The Little Big Commotion: Continued
Follow-up on the mouse commotion
The cage-style mouse trap ended up being useless.
Once, the bait was taken without the trap triggering. I also tried a method of closing the door and having them enter from above, but that also just resulted in the bait being taken.
Someone said, "If they're just taking the bait, aren't you basically just feeding and raising them?" and that method was rejected.
…But, just how small are they to be able to pass through the cage mesh? 💧
Since my hand-tamed Java sparrow sometimes comes over to stay, I don't want to use rodenticide because I can't risk anything happening to it.
That leaves the sticky type!? …I'm not very keen on that.
But leaving it alone is scary. If they can pass through the cage mesh, isn't there a possibility they could target the bait and enter the Java sparrow's cage? Isn't it dangerous for the sparrow to be in a cage with no escape at night?
If it weren't for the bird, I might have been fine just continuing to be careful about how I store food, but when it involves the bird, I can't ignore the potential danger.
I felt like if they would just quietly get caught in the cage trap, I could release them outside, but… I guess it can't be helped since the mice chose this path (though that might just be a one-sided justification on the human side).
I bought sticky-type mouse traps from the home center and set them up. I chose two locations where I had seen them or found droppings, and where they wouldn't be stepped on by mistake.
The result… Within 24 hours, one was caught stuck to the sheet. Looking at it again after it was stuck, it was much smaller than my hand-tamed Java sparrow, so I felt it was no wonder it could slip through the cage mesh.
Seeing that small mouse stuck to the powerful adhesive and unable to move, while I had imagined it, was not a very pleasant sight.
And, one of the reasons I hesitated to use the sticky type… I'm a "wimp" who has never even killed a chicken or a fish, so I can't finish them off to shorten their suffering. This isn't about thinking about kindness, or which way causes less pain; I'm just terrified and can't bring myself to do it. (Though I eat other living things all the time, I guess that's different from this…)
Unable to do anything, I folded the sheet shut and heard a faint squeak.
And… while I did manage to catch one, there's no guarantee that it's the only one. I immediately set the next sheet.
Please, let it be just that one, let it be only that one (prayer).
But that was an unanswered prayer. It wasn't just one.
The next morning, two mice were stuck to the sheet I had set.
…You've got to be kidding, how many are there? 💧
And the wimp still can't do anything about it. I can only fold the sheet shut and shove it straight into a trash bag. The faint squeak I hear at that moment is quietly wearing down my mental state (tears).
I wonder if there are still mice left? 💦
But since there was one that got caught, I can't decide there are no more and stop setting them, now that I've started.
…I don't like this, tomorrow coming.