This will probably sound dumb to most people - because it is, I guess. But when it comes to animals I'm just a huge dope. About ten years ago one of our neighbours brought mice to the area, and ever since we've periodically had the damn things get inside the house. They cause all kinds of destruction, shredding paper and getting into our food, and they leave their little pellets everywhere. They're horrible, so whenever they show up we bait some traps and wait. It takes days sometimes, but eventually the trap will go "Crack!" and there'll be a little body in there ready for disposal. It's never bothered me, because the stupid things don't have to go for the bait. It's not like I'm personally killing them. (And yes, I know how dumb that is - but I'm a dope, remember? The rationalization helps me sleep at night.)
So anyway, the current mouse actually broke one of our old, rusting traps. He went for the bait and managed to get out before the trap swung shut, breaking off the little platform the peanut butter was smeared on in the process. So we needed a new trap. I went to the Dollar Store and they had these glue traps, four for a dollar. Cheap! I bought some and set one out, never really thinking about the consequences.
And tonight it worked. I found a little grey mouse stuck to the trap, hopelessly smeared into the glue. But he was still alive! When he heard me he started to frantically thrash about, in an effort to pull free (to no avail), and when I picked up the trap he squeaked! I left him there.
Now I don't know what to do. It's easy when they're dead, but I can't kill this mouse. I woke up my Dad to ask him for advice. He got out of bed and filled up a bottle full of water, intending to drown it, but I wouldn't let him. That made him mad, and he asked me why I woke him up at all if I wasn't going to deal with it, and I didn't know what to say. I can't kill this little thing, the instinct to do so just isn't in me. And I can't let someone else kill it either, because I bought the stupid trap and it's my responsibility.
Right now I left it oustside in the back yard, still stuck in the trap, but covered by a tin can. In the morning I'll have to deal with this, but I don't know what to do.
EDIT: Dilemma over
I'm never going to use glue traps again. The other three traps in that package are going straight into the garbage.
But it seems my dilemma has been solved, though not by me. This morning I woke up and went outside to check on the mouse - and it was gone!
The tin can was still there, and still in the same upside-down position I left it in. But when I lifted the can, there was no mouse and no trap underneath. Something happened last night, most likely a cat or dog came by, and the only clue to the possible violence was the mouse's severed tail, which was lying beside the can. So that's the end of that, I suppose.
I know I shouldn't feel relieved, but I do.
EDIT 2: A little background on our mouse problem:
We never had mice in our neighbourhood until this old lady across the alley brought in a bunch of junk. She dumped it in her backyard, and it must have been infested with mice, because suddenly there were five or six of the things in our house. They must have been starving, because they ran around everywhere, day and night. One of them even tried to run up my Dad's pant leg when he was watching TV! Downstairs they chewed up all the newspaper they could find, and even scratched the paper labels off the tin cans in our pantry. Awful creatures.
We got rid of 'em eventually, though. Sometimes they stay clear of the traps for awhile (especially if the traps have been used before and they can smell other mice on them), but they eventually go for the bait and get caught. Never fails.
EDIT 3: The Death Toll Rises
We just caught another one! We set a couple of the old fashioned snap traps by the heating vent (aka: the mouse transit system) just in case, because you never know if more of them are hanging around. But I really didn't think they'd be back for a while. So I'm watching a movie and ... snap! A stupid mouse got caught and died right in front of me.
Stupid mouse creatures. I hate this. Why can't they stay outside?
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