talkmagic.co.uk

Totally non magic related, but I feel the need to share my pain.

I've been having a tom and jerry style war with a small mouse who seemed to want to live in my living room.

Mouse 1: Steverino 0

Eventually I managed to get the thing caught in a humane style trap

Mouse 1 : Steverino 1

and was just going to let it outside, when curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to take a look at the little blighter, to figure out whether it was a field mouse, house mouse or whatever.

I carefully slid the top open to see what it was, and the thing launched itself out into space. I managed to get hold of a washing up bowl quickly enough to catch it, and stop it slamming into the floor, and it seemed to be content (and stuck, unable to get up the side of the bowl).

Mouse 2: Steverino 1

I thought I'd just get a photo on my digicam to be able to identify it, then stick it outside. Unfortunately, the mouse had other ideas, and somehow vaulted the side, falling five feet onto a lino/concrete floor

Mouse 1: Steverino -1 (Points lost all round)

The mouse seemed to be limping quite a bit, but managed to dash underneath the fridge.

Mouse 2 : Steverino -1

which is the most inaccessible place in the kitchen, recessed into a cupboard

Mouse 3: Steverino -1

Meaning that I had to take the door off it's hinges in order to move the fridge.

Mouse 3: Steverino -2

I carefully and cunningly arranged boxes and piles of books, and an ironing board around the area, in order to prevent a mousy escape while I was moving the fridge, and proceded to unscrew the door.

Stripped the thread off one of the screws, and ended up cutting myself in various places that will be very sore while practising my coin work

Mouse 3: Steverino -3

but eventually managed to get the door off, and move the fridge. No sign of the mouse, but a small pool of what appeared to be mousy blood.
Alas poor mouse.

Mouse -10: Steverino -3

Cleaned up the blood, and went looking for the rest of the mouse under the fridge. Noticed the apparently uninjured mouse running around the box and ironing board maze I had set for it, basically laughing at me.

Mouse 10: Steverino -3 (amazing escape, and swapping in strawberry jam for blood was a really clever move - many points)

Tried to catch the mouse in a box. Mouse not interested in my box, and climbed over the thoroughly engineered blockade.

Mouse 11: Steverino -3

Mouse started running toward the freezer, knowing full well that the whole game will be repeated if it can get underneath it.

I grabbed a large cookery book, and trap it in a corner, eventually enticing it into a pringles tube, and disposing of it at the far end of the garden.

Mouse 11: Steverino -2

I can't believe I felt sorry for that evil little thing, thinking it got squashed under the fridge.

I think I have earned this beer now.

Is a secret lab in London breeding Über-Mice?

Sneaky devil.

You have my sincere sympathies! By a strange co-incidence, we've been holding similar Olympic activities here at work but not over a mouse - we have a squirrel! The Intruder alarm went off on Sunday morning and we discovered we had a lodger but stood no chance of catching him/her. On Monday afternoon there were 5 supposedly intelligent adults leaping all over the stores racks trying to catch the little critter and flailing about with broomsticks, lengths of tube and so on. The guys at the firm over the road saw this and offered to bring in a) a .22 Air Rifle, b) a Crossbow, c) A 12-bore shotgun. None of these options were immediately acceptable under our Health and Safety Policy so instead we settled for the option of calling in Rentokil who have left half a dozen traps, baited with Bounty bars and each one big enough to trap wild boar. They also left dire warnings about not sticking any part of the anatomy into these traps as they will 'ave yer *%@#ing 'and orf, mate'.

At the moment our new found colleague is sitting upstairs watching all the activity, no doubt mentally giving us all the middle finger, and chewing his/her way through Purchase Invoice Filing A-D 2003. I may yet accept the offer of the loan of the 12-bore.

that was a fantastic post. thanks for sharing.
i had to chase a little mouse with a brush not so long ago, at one point it stopped, turned to look at me and i just stopped too and went "aww, how cute" and then it bolted one behind the kitchen units. i couldn't bring myself to wield such a big weapon against such a cute mouse again.
they're growing smarter! now they're using their cuteness against us!

one thing.... beer? at midday???
yeah, good idea ... #pours a beer# "To the mice!"

Larry wrote:one thing.... beer? at midday???
yeah, good idea ... #pours a beer# "To the mice!"

Just after midnight.

But midday would do just as well

I've left the trap out in case there are iny duplicate mice - Sleight of mouse can be a dreadful thing.

Hope the squirrel situation improves Mandrake, they're probably much harder to catch than mice they also bite, and their jaws sometimes lock when they are scared (or even killed) - keep fingers away from the traps if they catch anything

We're all crouched down in the undergrowth of Packing and Despatch, dressed like Rambo (Mmmm, nice!) and doing the David Attenborough style 'quiet' voiceovers in the hope of tracking the little beggar. I'm beginning to think he/she doesn’t like Bounty bars and might have to invest in Mars Bars instead. I only hope I can get the cost back on expenses!

The cheeky guys at the factory over the road have just e-mailed picture of the squirrel which explains why we can't catch it:
http://www.funnypostcard.com/images/112Supersquirrel.jpg

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

That was hilarious, thanks for sharing!

We had a squirrel once in our living room - nobody particularly wanted to touch it as it looked like it would bite our hands off (cue Holy Grail bunny rabbit reference) so we left a nice little trail for out the window, which it promptly ignored and ran under the chest.

Katii

Steverino wrote: Sleight of mouse can be a dreadful thing.

Really does he flash the DL and does his hand look cramped when palming? To be fair I can't imagine his pass is very good, they have such small hands.

Johndoe wrote:

Steverino wrote: Sleight of mouse can be a dreadful thing.

Really does he flash the DL and does his hand look cramped when palming? To be fair I can't imagine his pass is very good, they have such small hands.

Yeah, when palming it looks like they have claw hands . You do have to be very close up to see their work clearly, but you should see the peanut shell and mouse dropping trick.

Fear the squirrels though, they can be vicous if cornered...

Oh no! the uber mouse is back or one of its relatives. It seems to be even faster than the last one.

I can't face all this again, maybe moving house is an easier option.

Before you resort to extreme mouse catching tactics, may I recommend you watch the excellent Lee Evans film Mousehunt, maybe this little fella is related to the mousey star of that film...

I love that film...

Excellent viewing for those with a mouse problem

I've caught the latest one with only a small amount of tomfoolery (or should that be jerryfoolery?)

I sat up last night watching it as it darted around the room. Bizarrely it seemed to be interested in eating a pot plant rather than the chocolate cake I put in a (non killing) trap. Maybe it was trying to get more water from the plant stem or something. Naturally I tried to catch it in a plastic tub. Naturally it was too fast for me.

Eventually it decided to try for the chocolate cake, but didn't seem to be able to get into the trap. Initially it seemed to want to scratch/eat its way through the plastic, but after a few minutes went in through the entrance.

I'll leave the trap out for a few days in case it has any friends or family. Maybe that pot plant should live outside in case its the magical draw that's inviting the mice in.

Larry wrote:that was a fantastic post. thanks for sharing.
i had to chase a little mouse with a brush not so long ago, at one point it stopped, turned to look at me and i just stopped too and went "aww, how cute" and then it bolted one behind the kitchen units. i couldn't bring myself to wield such a big weapon against such a cute mouse again.
they're growing smarter! now they're using their cuteness against us!

one thing.... beer? at midday???
yeah, good idea ... #pours a beer# "To the mice!"

I've just got this image of a mouse holding a brush in my mind now...

my mate's brother has rats in his kitchen - what am i gonna do?!

he's not being so humane though, he's even leaving out tiny bowls of super-hot chilli in the hope they will just explode rather than just pebbledash the walls...

Aargh, I'm going to have that song stuck in my head for days now...

While the image of rats having burned tongues, and running around looking for cold beer is appealing, they aren't known for their good taste in cooking. Your brother may find he's encouraging them by providing free chilli. Maybe it would be best to get some professionals in to deal with it.