A Mouse in the House

[Graalsword]

Dawn, also think of killing the mouse as doing it for your health, and your neighbours health. In the same way you would have to kill a cow or a deer to have proper food if you were living in the wild, or a dangerous bear that wants to eat you. Only that the mice are carriers of more "subtle" dangers than the ferotious bear. And if you save him, a cat will kill him ultimately, so the mouse´s destiny would very likely be the same. On the contrary, your destiny can become better if you are safe from diseases carried by mice.

 

[SeekinTruth]

What we have been doing is to use an ultra sound device to keep mice away. Perhaps this is a very bad choice, I don't know whether the device also affects us, which has concerned me. After having done a bit of research I still don't know.
Regarding mice, the device so far seems to be working. The house had mice before we moved in, some of my neighbours also struggle with mice, but we don't.

Note that I am not promoting the ultra sound thinguie! As I said, I have no idea how that may affect me.....but it is just a way I found to cope with my phobia..... :(

We had that in our studio in TriBeCa, NYC. I could hear it and it was kind of annoying. Very few people heard it -- my brother couldn't hear it. Other than that, I'm also not sure about how it might effect you.

 

[loreta]

I love mouse and I never ever will kill one. When I see one at home, brought by one of my cats, I take it and put it outside. If you live in the country they will survive, don't worry. And if not, you have done what it was best for you. But a mouse at home it is not possible, mice eat books.

Good luck with your mice. They are so cute.... and intelligent. They will survive us, they will survive the Ice Age that is coming, I am sure! ;D

 

[Graalsword]

I love mouse and I never ever will kill one. When I see one at home, brought by one of my cats, I take it and put it outside. If you live in the country they will survive, don't worry. And if not, you have done what it was best for you. But a mouse at home it is not possible, mice eat books.

Eating books is probably the least important thing they do. It is much worse the fact that they can pass infection and disease to human beings, they can even bite humans, steal food, etc.. Books can be bought again, human health is not always so easily restored.

Good luck with your mice. They are so cute.... and intelligent. They will survive us, they will survive the Ice Age that is coming, I am sure! ;D

Deers and bisons also survived cataclysms and are cute, and might have some intelligence according to their level, if you were in a situation where you have to kill them to eat, would you starve and die just because they are "cute and intelligent" and survived cataclysms?

 

[theos]

We had one in our office about a month ago that was so bold it got up on Ark's desk while he was right there! Then, one night it crawled up my leg and that was it! It has now joined its soul pool in mouse heaven. Maybe after a sufficient number of recyclings, it will come back as a cat!

One of my most traumatic childhood experiences was having a mouse run up my leg, up my nightgown and out my shirtsleeve. I nearly died from shock . Vermin have no place in my home. If any ever tried to invade my space I would hope my kitty would dispatch it...and I wouldn't chastise him for playing with it first.

 

[rrraven]

anyone remember ''darkness over tibet''?
where the guy had so much compassion for vermin he let them eat all his food...and his children starved?
mice are not cute...that is disney talking...the are nasty,if given a chance the older litter males will rape their younger litter sisters to death!!! give me rats anytime
mice coming in a house means it is freezing cold outside...natures safety valve for overpopulation,look at the mouse plagues we get in OZ,-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOwinLWrEIw,to see what happens if it doesn't get cold enough
get a couple of old fashioned mouse traps,bait with peanut butter,end of problem...until the next lot moves in
our mice here are feral(not native)taking food and habitat of native ones-http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Multimedia/CSIROvod/Native-Rats-And-Mice.aspx, who do have a place in the ecosystem

 

[Gertrudes]

get a couple of old fashioned mouse traps,bait with peanut butter,end of problem...until the next lot moves in

Well, it seems that mice these days have gotten clever enough that they no longer fall for those traps. When my house was invaded by mice, one of the first things I did was to get mouse traps and peanuts butter. I carefully placed mouse traps next to each hole I knew they were coming through. The traps were obstructing the passage in a way that the mice had to go through them in order to enter the house.

Not a single mouse got caught, but here's the best part: the peanut butter always disappeared! Darn clever little creatures, I never knew how they did it!

Edit: added word clever

 

[ginebra]

On the outskirts of my house there are some abandoned cats, and one of then uses to catch mouses and leaves them on my door. It happened several times, I thought that maybe it is in exchange for the food I give them every day. On the other hand, I cannot help but to feel sorry for the poor mouses always chased by everybody.

 

[Aiming]

I love mouse and I never ever will kill one. When I see one at home, brought by one of my cats, I take it and put it outside. (...)

On the other hand, I cannot help but to feel sorry for the poor mouses always chased by everybody.

I can somewhat relate to this feeling in that it reminds me of my childhood years and those of vegetarianism - all animals, though especially mammals and birds were simply lovable and in need of protection by those 'evil' predators. Nowadays I think that this viewpoint was a twisted viewpoint related to my own suffering (as discussed also on the thread The Vegetarian Myth) and not seeing the intrinsic meaning/sense, or rather, the reality of a biological system that is based upon the principles of feeding, thus predators and prey. Then, the brainwashing of 'a truly spiritual person will not kill anything', has been another big contributing factor in it, as the part in Darkness Over Tibet clarifies, like rrraven has pointed out. So this belief system simply helps in reflecting back to us the wanted self-image of being good/pure/spiritual, as well as it is reinforcing a subjective bubble worldview, that's kind of shielding us from the 'bad world' outside, or even negating it somewhat, osit. I'm not saying the desire not to want to kill is of no innate value/meaning, but it might be best to merge it with objective knowledge of what is: as rrraven said, mice are vermin and transmit disease, thus they are dangerous and should be dealt with accordingly, just as we would protect ourselves from, say, a hungry crocodile.

anyone remember ''darkness over tibet''?
where the guy had so much compassion for vermin he let them eat all his food...and his children starved?
mice are not cute...that is disney talking...the are nasty,if given a chance the older litter males will rape their younger litter sisters to death!!!

 

[Search]

On the outskirts of my house there are some abandoned cats, and one of then uses to catch mouses and leaves them on my door. It happened several times, I thought that maybe it is in exchange for the food I give them every day.

I have often noticed when cats catch mice and often drag them to the door. I think in this way cat shows that he is a good cat, he catches mice and in this way he shows that he is doing his work.

 

[Search]

I can somewhat relate to this feeling in that it reminds me of my childhood years and those of vegetarianism - all animals, though especially mammals and birds were simply lovable and in need of protection by those 'evil' predators. Nowadays I think that this viewpoint was a twisted viewpoint related to my own suffering (as discussed also on the thread The Vegetarian Myth) and not seeing the intrinsic meaning/sense, or rather, the reality of a biological system that is based upon the principles of feeding, thus predators and prey. Then, the brainwashing of 'a truly spiritual person will not kill anything', has been another big contributing factor in it, as the part in Darkness Over Tibet clarifies, like rrraven has pointed out. So this belief system simply helps in reflecting back to us the wanted self-image of being good/pure/spiritual, as well as it is reinforcing a subjective bubble worldview, that's kind of shielding us from the 'bad world' outside, or even negating it somewhat, osit. I'm not saying the desire not to want to kill is of no innate value/meaning, but it might be best to merge it with objective knowledge of what is: as rrraven said, mice are vermin and transmit disease, thus they are dangerous and should be dealt with accordingly, just as we would protect ourselves from, say, a hungry crocodile.

It 's an interesting thought now that gives me smth to think about.

 

[ginebra]

On the other hand, I cannot help but to feel sorry for the poor mouses always chased by everybody.

I can somewhat relate to this feeling in that it reminds me of my childhood years and those of vegetarianism - all animals, though especially mammals and birds were simply lovable and in need of protection by those 'evil' predators. Nowadays I think that this viewpoint was a twisted viewpoint related to my own suffering (as discussed also on the thread The Vegetarian Myth) and not seeing the intrinsic meaning/sense, or rather, the reality of a biological system that is based upon the principles of feeding, thus predators and prey. Then, the brainwashing of 'a truly spiritual person will not kill anything', has been another big contributing factor in it, as the part in Darkness Over Tibet clarifies, like rrraven has pointed out. So this belief system simply helps in reflecting back to us the wanted self-image of being good/pure/spiritual, as well as it is reinforcing a subjective bubble worldview, that's kind of shielding us from the 'bad world' outside, or even negating it somewhat, osit. I'm not saying the desire not to want to kill is of no innate value/meaning, but it might be best to merge it with objective knowledge of what is: as rrraven said, mice are vermin and transmit disease, thus they are dangerous and should be dealt with accordingly, just as we would protect ourselves from, say, a hungry crocodile.

I know that this is the way nature works and mouse are meant to be cat´s food and also they are vectors for serious diseases. Despite the feeling of tenderness they bring to me,I would not hesitate to get rid of them if they invaded my house.

 

[Brewer]

Hi

As a handyman one of my jobs is to control pests. I've used snap traps, live traps and baits. I don't like using baits as they make the animal bleed to death internally. It gives them a raging thirst and makes them move outside in search of water. However they are effective and rapidly control the population in a rodent infested building.

Where I live downunder rats and mice generally live outdoors during Summer and move in during Fall when the food supply outdoors dwindles.

I wouldn't go for a cat, sure they kill mice but they also kill lots of other animals, slowly. There is evidence to suggest that they carry a parasite that may be detrimental to people. If you like to travel, like I do then you have to find someone to look after it. I likes cats but they are a lot of work and I've found that they're not all good at doing what they're meant to do! I've been to places with 3 or more cats and they still have rodent problems. The cats get lazy or because rodents are small they can escape into hidey holes where the cats can't get them.

If using a live trap I wouldn't release them outside, they'll just go to someone elses house, back into yours or die. Live traps, though effective are still stressful for the rodent. A quick way to kill a live trapped rodent is to place trap into a bucket and fill the bucket with CO2 from a fire extinguisher. The CO2, being heavier than air displaces the O2 in the bucket and knocks them out instantly. I know because I've observed it and even tried it on myself!

It means you need a CO2 extinguisher, if you've no access to one then you can make it by mixing bi-carb soda and vinegar in the bucket before placing the trap in it or you can immerse the trap in water but it takes 15 to 20 seconds for the animal to drown, not nice but much quicker than your average cat and poison.

I use snap traps, instant death but can be a little tricky to use as mice and rats can be very clever! I've noticed that rats don't readily enter live traps anymore.

If you don't like snap traps, you could try this device, it's not like your traditional trap, I haven't used them by they seem to sell well at hardware stores.

http://www.nooski.com/

Another thing, keep the bug population under control, especially cockroaches. Cockies to rodents are like pigs, chickens and cattle to us. They convert food that rodents can't eat into cocky flesh that they can eat, just like cattle convert grass into meat. Control them, there is less food for the rodents.

Take care and good luck.