Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Death in the pantry

This one's not for the faint of heart. A few weeks ago we noticed the, er, "traces" of a mouse in our pantry. The cellier, or pantry, is a small room off the utility room on the ground floor of the house. The floor is not concrete, but a thick layer of sand. The room's temperature fluctuates with the weather, so it's not a good place for long-term wine storage. We keep canned goods, dry goods, onions, potatoes, pet food, and other easily stored items down there. Since the pantry door is closed, the cat cannot get in there to hunt

Of course I had to photograph the carnage. Fortunately, there was no blood.

The mouse had not gnawed into anything that I could see, but his/her "leavings" were obvious. It had burrowed into the sandy floor and was digging tunnels under the dog's kibble bin. It would only be a matter of time until it started nibbling on potatoes or ripping into plastic bags of rice and pasta.

I baited three traps with peanut butter and waited. A few days later, we found that one of the "snap" traps had worked. Poor thing. I've kept the traps down there in case there are other mice, but it's been more than a couple of weeks and there is no sign of another.

9 comments:

  1. Ah so it was you. I was sure it was Colonel Mustard.

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  2. Yeah, the ubiquitous mouse trap, as we and most have used. I shake my head side to side and think, maybe I am not so keen on them now. But nor am I keen on a mouse in the house.

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  3. I like the brand on the trap

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  4. if there's one there are more

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  5. Seeing the poor thing like that I can't help but feel sorry for the mouse, but they just have to go.
    Daisy occasionally brings a live one into the house and chases it around. I hate to see them being tormented by the cat and am always glad when their ordeal is over and she's tucking in.

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  6. Walt,
    Don't you have a cat? That cat would take care of any field mice that decided to winter over in your home. One good thing about your kill, it was a clean kill (broken neck). I had to kill anything but the few times I have tried a trap, it's almost always been ugly. Like the spring catching the mouse on the nose and he/she is still alive. Ugh!
    Ron

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  7. I hate mice and I am afraid of them

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  8. stuart, with the lead pipe.

    andrew, I'm certainly not keen on mice in the pantry.

    travel, as I said somewhere else, the devil is in the details.

    melinda, as long as they stay outdoors!

    jean, Bert brought one up onto the deck yesterday to show us before he devoured it.

    ron, we do have a cat, but the cat can't get into the pantry. There's too much temptation in there.

    gosia, I think they're cute, but outdoors. Where they belong.

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  9. Peppermint oil is a time consuming mouse deterrent -- you have to renew every two weeks. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/ratio-peppermint-oil-water-repelling-mice-92651.html
    My daughter has simply planted mint near the door to their outdoor pantry entrance.

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