Alsways been my thoughts on mouse traps too. GF wanted to put poisen bait out when it became obvious we had mice, coming in via the chimney and then runnign around the wall and hoarding stuff under the oven (it became obvious when things burst into flames while trying to bake something). For one, we have 3 dogs who can be very determined if they smell soemthign that might taste good, and second, if they take the bait, they will then be dead and decaying somewhere in the walls. Dumb idea. I found a new take on the classic spring track, these are little plastic boxes that contain the spring mechanism, so when the trap is srpung and there's a now dead mouse inside, you can jus tpick up the whole thing and dump it in the trash, never getting near the dead critter.
I hate sticky traps too, simply because of how horrific they are. It's oen thing is all they are doing is catchin insects, but a mouse or rat trapped in one dies a horrible death. Rather just have the spring trap snap its neck and end it instantly.
Same dogs compeltely ignored the mice making their runs from the fireplace in the living room around to the kitchen and back. Cat wasn't much better, it was weeks in when in the moddle of the night we were woken up to the squeals of a mouse in distress. Cat was playing with it, chasing it up and down the hall, catch and release. Never killed it, just got bored and let it run away.
I get field mice and voles in the pool all the time, they fall in and then keep swimming until they tire out and drown. Generally overnight. I did find oen still trying to stay up one mornign but the thing did everythign it could to avoid the net I was trying to fish it out with. They can swim pretty fast. I finally got it out and put it in the grass, it was still breathing but too exhaused to move. Dunno if it ever got away or if one of the hawks spotted it and got an easy meal.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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