OMG!

[conuly]

So, yesterday I went out in the yard to dump some compost and kill a mouse. Snap traps are amazingly successful, but yesterday they caught one by the back legs and didn't kill it. (Ana didn't realize he was already caught, and when she heard him said "Go away mouse, we have traps." I've told her to stop warning the mousies.)

This really upset me, because the point of a snap trap is to kill them instantly and with a minimum of pain. Being caught by the hind legs sounds incredibly painful and terrifying to me. Moral learned? Check them more frequently.

Well, he was injured, so no way I was going to do a rescue operation. No, I dumped trap and mouse into a plastic bag, went outside, and dropped a heavy rock on him a couple of times. It's not quite as instant as it should've been, but hopefully he stopped suffering fast. Ana thought I should just let him go, but I tried to explain to her that once you take the responsibility for killing them you have to do it *right*. Letting him go severely injured would not have been doing the poor mouse any favors. It would be cruel!

Anyway, while I was out there with the mouse and the compost I saw an ugly gray fluffball with a yellow mouth! It was a starling chick, trying to fly. I'm pretty sure it was a starling because an adult starling hung around and squawked at me, and when I googled "starling chick" the image matched. OMG! So I called Ana out to look at this little guy, and I saw we also had some baby sparrows or chickadees fluttering about.

And now I'm annoyed. Our backyard is an unholy mess right now. It's still just turned over dirt from when they made the ramp, and leftover bits of scaffold, and some rocks and bricks. Oh, and this terrible weed that grows from the roots and I'm going to try putting a tarp over to kill it because I hate it hate it hate it.

When our backyard was nice and pretty and had plants, I never saw baby birds in it. Now, when it's a mess, now I see 'em?

But maybe the birds were there before but hiding, I don't know. Well, I shouldn't cry over starlings anyway, invasive pests that they are. But they are pretty enough birds, as the name indicates, with 'stars' all over their feathers.

Comments

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Why can't you use English traps and take the mice some place and let them go? Just curious.

[feebeeglee.livejournal.com]

What's an English trap?

I successfully trapped a rat in a no-kill trap but have never had luck with mice. I think they are more skeeved by box traps than rats.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

They're no-kill traps that I was told were originally developed in England a little more than a century ago. They're sold in this country as "Havahart" traps and you can get them at Lowe's. Put pistachios or peanut butter in, sit back and wait. Our mom used to release trapped mice in a secluded area near the house where she would put out bread crumbs and birdseed so they would feel like they had a food source and not come back.

[conuly]

I have two parks near my house (well, three, but two of them abut each other and I consider them one park).

One of them is largely paved, in the middle of a busy-busy area. There's no coverage for mice and, more importantly, there's always lots of people to see if I tried anything.

The other one is up three hills and a good 25 minute walk. On busy streets. It's also a popular park.

I'm pretty sure it's not technically legal to release mice into city parks anyway, but even if it is it's not something you want the neighbors to see you doing. This might not be the most selfless reasoning, but I have no desire to get attacked for saving the mice.

Ideally, I'd love to use no-kill traps. I don't want to go around killing mice. I simply don't see a way to do that at the moment, though. (And my backyard ain't that big. On the rare occasion I have caught a mouse live - say, under a cup - I've let them go there, but I *know* they just come back in the house. I would too!)

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

Do you think people would have a problem with it? People seemed a bit bemused when we did it but certainly wouldn't have told us off; the looks said more "why would you bother?"

[conuly]

I'm positive people would have a problem with it. That's why the city puts poison in the parks, to get rid of the mice and rats.

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

*nods* And I suppose if there's poison there, you'd be releasing them in a place where they're likely to end up dying a slower, nastier death than if they're caught properly in a kill trap. I grew up in a fairly densely populated area (according to Wikipedia, it has a slightly higher population density than Staten Island) but where mice, bugs etc were less of a problem, and I think we were quite lucky to have a park nearby where releasing mice wouldn't be a problem.

[conuly]

Even if there weren't, I'd be reluctant to release them in the park simply because in the big one I get lost, and in the little one they'd quite possibly just enter somebody else's house or store instead.

[feebeeglee.livejournal.com]

I heard a rat snap trap go off and then terrible thrashing. I'm not sure what part of the beast was caught and what wasn't because I hollered "SEAN! THE RAT TRAP CAUGHT A RAT AND IT ISN'T DEAD!" and he took it outside and killed it quickly with the quickest bludgeon at hand (a meat tenderizer, I recall.)

Snap traps are generally good but not necessarily so. It's difficult.

Why can't you have a cat? I forget.

[conuly]

I'm simply not in a situation where I can take care of a pet right now. Last time I had cats I got kinda hoard-y, and it wasn't good for them at all. Responsible pet ownership is what I want, and I intend to wait until I can manage that. At the very least, I want to wait until I have the money to ensure proper vet care, which I do not have.

[sicpuppy.livejournal.com]

snap traps really are horrible, mainly for the reason you mentioned. Not all rats or mice will put their head in first. I've seen rats with limbs trapped, or tails trapped. Its really horrific.

[conuly]

What would you advise?

Due to the fact that we're a good distance from our nearest park (and it's crowded... I don't think people would like seeing me free the mousies), live-release isn't the best solution, unfortunately.

I mean, seriously, I want to be as humane as possible. I don't want them suffering. However, I *need* them out of my house.

[conuly]

And you're right, it is bad. It seems to have been only that one so far, and at the moment I'm just checking the traps more frequently so that, worse comes to worst, I can at least dispatch them ASAP and minimize it, but it's not what I want to do.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I advise that you set the traps inside heavy paper bags, and check them twice a day. If the rodent is still alive, pick up the bag and whang it hard against an (outdoor) wall three or four times. Then you can just put the whole bag in the trash, since where you live, you probably don't have a Crow Committee that takes care of mouse removal.

I think mice are rather nice; I dearly loved my pet mice as a girl, and I don't like having to kill the wild ones. But for several years I lived with my child in a house that was over-run with wild ones, pooping and peeing everywhere, chewing up my nice things, and it hardened my heart toward them: mice in the house are vermin, and they have to die. Putting them outside alive is no solution; they're back in the house before you are.

Copper-wool scrub pads, like people use on their barbecue grills, are the best thing for stopping up rodent holes: they're cheap, they don't rust or mildew, and rodents can't chew them. Keeping food in metal, glass or heavy plastic containers (such as coffee cans), not leaving crumbs or trash around, and not having dark cluttery places where they can hide will discourage them, but if they're already established in the house, traps are, unfortunately, the only practical option. And snap-traps are at least more merciful than glue-traps or poison.

[conuly]

I think mice are rather nice.
Their tails are long, their faces small
They haven't any chins at all.
Their ears are pink, their teeth are white,
They run about the house all night.

They nibble things they shouldn't touch
And no one seems to like them much.
But I think mice are nice.