Regularly at this time of year, Lady Magnon becomes obsessed by Mice. She imagines that every Mouse within a 20 Km radius is heading for the house, in order to spend the Winter with us in relative comfort.
I am instructed to set traps, plug holes, and gather gallons of Cat urine to discourage their ambitions.
She had a dream recently about a group of laughing Mice on top of our kitchen cupboards; I was of course blamed for their Morpheus induced incursion.
Freddie catches quite a few, but we've already had one in the house recently; luckily he was soon dispatched.
Mice have the whole of France to play in; be warned, WE DON'T WANT YOU IN THE HOUSE.
Now, where's that Mousetrap and some Peanut Butter? I'm told that Peanut Butter is irresistible to Mice.
I've never seen Skippy peanut butter before.
ReplyDeleteSounds Aussie, doesn't it!
DeleteJust American. Try Jif, in sticky traps with springs.
DeleteOne of our neighbours sets their traps with Brie. My cat brought it home along with the mouse. X
ReplyDeleteI'm told that SHOUTING at them can make them go elsewhere.
DeleteI had a garden flat with mice once. I got fed up with them one night, so I went into the kitchen and said, "If you don't go away, I will be forced to kill you". I never saw or heard them again.
DeleteIt works then!
DeleteIt did for me.
DeleteYou could try giving your good lady a Tom and Jerry video. She might grow to like them. When we were boys my brother kept a couple of mice in a cage. On morning he was surprised to find he had 13. France is overrun with mice. It's all that smelly cheese that's responsible.
ReplyDeleteOne time at the cheese stand at one of Viennas Christmas fairs we were admiring the cheeses and wondering which to buy when a white mouse suddenly appeared and ran across the counter. A bystander said it was laboratory rat and that they were breeding in an old hospital nearby. That's life Cro. We're not the only beings on the planet.
I once saw a block of hard cheese (probably Parmesan) writhing with small maggots on a market stall in Italy. I would have liked to try it.
DeleteThe other day a South Korean doctor removed an 11" worm writhing inside a North Korean soldier.
DeleteI heard something about that; I thought it may have been propaganda.
DeleteI have Skippy here and some mice as well, i shall try it soon.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried it yet, but I'm told it works well.
DeleteMice are cute but not in the house. They chew wires and piss over everything. Saucisson works well in the traps.
ReplyDeleteI have one trap set with Chorizo, but no takers!
DeleteI think Sue is really thinking of rats.
DeleteA few years ago, the Mice chewed all the wires in the Pool's Pump House electrical box. Little buggers.
DeleteBig mice in France.
DeleteNo mice enter this house unless carried in the jaws of a cat. Get Freddie some live in mates to sit round the fire with him and share mice catching.
ReplyDeleteFreddie does quite a good job, but, you're right, he could probably do with a helper or two.
DeleteWe had a mouse problem last winter and by chance I found the hole they were using. We concreted it over and no more damn mice. They were a curse last year, ate poison and danced through the cupboards pissing green everywhere.
ReplyDeleteGather cat urine........?
The poison was green
DeleteThe problem is that they can squeeze themselves in through the tiniest hole, and in old houses it is almost impossible to plug every hole. I have put poison out. The cat urine was just clutching at straws.
DeleteWe have always used chocolat. The 70% does well.
ReplyDeleteIt tends to get eaten by us in this house. I can just picture Lady M raiding the mouse trap during the night, just for that last remaining piece of Choc.
DeletePoisoned mice quite often kill owls as well.
ReplyDeleteThat always worries me, but I'm assured that poisoned mice hide themselves away to die. Who knows!
DeleteI saw a gull swallow a dead, poisoned rat once. I didn't see the gull again afterwards.
DeleteSome years ago during the decade when I was living 6 months on Lewis and 6 months in New Zealand the mice decided to take over my garden shed. I cannot exaggerate the sight that I beheld the spring I returned. Needless to say the re were thousands (I kid you not) and I had to completely gut the (block built) building. The irony of it was that I felt really guilty evicting them all.
ReplyDeleteA whole island population. I wonder if they had organised themselves into occupations etc; like Bees?
DeleteMice can fit through very tiny openings. We've trapped and set out poison. They are very destructive when it comes to wires and anything else they can chew. Our two cats are both good mousers, but we are surrounded by farm fields. We would need a whole troop of cats to take care of all the mice. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a never-ending supply of them, but I suppose that's because we're out in the country.
DeleteWell they can have mine; I hate the stuff.
ReplyDeleteWot; peanut butter? I love it.
DeleteI'm with Lady M ..... mice love chocolate too but I'd be reluctant to waste it on the little blighters !! XXXX
ReplyDeleteA fellow spirit. Very wise.
DeleteOur neighbours have a humane mousetrap, they let them go just across the lane. They said they've caught 40 mice but I think it's just 1 mouse 40 times!
ReplyDeleteI've been kindly sent the very simple plans for a humane trap, that doesn't need re-setting. When I construct my own I'll report on how well it works.
DeleteI'd you're having mouse trouble just in winter it is unlikely they are house mice who would be there all the time. Most field mice avoid buildings that are occupied. However the yellow necked field mouse shelters in buildings throughout winter and it is important to eliminate them. They are aggressive chewers and like plastic pipe, conduit and electrical cable. They can cause thousands in damage. The males tend to have 3 to 5 females though thankfully they usually don't have offspring after October. In the UK plastic water pipe has an additive that is supposed to deter them. They will raid food stores chewing through cardboard, wood and plastic to gain access very rapidly. Like any rodent they continually urinate so and food they come into contact with should be discarded as they carry some pretty nasty diseases. Only the male normally has the yellow markings, the females look like ordinary field mice but slightly larger.
ReplyDelete