I was about to go all home alone on this mouse
@shaggin (71666)
United States
December 5, 2017 8:07am CST
My cat is old and doesn't catch mice any longer. I tried a live trap a few times but the mice escaped somehow so I had resort to buying mouse traps.
For three days I caught one each day. Then for 6 days one kept eating the peanut butter but escaping the trap.
I bought 4 new traps and was going to put them all around each other. If you ever watched the movie "Home Alone" you know what I am picturing.
I went down to set them all up and could not find the empty trap where it had been. I started thinking how smart this mouse was to carry the trap away so it couldn't be used anymore.
Then I realized that wasn't very likely and got searching around with a flashlight to find it. It had gotten its tail caught in the trap and fallen about 4 1/2 feet. It was still alive but not much. I pried the trap open and got the mouse out and put it outside away from the house.
I couldn't bring myself to kill it so I hope it either dies fast or was just stunned from the fall and scampered off after. I felt sick over this for hours after.
14 people like this
10 responses
@DianneN (246838)
• United States
9 Dec 17
How awful to go through that. Imagine how sick I get when Doodles catches a mouse and brings it to me. He actually crunched through one and I wretched. Now, I've taught him to let it go sonit can see it's mommy, daddy, grammy, and grampy. Would you believe he listens to me? He even did it with a chipmunk! First, I have to tell him thankyou and that he's a good boy. lol
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
9 Dec 17
Wow what a smart cat to listen to what you tell it. That goes against their natural hunting instincts so that shows how much he loves and respects you! I set three traps tonight all in a square where it would get trapped in but somehow it ate the peanut butter and didn’t get caught 
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
9 Dec 17
@DianneN my boyfriend said they must be babies to get in and out without setting the trap. The one that had the tail pinch stole the peanut butter for days and he wasn’t a baby so I don’t know. They do not leave any trace of peanut butter on the trap but then when I try to put more on I snap my fingers lol
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
6 Dec 17
Uhm... unless you put the mouse close enough to another house that it could get into it, it will come right back to your house and you will have to trap it again, Shaggin.
You should have flushed it. That's what I do with them.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
6 Dec 17
I thought about it to kill it but I figured him drowning is just as sad as me dropping a heavy rock on it. I felt putting him outside gave it a chance to survive which is what I would have done if the live traps had worked. If it was not dark outside I would have walked it farther away but I just took it outside as far as I could get with the light from the moon and streetlight. 100 feet maybe.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
8 Dec 17
@DaddyEvil Yep well he is back or there are still more. Moving to three traps tonight as it stole the peanut butter off the two I set last night
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
8 Dec 17
@shaggin If it received no other injuries than a crimped tail, then it will ne back in your house again as quickly as it can get there.
I don't like to kill mice, either... I just don't want to share my home with them.
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
5 Dec 17
Oh I'm sorry, I wouldn't have been able to kill it either. Hopefully it was just shocked and did run away.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
6 Dec 17
@shaggin why did he not go do something with it?
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
5 Dec 17
@shaggin Hopefully it did run away.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
5 Dec 17
I always use peanut butter. This time I dribbled seeds all around it and he still didn’t set off the trap. Go figure when it was set with no food on it at all that it finally got him.
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
7 Dec 17
@JudyEv my house was originally much smaller and was a place where the men who worker at the creamery stayed. That original part is well over 100 years old. The rest I'm not sure when it was built but I know it was before the 40s when my grandfather bought it. At some point they picked the house up and moved it back away from where it sat along the road. You can see where the foundation is different and why half sits on a dirt floor instead of cement.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
6 Dec 17
it is a terrible problem. we had one (maybe more) last year and i think it was a rat but everyone else said no it was a mouse. i remember one night the women, daughter and grand daughter in law, screaming in the kitchen. they had put one in the bottom drawer of the oven where for some strange reason it had been hanging out. who knows where it went when oven was on. it was stuck behind the drawer some how and grandson just came and took it outside. haven't seen one since. but it is a tough thing for us soft hearted ladies/girls that hate to kill it but can't tolerate it either
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
6 Dec 17
I feel terrible using the traps to kill them but can't stand them running around in my house. They breed fast and make a gross mess. My parents had a rat in their house once. I was shocked because I didn't even know we had them around here.
1 person likes this
@Letranknight2015 (51532)
• Philippines
6 Dec 17
You're telling me that they like peanut butter this whole time? omg I've been attempting to capture them easy.
I'm going to buy peanut butter, let see what happens.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
6 Dec 17
How were you attempting to catch them? My boyfriend and father always use peanut butter instead of cheese. They can grab the cheese and run off but they have to sit and lick at the peanut butter to get it all so they are more likely to set the trap off.
@CinnamonGrl (7083)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
5 Dec 17
Did you see the movie "Mouse Trap"? Pretty funny one.
I'm not sure I would have killed the mouse either. You're absolutely right it could have been stunned. I've seen birds fly into windows or animals sustain other injuries, sit there stunned and then suddenly take off.
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
6 Dec 17
The fall must have hurt the mouse. I don't like them but I certainly wouldn't be able to kill a mouse either.
1 person likes this
