This weekend I managed to corner and harmlessly trap a mouse that had been visiting our kitchen for a few weeks. Evidently living in the space between the floor and basement ceiling. Really rather an adorable little thing. I took it well away from the house and released it.
Thing is, I've repeatedly found myself hoping it's okay. I need to read up on the most benign way and place to release a mouse for when this happens agaain.
@harphat That sounds like an epic journey for a mouse. It must be worth it.
I live in a medium density old neighborhood in the western US. I have to assume if he doesn't end up back here it'll just be someone else's house, someone who might be less disposed to be humane. I'll go to a riparian area up by the Columbia river a mile or so from here next time.
@harphat Well, mine appears to be back, none the worse for wear. Still assiduously avoiding the humane traps i've put out, and I've baited them with something I know he loves. Only caught the first time by sort of driving him into one, he'd avoided them for days before that.
@pieist Sounds like he's learning! Hopefully he's up for a nice little drive to the Columbia riverside in a while😆 . Good luck!
@pieist Ha, we have a 'law' that you can only move animals 1km away. With rabbits and possums, that's about 2 days before return.
Anyway, nobody ever has 1 mouse. If you find a mouse, there are many more.
@hasmis Perhaps, but this isn't quite my first rodeo. On several other occasions in my life I've seen consistent indications, trapped one (once two on subsequent nights) and that was the end of it. All indications, noise, residue and other effects gone.
@pieist Don't forget that they paint a big sign on the hole they chewed.
@hasmis Perhaps I just catch the one that doesn't move in perfect silence, clean up his droppings and reseal the bread bags he gnaws into, and the rest are more clever than that. I've had worse housemates.
@pieist Yeah, well behaved mice. But there's always Crazy Uncle Harry...
@pieist Had scores at my chalet in Bugey France. Used a humane trap and then drove them about a mile away to release into a field. But some began to look terribly familiar...so I spray painted the very end of the tail of one of them to see if he returned. Sure enough...