to meet on a dark night.
Having searched the outhouse, cannot find any evicence to that effect.

Could a dead or dying mouse have attracted a predator ? Dogs, cats, foxes, badgers could not get into the building...........a stoat or a weasel might but there is no sign of a feast or a struggle to get the trap plus mouse out of the building.

What are the opinions as to this mystery ?

[dave.m]

TD,
Doesn't explain your missing mousetrap but thought it might cheer you up and take your mind off the plague:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPtlWjutr18

dave

[tuftedduck]

 

[Accordion]

Having just read a story by Terry Pratchett featuring intelligent rats, maybe the mice got together and carted the trap off somewhere.

[dave.m]

TD,
This where you went wrong.
You should have used a shoebox lid upsidedown to prevent the mouse nicking the trap.
Fourth para down explains it:
http://www.essortment.com/all/mousetrapdispo_ruua.htm

So it must be somewhere in the area, possibley with a mouse tail or leg still caught in it.

dave

[oldfogy]

A good bait for mice is "Chocolate" if other baits fail that is.

PS.
I liked the video, excellent.

[tuftedduck]

I hadn't thought of the shoe box lid trick.............will give it a go (if I ever get my trap back  ) but if these rodents are of the Accordion super intelli variety, I'm sure they would find a way round that.
Just thought.................missing trap..intelli-mice..................must get onto ebay to see if they have posted it for sale yet.

Yup, chocolate is a good bait, and one used to great effect this week, until, that is, this mystery unfolded.

[oldfogy]

I had a funny thing that used to happen some years ago.

Occasionally I would kill a large spider and intend to clear it up later, although I usually forgot about it and the next morning it was gone.
However, I set-up my video camera one night trained upon this dead spider, lo and behold, shortly after I had gone to bed a mouse came out and eat it, mystery solved.

Except I had no inclination that I had mice in the house, never a sign of them.

[tickmike]

Living in the country side we get a lot of mice, from our local council we can get free poison pellets.
In the past I have even tied the mouse trap with a piece of wire to a post.

This reminds me when I used to give my free help to a local school.
One weekend I set about making about 10 plastic box's with a hole in the side and a mouse trap inside (this was to stop the children getting there fingers trapped).
As I took my daughter to school on the Monday morning I went around picking all the box's up (each had a dead mouse in it ) .
The head mistress then shouted at me that it was cruel and it would upset the children     I then pointed out that these are rodents and had been found all over the school,  they run across the classroom floor during lessons, made a nest in one of the children's drawers, in the kitchen, gone in the children's lunch box's. the school was over run with them.
I had a word with the council and said that because it was a charity run school they should charge (not council run), But because I had known him for some time he let me have the poison pellets and some tamper proof box's and with in a few weeks all the mice had gone

[Ezzer]

If you come across a live one face to face I use a spray we have on our vans which is in effect wd40, but I have a faulty nozzle which sends out a jet insteand of a spray, It blinds the little buggers so they can't getyou then either a shovel in a guilotene like fashion or a hammer does the trick.

They pop up in the underground boxes through the cableing ducts 

[oldfogy]

Ezzer,

Your just wicked and cruel. 

[tuftedduck]

Yes, I am out in the countryside too, and mice are not an unusual occurance.

These ones are field mice which are attractive animals in a way, at least when compared to house mice. Don't like killing them, but can't let them spread to the house.

OF has spider eating mice  ............good grief ! I think it is best not to think too hard about what is creeping around even the cleanest of houses, you would never get any sleep if you did.

Well, I took everything out the outbuilding, swept and scrubbed the floor and walls, shook out everything, turned the boxes over and shook them out etc etc..........and no sign of the trap.
Did find their entry hole, now suitably blocked up with cement, but no way could a trap have been dragged down it.much too small.

Mystery remains, then, and a trip tomorrow into the bright lines for more traps.     

[oldfogy]

I hope you remembered to mix broken glass in with the cement.
That was their doorway, so they will just open it up again.

[Pwiggler]

TD - check under your pillow before sleeping tonight ....... mouse revenge !!!

[tuftedduck]

TD - check under your pillow before sleeping tonight ....... mouse revenge !!!