The Joys of Country Living

[retiredhappy]

First, I really love living in the country with no neighbors in sight BUT Monday evening all my dogs were standing in the hall looking intently at something. I got closer and found a FROG. Have you ever tried catching, without hurting, a frog. THEY JUMP! Finally managed to get a towel over it and put him outside.

About a week ago I had left a biscuit on the counter to cool, forgot it and went to bed. Next morning there was alot of the biscuit gone and a few mouse turds. After much digging through boxes (yes, I still have boxes to unpack) I found my live mouse trap. Yes, I trap and release them. I just can't stand little dead bodies to dispose of and I think those sticky traps should be banned for being so very, very, cruel. So far within six days I've caught seven of the little critters - they're just tiny field mice and actually kind of cute. My daughter had pet mice and rats growing up so I'm sort of fond of the little guys - just don't want to feed them in my kitchen. Yesterday I foamed some cracks in the lower cabinets but this morning, another mouse so apparently I haven't found their entrance. I may never find where they're getting in cause they're so very tiny.

[asirimarco]

Sounds like living in Indiana - we used to find baby snakes in the house too. I too HATE the glue traps. Will not use one. Good luck on finding all the tiny entrances in.

[Olive6001]

They don't eat much. Leave the little guys alone.
I'm with you on the sticky traps. So glad you love the country life.

N

[Queen]

Can't wait to meet your frog wranglers!

[avalen]

oh I so remember the mice when I lived in Colorado. Sure don't miss those little turds.

[BirdbyBird]

Karen, it is good to know that you are still having adventures.

[gingerK]

Brings to mind a funny story about mouse poop. Friend of mine was making her DH a sandwich with rye bread the kind with caraway seeds in it. While cleaning up after making the sandwich, she saw some caraway seeds on the counter, thought they had fallen out of the bread and so she picked them up and ate them. Guess what wasn't caraway seeds?

[JudyJB]

I used to keep birdseed in my garage in a five-gallon bucket. Except I did not have a lid and had only a couple of inches of birdseed. For a few weeks, I was catching a mouse a day in it. They slid down the straight sides and apparently could not get back out. I kept putting them in the backyard, but then we discovered that they were building nests in my son's car he was restoring, so I had to take them on a longer drive. I never did know if I was catching the same one or different ones each time. Was about to try some red fingernail polish on their little backs!

Anyway, if they keep getting in, you may want to drive them a couple of miles away. And I think they are cute, also. Remember the children's story about the country mice and the city mice?

[Bethers]

I always use live traps, too. I caught one at the north rim of the Grand Canyon one year and dropped him off at the south rim. It' important to take them far enough away because they will find their way back in otherwise.

[MandysMom]

First year I was in the Navy, I lived with a roommate in a tiny house in the country in New Jersey across the bridge from Philadelphia. We discovered two things not long after moving in. 1. We had a endless supply of mice. 2. My German Shepard could care less about mice. We put a poster on the side of the fridge. Each mouse we disposed of we drew a little mouse on its back with feet up. Each time they broke a trap, we drew a trap with a line through it. And each piece of cheese they stole we drew a wedge of cheese with a line. We sort of won in the end, but they sure took out a lot of traps and ate a lot of cheese and peanut butter. What drew the line with us on choosing kill traps was,the fact that they were getting into the bottom drawer on our stove which had our pots and pans and we got very tired of hand rewashing the pans daily. I will never forget the first night. We were sitting in the living room watching tv when we heard the trap go bang and a squeal, we looked at each other and neither of us wanted to go look. But we did and had our initiation to mouse disposal and survived and had a good laugh over our fear. Months Later one night I woke with that sort of paralysis of half awake when I realized what woke me was a mouse sitting on my hand. When I regained composure enough I screamed of course. The mouse took off and I levitated out of the bed onto my feet and turned on a light. Then asked the German Shepard how she dared sleep through that and not protect me. LOL maybe that is why I became fond of cats?!
Velda

[JudyJB]

I like cats also, EXCEPT my son's cats bring mice and other critters (birds, snakes, and baby rabbits, so far) INTO the house! They have never been known to actually kill one, inside or outside, but bring them in live as a sort of present, I guess.

The last critter one brought in was mourning dove. I guess they are small there because this very young cat managed to get it inside the cat door. And then last week, my son looked outside late at night and saw a coyote in the vineyard behind his house. Cat was also on other side of chain link fence, growling at it, and looked about ready to attack. Not too smart of a cat.

[Redetotry]

I love the mouse stories! I'm with Velda, we get the kill traps, but I'm not going to be the one to empty them, I assign DH that chore! When I lived in the country with fields on three sides we had lots of mice. We had 7 dogs and one of the Irish Setters would stalk the mice and stand on point till it came out. The little Westies would sometimes rush in and bark ruining her catch! They all knew my 'mouse' scream and would rush to save me. This reminds me I told DH to buy mouse traps and get them out, will have to see if he remembered. We had them in the pantry last year and I sure don't want them back. They seem to ignore the little plug in thing that puts out some type of signal. Maybe our mice are hard of hearing from all the dogs barking

[AlmostThere]

Trap'em! Flush'em!'!

[bluepinecones]

So glad you are enjoying you new country home. I'm not a fan of mice or other small critters (like chipmunks, snakes, etc) in house however and have had to deal with a few more than I care to remember.