Of Mice and Men: Conclusion

Well, as many of you concluded, the worst trap was the Sinking Titanic because it was never triggered. After that, I think the Diving Board had too many flaws. There were several mornings when we found the trap having been set off, but no mouse. I think the cardboard box was too light so that started to fall as soon as the mouse stepped onto the grounded end, so he just stepped back and let it dive. After a few nights of that, there was no activity. The telephone phone had potential, and although it was disturbed a few times, we never found a mouse trying to make a desperate last call from inside. So the proven mouse trap is the Guillotine. My version of the Guillotine is actually stolen nearly 100% from our friend Grant (who used to live in our house with us). His name for the trap is quite the opposite of my intentions as you can see below on the schematics he drew up for future traps.

 

However, the trap is not fool proof (sorry Grant). You see, Grant’s trap caught 3-4 mice during the time that Grant was here, but since then, it has been merely another obstacle for the mice to walk around. Both of the mice we caught last week were not caught in any of the traps. Rather, they were caught in face-to-face combat. The first guy was little and Andrea spotted him one morning as he was rummaging through our food shelf. Our food shelf is in the corner of our living room so I used furniture to create a barrier, blocking the mouse into that corner. Then, we slowly took everything out of the corner leaving the mouse running and making feeble attempts at escape. Eventually, I threw an apron on the scared little guy, bundled it up and held on tight. This guy found mercy as I walked down the street and let him go in a small field. However, when the next morning showed clear evidence that this little guy was not alone, I vowed that the next captive would not be so lucky (with the agreement of our housemates, one of which later recanted her death sentence verdict). Once again, building off the idea that this mouse was bigger (one housemate having seen him one night), I built the Guillotine slightly bigger than Grant’s original. Then, Monday night after volleyball, I was rummaging around for a late night snack when I heard him. I closed the doors to the living room and waited for several hours listening to his movements. During this time, I learned where his hideout was (in the mop we bought for down-country) and I could track his movements as he looked for food. All of my traps were totally ignored as he ran around the room. Finally, he found our housemate’s carelessly left out bag of wheat germ. When it was obvious that he had chosen that as his meal that night, I turned on the light and he quickly retreated to his hiding place. I put away the wheat germ and, wanting to give my traps one last chance, I went to bed, locking him into that room for the night.

 

The next morning, sadly seeing that all the traps were left undisturbed, I rudely woke him up from his nap. Upon seeing me, he bolted into the same corner where the little mouse was captured. Once again, I set up the barricades and began removing stuff in what would become his “corner of death.” When the corner was nearly empty, the mouse bolted from his hiding spot (under the carpet that doesn’t fit snuggly into the corner) and began jumping all over the place. However, Andrea and I were positioned at the points of the triangle to shoo him back into the “ring.” Now, in all his terror, the mouse failed to notice the only thing left in the corner with him –a bucket of water. And sure enough, after about 30 seconds of frantic jumping, he landed right in the bucket with a big splash! (for in fact he was MUCH bigger).

 

Andrea and I high fived each other, took advantage of the Kodak moment and then placed a lid on top (because the mouse was very close to getting out). And so, in the darkness, his swimming marathon began. Maybe it was the wheat germ party he had thrown the night before, maybe all that jumping wore him out, or maybe he had just given up hope, but no more than ten minutes later, he had disappeared into the cloudy water (there happened to be leftover laundry rinse water in the bucket). And so, in the battle between mice and men, the mice were winning hands down for about a week. But in the end, it’s the men (and women) who are still living in the house, while mouse #2 lays in the gutter outside (literally).