Midnight Mouse Massacre

A few weeks ago, after noticing some mouse droppings in the kitchen, we bought some mouse traps.  (Side note:  I'm really beginning to wonder, at this point, if mouse-free apartment living is even possible.)  The first night we set them out, one trap caught a mouse. 

Then a few weeks passed, and nothing was getting caught.  I took a closer look at the traps, and wouldn't you know it - all the bait had been cleanly removed, but none of the traps had triggered.  So we rebaited them.  Put them in all the spots I know those mice are going.  BUT, it was the same story the next day.  Every single trap was clean, not a single mouse caught.  Now I was starting to get a bit furious!!  How dare those mice outsmart the traps!!!  I don't want to feed them free handouts, I want to catch them and get them out of my home!!!

Now, I just have to say, for the record, that I am not a huge fan of live traps.  I don't want to have to drive these house-invading mice and drop them off in a field somewhere.  I just want them gone.  It does make me a bit sad that I'm killing them when they get caught in my traps, and it makes me feel a bit guilty when I see them dead, (because they *do* look so cute and innocent...when they're not actively streaking across my house) but overall, I'm okay with the traps that kill mice. 

We bought a different style of trap, since the others obviously weren't cutting it, put bait on the indicated spot, set them up exactly as instructed.  Next day, licked clean again. 
GRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRR!!! 

So Jesse tried something else - he put the bait waaaay back in the trap, so they wouldn't be able to reach it from the sides or anything.  And then he pushed the trigger plate about halfway down - just before it reached the trigger point.  Because, you know, mice are small and lightweight.  We had to put more pressure on them ourselves to get them to set off than we thought a mouse would put on it with its entire body. 

After they were set and put in place, we went to bed.  Not 10 minutes later, we heard a bit of a clatter.  We ran off to the kitchen, and there was a dead mouse, caught in the trap.  Hooray!!!  Success!!  We re-set it and went back to bed.  A bit later, another clatter.  Another dead mouse!

And you know, we caught four mice in the same trap, in the same spot in our kitchen, within 1.5 hours.  No more in the morning, though.  Maybe that was all of them?  Those four plus the one from a few weeks earlier?  I'm not holding my breath, though.  I know enough about mice reproduction that I don't doubt the possibility of a lot more.  Especially with the cold weather outside.  And the neighbors upstairs who leave piles of trash out on their porch for weeks at a time.  But it's nice to finally see some good results with our traps. 

And speaking of cold weather - we got a big snowstorm last night!  And actually, it's still snowing right now.  Why do we always seem to get the really good storms right before spring starts?  When I'm so tired of cold weather and so anxious for spring, and not really feeling up to the idea of venturing outdoors to really enjoy it?  But March has definitely come in like a lion.  I'm anxioulsy looking forward to seeing it go out like a lamb.  We've had a few days recently with mild temperatures and a nice mild, perhaps even warm breeze, and it just feels heavenly.  I want more of that!  And the blossoming trees, the green grass, the budding flowers!  Oh, I can't wait for spring.  Going outside without spending half an hour bundling up three kids.  Basking in sunshine.  Even if I have to wait a few weeks, I was reminded of some fantastic news this week - Daylight Saving Time begins on March 8th!!  I can't wait for the lighter evenings, starting just next weekend!!