This craziness has all been the result of some visitors to our home. In-laws?, you may be thinking. I have to say these visitors are Oh SO MUCH WORSE than in-laws! Oh my gracious, you guys! SO MUCH WORSE than in laws. Mice.
I KNOW! It has me completely freaked out. I am literally afraid to open a drawer. Afraid to go into the bathroom. Afraid to get something out of a cabinet. Afraid to walk through my own house.
It started a little over a week ago when I opened a cabinet to get out a rubbermaid container for our dinner leftovers and saw what I thought to be mouse droppings. I KNOW! I was completely disgusted too! Not panicked though. Not yet. That was yet to come.
Weird coincidence... we have NEVER bought mousetraps in all our 15 years together. We have never had a need. But Zack just bought some so that Shayna would have one for her science project (a mousetrap car). So... he set one for our little uninvited houseguest. He checked it the next day, and the blasted thing had eaten the peanut butter off and went on about his mousy little business (in MY house).
A few days later Shayna was in the basement watching TV in the family room and came upstairs hollering that she had just seen a mouse scurry through the light fixture (we have large florescent lights that are recessed in the ceiling and connected to ductwork). An actual 'mouse sighting'. So our little mouse problem got just a little bit bigger.
Zack went ahead and set all 3 of the extra traps we had - one in the light fixture, one in the cabinet, and one at the base of the cabinets. The next morning (this past Saturday) when he checked them, one was untouched and the bait had been taken from the other two. What the heck kind of mice do we have here? Apparently, the kind that eat peanut butter off of a trap without setting it off. The horror continues: I also found evidence (ie mouse crap and cotton balls strewn about) in my bathroom cabinet.
That same morning we were headed to hockey games in Durango (that trip is a whole other story). So, before we left, the traps were re-set in the hopes that we would return home to some very dead mice.
We returned home this evening (Sunday) to find - YET AGAIN - that the bait had been taken off two of the traps. I was really thinking that it was time to try some different traps. So, I was pretty upset, but still holding it together. I opened a drawer to get out a rag to wipe down the counters so that I could make dinner... and a piece of chewed up rag fell out. AND!? It had mouse poop all over it. Zack dumped out the contents of the drawer and the hot pads had also been chewed and had stuffing pulled out of them.
This was the beginning of the hysteria. They had been crawling around in my drawers! The silverware drawer too. And the cabinet where I had found the first sign earlier in the week? Tons of droppings. IN MY KITCHEN!!! WHERE I MAKE FOOD!!! THE FOOD WE EAT!!!
The dilemma? How do I clean, if they are just going to get into my drawers again during the night? Well after I spent a little time (OK. A lot of time) freaking out, crying and just being generally HORRIFIED, we took the silverware and other items out of the drawers, sterilized it all and shut it all up in the dishwasher with the other clean dishes. I also put some in the microwave. And the oven. Those are pretty mouse-proof, right?
I have to tell you, I was hesitant to share this with all of you. Why? Well, because I am kind of compulsive about having a clean house, and this is all so DIRTY. It's very embarrassing... not to mention completely disgusting. I am wary in my own home. I am the opposite of comfortable and relaxed, which is what I SHOULD be. It is all highly unsettling.
I want this all to go away. Like, YESTERDAY! It is time to call in the professionals. I want this done fast (OH MY GOSH! BEFORE THEY HAVE LIKE 100 BABIES!!!!) and I want it done right. So, I have already left a message with an exterminator. Hopefully they can come and HELP ME first thing tomorrow. Are all these capitals helping you understand how AWFUL this is. ABSOLUTELY AWFUL.
Oh, Kristin, you have my sympathy! I used to live in a house out by Elkhead. There were lots of mice in the country! The worst incident for me was when I was sitting on the couch and one came up through the cushions of the chair across the room from me. The thought that there might be one in the chair I was sitting on left me sitting only on wooden kitchen chairs until we caught the mice. Have you considered a cat?
ReplyDeleteWe've had mice before too. Definitely not my favorite, but certainly not something that you can prevent. It does seem like the whole house is... contaminated, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI bet your Mouse Professionals will solve your problems in no time! (Fingers crossed for you!)
Well, the exterminator said that we didn't have a big enough problem to warrant contracted service. Apparently, they would charge me BIG bucks, and he was a kind soul who wanted to help me rather than taking all my money. He did help me out by recommending types of traps and trap placement. He also told me what we should use to fill in the holes around the pipes and gaps in the cabinets.
ReplyDeleteThis afternoon during nap time, I was sitting and enjoying the quiet, and heard something that sounded very like the snap of a mouse trap. Mouse trap checking does not fall within my jurisdiction, however.... totally Zack's job. He just checked it, and sure enough... we GOT one.
Marie - OH YES... soooo contaminated! The house smells of bleach right now. Still too soon to put everything back in the cabinets and drawers, though.
Cheryl - I actually have an offer to take a cat from a friend. She says she has two that are both good mousers... but Hudson is allergic.
ReplyDeleteI think I might just move out if I saw a mouse poking his head out of one of my chairs.