Albert's And My First Mutual Experience With Live Mice

[catkin56]

I've had Albert for a year now. He's five, adopted long-distance from Houston.

Yesterday I saw him darting from one side of my kitchen trash can to the other. Finally a little brown mouse ran out and ran into the living room, Albert giving chase. I screamed like a banshee. I called the handyman to come over. He found the mouse and took it outside. He showed me how cute it was peeking from inside his hand. Then I saw another mouse in the kitchen, dead, presumably killed by Albert, who was batting it around.

I called my landlord—this is a condo building and I rent his apartment from him. He said there were no other mouse reports in the building, but he thought there was a hole behind my fridge;I knew there was one under the sink. He said he'd reimburse the cost of having Tom come back and stuff/board up/foam all the holes and cracks, which he did.

I used to do wildlife rehab and tended to many teeny possums who looked just like mice, but if a mouse ran across the floor I'd scream. I feel better knowing that Albert is here, aside from the fact that I love him to bits. I wasn't sure that he'd be able to kill a mouse, as he's declawed (I DIDN'T DO IT),but would rather relocate them and ordered humane traps just in case. I'm in Massachusetts now, expect to be moving into a house soon, and I really want to get over this.

I don't really expect advice, just sharing.

 

[Willowy]

Be careful with the "dead" one. . .sometimes they're faking and will suddenly revive and run off. I once watched one for a long time to see if it was breathing, and I didn't see anything. . .but as soon as the cats gave up it ran away! It's probably only safe to assume they're dead if they're missing body parts or are cold and stiff.

I'm entirely too soft-hearted and take the mice away whenever I see the cats get one. I take them out to the tree line but I'm sure they just come right back :/.

 

[catkin56]

Duly noted, Willowy! And that's kind of you.

I read your post on my phone, having shut myself into the bathroom like the world's biggest coward. I had seen Albert staring into the crack between the stove and cabinets in the kitchen a half hour ago. Next time I looked, he was in the dining area jumping from side to side around a little bunny statue I have on the floor there, meaning another mouse was behind it. I've relocated to the bedroom. I called a friend of mine in LA and she said, to give me a little perspective, that last night when she got home, there was a bobcat sitting on her fence.

 

[maggiedemi]

A gray squirrel did that to me once. My cat was after it so the squirrel played dead. When I came over to look at it, it popped back up. It scared the heck out of me, I didn't know they did that!

 

[Willowy]

Heh, I've had pet rats and mice, and a hamster, so I'm not squeamish about handling rodents. As long as you stay away from the teeth.

 

[catkin56]

I'm sure it's the element of surprise, and tied to a few creepy rat-sightings during my years in New York. When I was a kid and my parents and I were staying with friends on CT during the summer, I found a baby mouse wounded in the road and nursed it back to health.

Yes, the teeth. I fed a lot of baby squirrels at the Wildlife Waystation and one bit me pretty hard once .... a little too old for the formula I was trying to feed it.

 

[Kieka]

A few weeks ago one of mine brought a rat or large mouse into the house. It got away in our house but with three cats I wasn't overly concerned. Rightly so as 36 hours later Rocket brought it to me dead. I think she was hoping for a resurrection of her toy. Amazingly, it had no marks on it and I didn't see anything bloody. I think it was literally scared to death.

Its better than my childhood cat whose favorite game was bringing his barely alive gummed and slobbery (he had no teeth) catches to me. He probably is why I don't react much to their catches now. I can't even count number of times I was woken up by good size birds or rats making noises in high school. He loved the "get it out" game of me trying to herd whatever it was out a window because he seemed to bring me disproportionately large ones I couldn't just grab with a paper towel and were too active to catch. Or leave lovely dead ones right where I would step to get out of bed.

The ones that I have problems with are grasshoppers and crickets. I can do everything else but those ones give me the creeps.

I do pity the critter who decides my house might be fun to visit. Rocket is patient and loves to hunt (she was feral for 4 months so she is also more dedicated to it for more than just fun). Nightfury is a very good hunter and usually the first to catch something then give it to Rocket. Link is the lazy one of the bunch but he can and does catch something that grabs his attention.

 

[DreamerRose]

It used to be mouse central here at my house. I had traps out all the time. I nailed wood on the biggest hole you ever saw in the plank over the foundation and had a handyman help me stuff other holes with steel and copper wool. It didn't keep the mice out, just slowed them down a little.

Then I got the cats, and the problem was immediately solved. No mouse lives in my house for more than a day or two before one of the cats gets them. I praise the cats and let them torture the poor beasts. It's much better than having mice running around the kitchen. They eventually lose interest in the mouse once it's dead, and then I pick it up with a paper towel, and throw it in the garbage. Sometimes they eat it because I've found mouse guts on the carpet once or twice.

 

[catkin56]

You folks have been very helpful to me. I think I can get over my musophobia (a word I somehow only learned this week); I really must, now that I live in New England. I am awaiting the return of the handyman in a half hour. I think that after he blocked off the holes, there was one still hiding. I'm going out of town for a few days on Monday and have not mentioned this situation to the cat-sitter. If we can deal with this straggler, I'll consider the situation stabilized **for now.**

 

[Mother Dragon]

There's not much a one-ounce mouse can do to a 125 pound human other than bite when cornered. His bite may hurt but the teeth are too small to go very deep at all. It's more like a scratch. Believe me, the mouse is probably more scared of you the you are of it. Imagine something the size of a dump truck coming after you. That's the way the mouse sees it. He's just wandering along, looking for food or a place to hide, and here you come, huge and screeching. And with you is something that's heavily armed and faster and just as agile as he is. He just wants to get away and he knows the odds are stacked against him.

Insects and lizards, etc. don't bother me and I'm working through my fear of snakes, but rats are another story because they're bold and can be aggressive. Especially wharf rats. Those things are as big as small cats and really nasty. Small ones (the pet kind) don't bother me. However, I don't want any kind of critter running loose in the house. If it's a good critter, the cats are sure to kill it. If it's bad, I want it gone!

I don't want another bat in my house, either. That was a big lesson to learn.

 

[catkin56]

I know it's not logical, and had in fact scolded myself with the "one-ounce" description. I'm going to work on it.

 

[catkin56]

I know it's not logical, and had in fact scolded myself with the "one-ounce" description. I'm going to work on it.

So, I went out of town for a few days. The cat-sitter, who is not scared of mice, said she didn't see any, but often found Albert sitting in the kitchen staring at the crack between the cabinet and stove. The handyman had said he fund droppings back there but no holes; he'd plugged and boarded up the ones behind the fridge and sink.

When I got home yesterday, I was greeted by a little brown mouse on the doorstep of the building. He was very reluctant to move, even after a few nudges with my roller bag, but finally turned around and disappeared into a hole in the brick exterior of my building, under my living room window. Seeing him outside didn't bother me particularly.

I just found Albert in the kitchen staring at the space under the fridge. Maybe he hears them in the walls ... I'm hoping there is no actual mouse. I had a discussion about it with my ex-husband today, who also reminded me that the mouse is surely terrified of me.

 

[ihave4cats]

no mice or rats here. My cat just goes outside and brings the freshly caught mice back into the living room to play with. I open the door, get the broom and just swish the mice back outside.