Mouse (and other Pest) Wars

[WolFish]

tonight i was awakened by the wound of cratching which is the sound of something chewing on something likely made of plastic, which means mice trying to get into something.

joke was on me. they were chewing straws. found two plastic straws that look like swiss cheese changelings. the straws were covered with paper and the paper was eaten too.

this gives me some reservations about taking straws from public places. i think those two must have come from the popcorn and nacho infested movie theater. i take extras because it's possible that i will lose mine on the floor.

the other mouse was chewing on a box, i think. no sign of them downstairs. it's time to clean and set the traps.

["couldbecousin"]

  Damn!  The price of mouselessness is eternal vigilance. 

[WolFish]

even that isn't enough. but i will leave it to py to share that hair raising tale.

['andersom']

@ Wolfie. Could there have been starch in the paper? I once found my wheatbag nibbled on. But the mice had not eaten the fabric to get to the wheat. They had eaten fom the lable instead.

[WolFish]

@ Wolfie. Could there have been starch in the paper? I once found my wheatbag nibbled on. But the mice had not eaten the fabric to get to the wheat. They had eaten fom the lable instead.

ah, that's a good guess. but i think maybe they were made out of something that can or was recycled. i had some pens once that were made of corn.

[Lestat]

I don't think popcorn or nachos are traditionally classed as 'infestations'

When was the last time you saw or heard of popcorn trying to swim up the U-bend of a toilet out of the sewer and bite somebody on the scrotum?

[Pyraxis]

Last night I woke up at 2:30am and reached above my head half-asleep and felt something furry and moving. 

I yelled and jumped into the middle of my bed and sat there trying to figure out if I dreamed it. There was silence and then frantic scrabbling coming from the corner of the room under the head of the bed.

I do not want a mouse on my pillow.

[Queen Victoria]

When I was a baby we lived in a converted garage beside a canal and a railroad.  Mom would find rats in my crib chewing on my bottle.  She said she could handle the rats, but when the apartment was invaded by fleas that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

["couldbecousin"]

Last night I woke up at 2:30am and reached above my head half-asleep and felt something furry and moving. 

I yelled and jumped into the middle of my bed and sat there trying to figure out if I dreamed it. There was silence and then frantic scrabbling coming from the corner of the room under the head of the bed.

I do not want a mouse on my pillow.

  What was it doing on your pillow?  What was it trying to eat?    

[Pyraxis]

My hair?  Either it had terrible taste or it was very lost. Argan oil shampoo notwithstanding, there are surely tastier things in this house to eat than human hair.

["couldbecousin"]

My hair?  Either it had terrible taste or it was very lost. Argan oil shampoo notwithstanding, there are surely tastier things in this house to eat than human hair.

  I sometimes use an argan oil conditioner, and the scent lingers for days ... 

[DirtDawg]

Last night I woke up at 2:30am and reached above my head half-asleep and felt something furry and moving. 

I yelled and jumped into the middle of my bed and sat there trying to figure out if I dreamed it. There was silence and then frantic scrabbling coming from the corner of the room under the head of the bed.

I do not want a mouse on my pillow.

When I was still living in a rented log cabin on Old Hickory Lake in Nashville TN, I had not yet discovered that there was quite a bit of chinking repair that was needed to make the place pest-free. I had gone to bed with the television playing, set to go off after a bit. I had just heard the TV go off as I was very dozy.

Then something landed on the foot of the bed. I was alarmed! I sat up and turned on the light, thinking, "Fucking rat?" It was not a mouse, much heavier.
As I turned on the light I saw something flying across the far end of the room. There was nothing on the foot of the bed. WTF!!

Turns out, I had been infested by a family of flying squirrels. FLYING FUCKING SQUIRRELS!!! I do not think that they are particularly harmful or dangerous, but they do not belong in my living quarters.  I grabbed a blanket and slept next to a well stoked fireplace that night once I was finally satisfied that they had all gone back into hiding.

Next day I discovered a large hole in the upper logs where I could place my entire hand, not far inside, a bunch of nesting material. Needless to say, I bought mortar and shored it up, while giving the landlord an earful. Next day he had a crew of professionals out there with heat sensing equipment to find all the places where there were "holes" and fix them.

All better then, but at first?  Flying fucking squirrels, REALLY!?!?!?!?
 

[Pyraxis]

 

WolFish had a bat in his living room once.

I think my favourite was the time down south when I was in the kitchen and felt something moving in my pants. It was a fricking lizard. A brown anole. I like the little guys, but not THAT much. 

["couldbecousin"]

  My brother had bats evicted from his attic a year ago,
   but now he's hearing those scratching sounds again ... 

[Icequeen]

I love squirrels. 

They chew like rats though, my grandfather had them.

No shrews here as of lately. All is quiet on the pest front for now.