23 February 2006

Not-So-Mighty Mouse

We've been very lucky this time in Taiwan to have lived almost 7 months without any critter problems in our house. In Kaohsiung we had a bit of a cockroach problem. (as did everyone else) But it was nothing a handy can of Raid couldn't handle. This time we've had no cockroaches but this week we finally had an unwanted visitor in our apartment. The evidence appeared when Nevada came across a packet of President's Choice hot chocolate (that we got from a student...awesome) that had been nibbled open. At first she accused me since I have a habit of chewing on the edges of all things in packets but I denied it. That left us with the unfortunate reality that there must be a mouse in our house. I believe it's a jinx in my family as I was quite a mouse slayer at my mom's in the summer. It's a creepy feeling knowing that something else has invaded your space. So Nevada went to a local hardware store...she played some pictionary (a common game between English and Chinese speakers) describing our problem. The shopkeeper offered two choices...#1-these sticky pads that act as mousetraps or option #2- these big cages. I think the cages are for big rats which I didn't think we had. A rat would've ate the whole packet of hot choc so Nevada wisely chose the sticky pads. When I saw these pads I was a bit skeptical but since the package had a cartoon mouse getting caught they must work. We put them down by our pantry and...Blammo...in record time (one day) our little friend took the bait. I woke up to find a mouse struggling in the gooey sap like substance. He had somehow got his back legs and tail completely stuck but had the use of his upper body...he was fighting the sap to no avail. He had also gnawed at the wood border so there we little slivers spread all around. So congrats us, right? but I came across a problem. He's not dead so what do I do with this mouse and sticky trap. I scooped him up into a plastic bag, tied it up tight and put it out on the deck. It's still there and I assume that the Not-So-Mighty Mouse has fallen into eternal sleep with visions of hot chocolate dancing in his head. At least he had a memorable last meal at our expense.

5 comments:

Dan King said...

great story chester!! love it!

sounds like things are continuing to go well for you and nevada - nice!

later,

::dan::

Melissa said...

We had to use that at our school. It catches them but then, yeah, what do you do with them after? Good job on catching the vermin.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever stepped on one of those things? We had them at a school I worked at,when I was noight-time caretaking. It's a bit of a panic trying to get it off your foot!

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Next time dispose of your mice godfather style then send a fish wrapped up in newspaper to the mouse's family. They will then know that Luca Mousi sleeps with the fishes.

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