Mice are Evil

I went out to a friend's home last night, and when I came home, I saw that one of the traps had sprung. It is on that keeps the kill "hidden" but as it is really only effective for adult mice I checked, and sure enough, the capture was alive.

For that reason, I emptied the trap into a plastic bag, thinking to re-use the trap after I had killed what it had caught. Because...tossing it away still alive just seemed to be too cruel.

I got over that sentiment very quickly. I put it in a bag, opened the trap, sure enough saw the baby mouse crawl out and I got a large object with which to it it. I failed. I used the end of the broom that had been so effective with the sticky-trap mice, but unfortunately, the glue from those traps was still on the death-implement. As I raised it, it, it opened the bag and the mouse found the escape route  and nearly ran over my foot.

I of course screeched loudly enough to cause the dead in the nearby cemetery to rise.  They were completely bored with the mouse problem, though, and returned to their rest.

I, however, experienced a huge jolt of adrenaline and resolved that all of those mice were going to die in very short order.

The one I had struck seemed quite dazed and confused, though, and ran to take cover by my garbage cans...and then to another location. I know I wounded him, perhaps mortally. But now I had no way of capturing him and offering a merciful death.

Damn!

I put the poison back out again, and positioned those bait stations near where I knew the mice were still running. The Tomcat snap-type traps are too sensitive to place where the others had had success, but I was out of those and just threw the last one away. After all the mice feces that came into contact with it, I decided it was best to contain the mouse-disease that comes with their droppings and spend the money for more of those. They may be more expensive, but they so far have been the only trap to actually work (other than the sticky traps which only caught 2 but also caught leaves and other random stuff that rendered them sticky but useless and doesn't kill the critters).

Then this afternoon I had an attack of conscience and picked up the bait traps (the poison), living in holy terror that a poisoned mouse will wander into the neighbor's garage, be eaten by a cat, and then poison the cat, and therefore make an entire family sad and grief-stricken.

I can't do that to people.

So I picked the poison up. Again.

So far, as of 11:30 pm Saturday night)  still no more captures. Like it or not, I will have to purchase more traps tomorrow, of the type I can place in the mouse-path without them springing just by being set down.  Or by the vibration of the garage door.

*sigh*

A priest who reads my blog observed this series is much like a metaphor for spiritual combat, and indeed, I agree with that. Although right now I'm not meditating on it too much because it's giving me the heebie-jeebies every time I think of that little mouse escaping and cowering, dazed and confused....and disease-ridden, maybe sneaking into my house to die and, if it ingested poison, to kill my dog if she eats it out of curiosity....