My husband and I have mice. Not in a cage for experimental purposes or anything interesting like that. But occasionally between our cabinets. Behind our stove. In the dog food…
We had them back in our poor days as students in Philadelphia, our pre-renovation days in Virginia and then again last night. So the fact that I was hearing them in my walls again wasn’t a surprise. The mouse I found trying to jump out of my sink? THAT was a surprise.
I gasped.
It froze.
I backed up and hit the highchair.
It scurried into the garbage disposal.
My husband turned on the water.
Now normally we’re on the same page about the act of disposing mice. (Go ahead, waste your time and call us inhumane, then come clean the pellets stuck to my cookie sheets.)
But it’s one thing to find a dead mouse in the trap.
It’s another thing altogether to drown it and…
…I stopped the water.
It was still alive.
My husband shook his head and left the room.
And left me alone.
Well, I wasn’t alone alone…
I did a little girl pee dance as the mouse jumped around in the sink trying to escape. Finally I calmed down, got it into a glass jar and took it out back by the creek.
My first live disposal.
I felt sick for the rest of the night. And a little guilty that I almost killed something so small. Why had it freaked me out so much? What could it have possibly done to me?
And then I found a trail of mouse turds on my counter this morning.
And a gnawed Snack Trap lid on the floor.
Oh, it’s on, mousy…
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Might I suggest a cat? They work for kibble, the youngsters love their silky fur, and can be had for little or nothing from your local humane society/”free kittens” lady at Wal-Mart/newspaper!
And they’re killing machines. No guilt required.
Mwahahaha!
(It was a cute mousie though, and I’m sure you got some good karma points for your catch-and-release work)
Wow! I was the first comment! Woo-hoo!
I chased one around the kitchen with the roll of clingwrap. I didn’t want to kill it exactly, just stun it so I could feed it to the cat.
I have to say I’m impressed. Whenever Cris sees a spider, its all pee pee dance accompanied by request (demands) that I come take care of it, but no action on her part.
Ek! I’m going to need a warning before the photo next time. I damn near threw my laptop across the room! You are a better woman than me.
Sorry you didn’t approve of my waterboarding method… and even sorrier that I cower like a girl in the face of a mouse.
Husband Fail.
“It scurried into the garbage disposal.
My husband turned on the water.”
I paused because I didn’t know if I wanted to read what came next… I hate cleaning up puke.
xo c
And you took a picture? And shared it with us!!!!
I’ll be honest, I lifted my feet off the ground when I saw the pic.
And, since your husband ditched you in the kitchen with it – I’d say no more early morning shower trips for him….for quite awhile at least! You gotta set that shit straight, right. now.
Umm…what is that wine glass doing in the sink? That should have been in your hand filled with something strong.
I really thought that story was going to end with the flip of a garbage disposal switch. Blech.
I feel like I’m gonna puke. Mice scare the crap out of me. You are once again my hero. How did you get the wet mouse to pose for that picture?
Oh, that mouse looks so pathetic in that picture! I couldn’t have flipped that switch either…
I’m so glad this ended well. I know that living with mice makes you change your ‘cute and fuzzy’ to ‘must kill’ but I did not want to think of that mouse dying in a horrible way the rest of the day. Snap traps are at least fast and usually instantly effective (with some horrible exceptions).
Glad that one got away, now to get the true offender.
Aww, poor thing. At least you didn’t turn the garbage disposal on. That would have been…ew.
The picture says it all… I know your pain. I’ve had mice as well. Allie would DIE if she was in your shoes. Evacuation would be her MO. She can’t even stand the gummy bear mice that you can eat. haha.
I do have to say though, the pic makes me feel kinda bad for the poor little fellow. And then, the mouse poop would make me angry as hell!
Good karma for you for saving the life of the mouse, although it may succumb to pneumonia and shock. Some cats will go after mice. My old cat would. But my younger cat would aid and abet.
Maybe you could train the dog to go after the mice?!
That really sucks. I hear they ‘re hard to get rid of…
The good news is, it wasn’t a snake!!
OH. MY. GOD……….
Okay I don’t like mice …they belong at the pet store. But that picture of your drowned rat…I mean mouse, is priceless. I hope you make your blog entries into a keepsake book because when you and hubs are old and grey you can look through and laugh and say “remember the time you tried to drown that rat?”
Uhhmm I mean mouse.
Mice are the ONE thing I can’t stand! I can go after spiders or snakes, but mice make me stand up on a chair and shriek high pitched noises that bother the neighbor’s dog. Kuddos to you for getting close enough to catch it in a jar…I have to agree though, the thought of the garbage disposal -yelch!
Oh, THANK GOD you didn’t turn on that disposal switch. Whew. Well. Now that I’ve stopped shaking, let me say kudos to you for doing a humane capture and release and also for taking a picture. That is kind of cute (even though mice are germy and whatnot, but I’m focusing on the aesthetics here). That poor little guy looks pretty miserable to have found himself in your sink. You know what? He kind of looks like the mouse from Ratatouille. Maybe you should give him some cooking utensils and see what happens.
Shoulda drowned the little bastard. Kidding. Mostly. Although, I would not have been able to kill it, if not for the whole sadistic thing, then for the logistics of it. Would it scream? Would that screaming frighten the children? Would it even actually kill it, or just maim it? And, if it did actually die, how would you get it out of the drain, just grab it? Of course, you’d have to use gloves. So much to think about. Guess you did the right thing. I probably would have just moved. I’m a wimp like that.
I can’t stand mice! I’m proud of you for dealing with it, but I don’t understand why you give the mouse wine.
Just the thought of mice makes my skin crawl. We dealt with a mice intrusion in a rented apartment in Philly (now dubbed the Mouse House) back in the day. I still remember them scratching in the walls at nights… ugh it was horrible. After countless mouse traps and many sleepless nights, we ended up bailing on our lease. We just couldn’t take it anymore.
There is no excuse for a half full glass of wine in that sink, young lady! Very good karma for not shredding the mouse in your garbage disposal…and if you decide to get a cat to help with you infestation make sure it is one that has a modicum of hunting instinct. Mine is a useless ball of shedding orange furn.
ewww, ewww, ewww, ewww, i’m afraid to read on…
So so so nasty. Mice are my most hated animal. It’s irrational, but I CANNOT take them. I could never have let it free–what if it gets back in?!?!
We just recently finished renovating our house, and are all moved back in, and 2 weeks ago i hear a crazy noise… It was a mouse in my trashcan… ewwww… I screached, and took the whole can out back, flipped it upside down and put a tool bag on top of it so that the little creature could not escape, until my husband came home.. Needless to say, he came home, and just let the thing out, i was sooo angry! the next day i bought those sticky pads, and the next night i see a mouse running across my kitchen with a sticky pad stuck to his back, i caught him and lets just say, no more mice!!
Mice are absolutely adorable… in the proper element… such as outside, or the pet store. NOT in my kitchen. I’m sorry, but having to store all my grains/pastas/boxed stuff in plastic tupperware, along with making sure all cookie sheets and baking pans get put away upside down is getting OLD.
I had to have the hubby build a cover-type thing to go over my silverware drawer, because they were getting in there, and that is just GROSS.
okay…mouse in sink…water running…and you don’t thow the switch? I would have looked for a priest to give him his last rights!!!
Me too!!
I did this same thing. There was one in the bathtub and I tried to drown it. I couldn’t do it. It just was wrong no matter that it was crapping everywhere and breeding a lot. I finally saved it and to it to a nearby field. I feel your pain. We got rid of the mice when the rats moved in and killed them all in a territorial war. Then we killed the rats. Not so sympathetic to them.
What a cute mouse. lol. I wouldn’t have been able to kill it either. Last year we thought we had a mouse. I woke in the middle of the night to that scurring around sound in our bedroom. It must have been the funniest thing to see hubby and me all crouched up at the end of the bed in the dark. I was so scared. Then he said I think it’s the hamster… I lept from the bed and ran like the wind out the door to go down stairs and sure enought the stupid hamster had escaped his cage and made it all the ways up to our room. I could have killed the little rodent then. lol.
Oh my gosh, I’m so glad y’all didn’t turn on the garbage disposal! Ugh.
We had a mouse in our house once many years ago when we were newlyweds. We caught it on one of those glue traps. I was the first one to find it after it go stuck. Poor little thing was just a’squeaking. I went to the bedroom where my husband was laying down and cried a little. I felt so bad for it. lol
I agree with previous commenters that you should get a cat. I have three and I would expect at least one of them to be good at catching mice. If, God forbid, we ever had a mouse problem.
Holy sh*t!!!!!! I would have freaked. And I most likely would not have thrown the switch either, not because I’m into saving a mouse’s life, but because I would have been nervous about what would have sprayed out. Eeew. As for the cat, well, we have a cat and a dog and our yard and foundation is infested with rabbits and chipmunks. Lazy beasts.
I’ll send you my cat booger. She eats anything, mice, roaches, it don’t matter.
Where is the cat the neighbors stole?
I think you’re both doing a fine job, you and hubby. You do what you can and what you feel comfortable with. I’m with you on inability to kill small creatures, though I don’t judge when there is vermin feces in the house. We’re all about catch and release here. And I scream like a girl the whole time and shower afterward, but they stay alive.
Get some no-kill traps. They are like little mouse houses. Seal up the house: the whole perimeter with steel wool and that inflatable foam-mousse stuff (not the hair kind, dammit, try to follow me here). Use peanut butter in the no-kill traps. They love that stuff. Even better than pooping on your bakeware (YUCK!)
Call that sh-thead neighbor and get the cat back. Or get TWO to start chasing mice…
Eek! A mouse! I’m not a fan.
I totally thought you were going to say that you’re hubby ran the garbage disposal….*whew*
If my cat were there, the mouse would have been a nice feast.
You can’t show mercy. Never show mercy.
Thanks for the icky graphic! That reminds me of a disgusting children’s book someone gave my daughter about a mouse who stomps around at night in the family’s kitchen, swimming in milk bowls and chomping on crackers. Yuck!
awww….just read this. what a heartwarming story. I’m glowing. Thanks for taking it outside. I’ll clean the mouse sh*t off your shirts…I really will. I already suffered through one story of MK attempting cyrogencis by putting a mouse in the freezer to dispose of it….so this is progress. There are some humane traps you can get a walmart, by the way–just set them and then dump the mouse outside.
Oh my God. I don’t even know what to say. I once caught an itty wee baby in an old diet coke bottle. It was cute. Until all the other itty wee babies decided to pay a visit.
Yuck. I once drowned a mouse in the washing machine. I had no idea that it was in the pile of not so carefully clothes that I shoved in. Not a nice surprise, grabbing what I thought was just a balled up sock. Shudder.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, what sweet liitle mouse. It looks so sad in that photo.
but all that aside, I would be pissed also. I am so not about rodents in my kitchen where I prepare food.
We never had mice, but then again we had a cat. lol
I honestly don’t know what I would have done in your shoes. I’m squeamish when it comes to small animals/rodents/things that slither/have too many legs so I think I would’ve called the fire department or something. I liked your husband’s comment here. Mine would have done the same thing, if it’s any consolation to him. Hence the fire dept.
Good for you for saving its life, but I’m sorry you have to deal with these little pests all over again.
What a great picture – I can’t believe you thought to go and get the camera. I would have just been doing the mad crazy dance and I could not have caught it. We regularly have problems with mice and rats in our garage, thankfully so far not in the house, but even dealing with all the s*$t in the garage is enough for me and I can only imagine the devastation they can wreak on a kitchen in one night. Horrendous. I would definitely be getting my friend Mr Terminix in to stop the invasion as they clearly have figured a way in and out. Hope you get it sorted out soon.
We have one that makes a nest out of our pot holders. Being the animal nurse that I am we catch them in live traps and set them free, but no matter how far we take them, their back w/in 24 hours. Our cat is a much more efficient mouser.
OMG, I thought you were going to flip the switch on the disposal. I would have been scared to flip it too – I don’t know if I could have done it. Plus, I wouldn’t have wanted rotting mouse flesh in my garbage disposal. EEEWWWWW. Why DO we get all jumpy when we see small foreign animals, spiders and bugs. Eck.
You do a little girl pee dance too??
Hee!
Oh god. I laughed so hard at this. Well, if you want a trap that is “kid friendly,” there are traps that run on AA batteries and electrocute the mice. They are black boxes that kids can’t get into, but mice can. Here’s a link to what we got: http://www.amazon.com/Victor-M252-Electronic-Mouse-Trap/dp/B000E1RIUU
It was very effective. We trapped five mice and haven’t seen any since then. We also made sure all entry points around the house were closed up as much as possible. The only thing we couldn’t do anything about was the garage door. Anyway… I highly, highly recommend those traps. Very good way to get rid of the problem.
We used a product called “Just One Bite”. It’s warfarin, so you need to put it where they can get it, not kids or pets. Does an EXCELLENT job, even on rats. Ask me how I know. . .
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