Dear mice in the attic

Yes, we have 4 cats.

Dorah would sit here for hours in winter

Yes, we have deer mice in the attic.
There are field mice EVERYWHERE outdoors. Daisy caught one yesterday. Dorah ran over and smelled Daisy's mouse breath. Quite intrigued.

The deer mice aren't so much in the house, as one feline or another often grabs it quite quickly. I've shown photos of Dorah, who sits guard on top of the shelf.

Daisy hunted a field mouse
out in the snow, in winter.
She sat and listened, then pounced!
It was tunneling under the snow.

During one of those dates with Mr. Insomnia, I was sitting at the dining room table at 4 a.m. and a mouse ran up the chimney brick and slipped up into the attic, exactly where Dorah is gazing. We called in a professional, who charges $50 for a consult. He went all around the house, and up into the attic, insulation everywhere! He tells us is it a moderate infestation. Nick gave us some ideas.

• Close up the bottom of the wood siding of the house (which we will do in fall, to save my garden!)
• He could put poisonous traps in the attic.



Deer mouse

• Put traps in the attic ourselves.

The poison won't be acceptable, since we have 4 cats, plus another couple of cats who visit us from across the highway. The mice could go outdoors to die, and the cats could eat them.

Just a dab of peanut butter as bait.

I decided to use peanut butter-baited traps.
They scare the heck out of me, I still have a certain amount of panic attacks and stress around sudden, loud noises.
Watching the video the manufacturer provides, I figured out how to set them properly.

Nick suggested I simply put some quick-kill traps in a box and put it in the attic. Anyone with a small attic door will understand that this middle-aged woman wasn't thrilled with squeezing set traps and a box up there.

Deer mouse

We cannot set them about the house or outdoors, since Daisy seems to eat anything (including drinking my coffee). I decided to set the traps near where Dorah has spotted her mice friends, but put them inside a cat carrier! The cats cannot get into the carrier, but the deer mice can!

June 11

They are ubiquitous.

I put four traps in the carrier, up on the shelf.

June 13

I spotted Sadie, who looked as it she was hunting mice, in the basement. I took two of the traps and put them in the other carrier down there. Two up, two downstairs.

Dorah inspected it!

June 15

There I was, watching TV, when I heard a strange sound. Oops, caught one. Daisy was quite keen. One mouse in the upstairs carrier. Looks like it will be a good plan.

June 16

Daisy decided she wanted out at 4:30 a.m., predawn-ish. There was no cat food. I filled the dishes, checked the traps. Two more mice. I loathe killing them, but they carry disease and shouldn't be in the house. Someone killed two in the shed a couple of days ago. They are ubiquitous!