Meridee was a bit distraught to find that a mouse had taken up dining in her car, on a brand new tube of oil paint of all things.
She was particularly miffed that she hadn't even got to use this color before the mouse found it.
As you can see, it ate all the paint, and half the metal tube as well.
Well we had to catch it, so I put some peanut butter in a couple of small plastic live traps which operate by gravity, and put one in the front of the car and one in the trunk the other evening.
I've heard plenty of horror stories of mice and pack rats chewing through wiring and causing hundreds, or sometimes thousands of dollars worth of damage in vehicles around here.
In fact I remember on a documentary once it said rodents cause more fire damage to buildings by chewing on wires than any other cause.
The morning came, so I checked my traps and found one open and one closed, but both had been moved several inches from where I'd put them.
The closed one didn't seem any heavier than the open one, so I opened the door and peered inside, still half expecting a small furry torpedo to come shooting out.
Nothing inside.
No mouse, and no peanut butter. No peanut butter in the other one either.
But lots of teeth marks all over the plastic where the determined beast had been trying to chew his way in.
Time for plan B.
I picked up another gravity operated trap (the mouse walks up a see-saw type ramp, which goes down to let him in, but swings back up again when he steps off it, preventing escape).
The JT Eaton Repeater was spacious with a window in the top, so I smeared in a bunch of peanut butter, popped it in the car and settled down to watch some TV.
I couldn't resist checking it later in the evening.
Lo and behold, a rather large mouse was happily chomping away on the peanut butter.
Since this trap is a repeater, and will catch as many mice as will fit inside, I had to check again before I went to bed.
Still just the one mouse.
I noticed that he was pooping all over the peanut butter. Would a mouse eat peanut butter with his own poop in it?
Would he chew through the plastic viewing screen and escape?
Nothing to do now but go to bed and check again in the morning.
Morning came and out I went.
My life must lack excitement because I found all this suspense rather fun.
The lonely mouse was still there.
He'd given up on the peanut butter. It seems he preferred it smooth rather than crunchy!
So there are limits to what a mouse will eat.
Next all that was left was to drive him far away, pop up the lid, and let him go.
He liked hiding under the teeter totter door at first, and wouldn't leave.
But eventually he hopped out and scampered away up the path and disappeared down a hole under a juniper bush.
I hope he likes Juniper berries, since there's no shortage of them around his new home!
Our car was parked outside, but now I'm curious to see if we have any mice in our garage.
Might as well put those crunchy peanut butter leftovers to good use and find out tonight!
This particular rodent trap seems perfect for anyone with a pest control issue, especially if they don't like needlessly snuffing out the short lives of critters who like us, are lucky enough to have been born in the first place.
I suppose since this is a sculpture blog this would be a good place to
add a picture of my bronze mice...
Besides that, I've been busy picking up bronzes and patinating them this last week, including (among lots of other things) these rabbits and turtles.
With the rabbits relaxing lazily while the turtles diligently move slowly forward, it's almost like they're trying to tell me something...
Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille
