Dark matters...

[Dollythehun]

I can understand everyone's different feelings on this topic however, Shannon said it best: nature itself is cruel. When you own a ranch, farm, or extensive property, you'll see this thread in a different light. One does what they must, even if it is distasteful. The best we can hope for is to act humanely.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I can understand everyone's different feelings on this topic however, Shannon said it best: nature itself is cruel. When you own a ranch, farm, or extensive property, you'll see this thread in a different light. One does what they must, even if it is distasteful. The best we can hope for is to act humanely.

Now Carol, you KNOW I don't mind killing cute little kittens. I just have to do so humanely.

[Dollythehun]

I seem to be an easy target today...

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I seem to be an easy target today...

It's the bullseye painted on the middle of your back...

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Now Carol, you KNOW I don't mind killing cute little kittens. I just have to do so humanely.

/s
someone really needs to invent a sarcasm font!

Those of us who know jko know that he is a huge animal lover, and means the opposite of what he said here.
(there were some concerned members)

[greenpassion]

I get that. It seems that most of us are here. Picked up three more traps today. In This Bitter cold I am finding mouse droppings on my kitchen counter! So they moved from the basement and garage to the warmth of my living area.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

/s
someone really needs to invent a sarcasm font!

Those of us who know jko know that he is a huge animal lover, and means the opposite of what he said here.
(there were some concerned members)

Thanks, Sonya. You just ruined my bad reputation.

For those who don't know, a number of years ago Sonya told me about a boxer in an animal shelter here in Georgia. She told me of him on a Sunday, and he was scheduled to be euthanized on Tuesday. This boxer, Cassius, happily sleeps on my easy chair and is a loving, sweet, happy friend. I adore him, and adore Sonya for leading me to him.

To any concerned by my comment, the truth is that I take care of animals, and regularly feed them the small children from my neighborhood. They like the soft bones.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by Arizona Jeanie

When I was new in my old house, I tried to live and let live with the mice. They took over. I tried live trapping and moved a few outside, but they caught on to that and I stopped catching them. I tried snap traps, and from time to time would catch one without killing it, as you experienced. I thought that was horrid. Then they caught on to those traps and rarely wandered into one. The rat-zapper caught a few, but didn't really stop them. I came home from vacation to find mice running across the living room floor, I think they were getting too crowded. I finally realized that I was being a poor steward of my living quarters, and it was time to take care of myself. I put out poison bait boxes in the cupboards and closets and other places the dogs couldn't get to, feeling bad about killing them that way but at the end of other options. How can you get them out of the walls? I also had a pest-control company visit and close off all the entrance points they could find--under the eaves, around the foundation, where the pipes come and go. Well, that has worked well. I don't see any dead or dying ones, and they don't seem to kick the bucket where the dogs can find and eat them. They still get in from time to time, but don't last long. There must be a pile of little mummies and bones back in the walls somewhere, but I never see them.
So, it may not be the most humane of choices for the mice, but when it came down to them or me, I picked me this time.

That is the way it was with us. We got a few and I set out traps everywhere but those few eluded the traps and quickly became many...all within a couple of months. I stuffed every crevice I could find with steel wool (which is also a terrible death if mice choose to try to chew through it) and went with poison. Now, I just put poison in the garage every autumn, along with some traps so that if they do manage to get into our garage they can choose their manner of death.

I really hate harming any creature but I do not want to pay money constantly on replacing drywall and wiring that mice have destroyed (as well as clean up after the mice or risk the mice passing along diseases to or harming our other small pets).

[greenpassion]

It may have to resort to that. I think they're onto the spring traps. I just came home and there was three with the peanut butter gone but no mice.

[Dollythehun]

We use Tom Cat chunks although there are others. We put them in the attic and behind things or in bait stations so the cats can't get at them. We have had great success using these. The mice were so bad here that you could hear them in the ceiling when you laid in bed. No more. The cost to rewire your car...