Thursday, 3 February 2022

A Little Visitor

I've recently had a little visitor, but not the kind of visitor I'm glad to see. A furry little visitor, with a long tail. 

He (or perhaps she) made his way into my kitchen cupboard above the stove by chewing his way though the seal on the exhaust fan housing. Pretty hard on the teeth I would think. But the prize was a plastic bag of walnut pieces. He chewed his way through the bag.... easy peasy... and scattered the nuts all over the cupboard, leaving his little calling cards behind. 

Anything edible is now safely inside a glass jar.

Time to call the pest control people in. Now there are black box traps under my kitchen sink and in the furnace room in the basement, and an old fashioned mouse trap baited with peanut butter set up in the cupboard. The hole has been plugged with steel wool.

Every morning I slowly open the cupboard door and hope with fingers crossed that I don't have to dispose of a furry body. So far so good.



21 comments:

  1. We keep traps set permanently in the garage near the interior wall. We have a run every year when we trap a few. There is on set by the same wall in the basement, but we've never caught down down there, thanks goodness.

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    1. This is the first time I've had any mousie trouble, but it's been really cold and I think they are looking for a warm place with something nice to eat.

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  2. I hope your unwelcome visitor doesn't return.

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    1. If he does return, there's some nice peanut butter waiting for him!

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  3. I hope he or she can't get back into your kitchen cupboard.

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    1. The hole has been plugged so I hope he won't be able to get back in, but they are able to get through such a tiny hole!

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  4. This just gives me the creepy crawlies...Those long tail furry critters are awful!!
    Where we used to live we would have "visitors" because we were close to a field and had no pets to keep them at bay..hope you have gotten rid of them.
    Sue

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    1. It's been really cold outside and they are looking for a warm home.

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  5. It's been a cold winter this year and mice are no doubt seeking warmth. As far as I know we haven't any in the house yet, but it wouldn't surprise me. We routinely keep all our foodstuffs in containers, but as you say these little creatures have sharp teeth, and the cereal is in a plastic Tupperware containers and they could probably chew through that. So far so good though.

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    1. Everything in (hopefully) chew-proof containers now. But you can't blame them for trying!

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  6. Wow, we don't care for visitors like that. Years ago we had a few mice that needed to be taken care of. Peanut butter worked perfectly. Hopefully that will be the final visit you get.

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    1. Nothing in the trap yet and it's been there 4 or 5 days. Phew!

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  7. The mice have found their way under our vegetable patch. I hope they stay there. Good luck with that one.

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  8. My daughter found a mouse in her bedroom. A tiny little brown field mouse which I think managed to escape from the loft. We just use rat poison and hope they go off quietly to die where we can't see them.

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    1. I found one casually strolling across my rec room floor about 8 years ago, caught him easily in a cardboard box and threw him outside, and haven't had any mousie trouble since.... until now!

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  9. You need a cat, not that it helps any. Our cats bring them home to play with. we usually get a few in the house in winter looking for shelter and eventually the cats get them.

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  10. I hope you are finished with the little creatures from now on. Cross my fingers -- I've not had mice in the kitchen. We did have fruit rats set up housekeeping in our attic one year. Lying in bed one night I heard what sounded like a race track overhead. My husband investigated and that's when we discovered the unwelcome visitors when he set a trap and caught one. Pest control people went in our attic filled with insulation, climbed on our roof. They successfully cleared and secured the area against such future intrusions and I hope it stays just that way as it has in the years since.

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  11. Yikes, I hate mice in the house! Hope you get rid of them for good.

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