not a killer and certainly not a hunter

not a killer and certainly not a hunter is how this weekend is panning out.

2 days ago I found mild mouse evidence in the kitchen. this would would be the first time EVER anything mousy has been in this house.....except a squirrel that already lived in the roof when I moved in, but was quickly released/forced into the wild soon after and never to be seen near the house again.

I have been in the habit of eating partial fruit, leaving the other 1/2, 1/4, etc on the counter for my next meal, snack etc. This has been my habit for some time now. 2 days ago, when i got home from work, I noticed the 1/2 apple I had left from breakfast had some issues. The seeds and inner area was all over the counter. I thought this was odd, and then noticed 2 drops of mouse poop. I immediately called this a one time isolated incident and told myself it was nothing to be concerned about. A mouse got lost, somehow found its self in my kitchen, had some apple and left. I threw the apple out, cleaned up and put it out of my mind. After all, I have never seen a mouse in this house, never seen mouse poop and have 2 dogs who are hunters of small animals (these 2 are not, but their breed is), therefore I concluded that isolated incident was plausible.

Today I awoke and thought that the day required a great weekend breakfast. I opened the cutlery drawer to grab a knife and saw mouse poop everywhere. OMG everywhere. I was mad in a 2-fold way. 1- for sure the isolated incident has just escalated and I actually have to deal with this, and 2- I am hungry and mentally prepared to eat and now have to wash all the cutlery before starting.

As a new found hunter I set a plan in motion. Eat, then go buy traps. I bought several, as I am a huge suck and won't want to reload a trap and have to deal with mouse death on my hands. I do feel bad it has to die. Unfortunately it broke the animal rules of living in this house. First, you do not ruin anything of mine and second, you never poop in the house.

With the traps at home I baited them with a great granola bar which included nut butter, fruit, grains and nuts. I assume any mouse would be thrilled for this. I emptied the cutlery drawer and set one inside there. I used human logic to conclude it got there by passing behind the dishwasher and coming in from under the sink. I found more droppings there, so I put one beside the garbage can, and another beside the pipes at the back, which is where I assume he came in through. I then went down into the crawl space and located the kitchen pipes and set another there. 4 traps to start, each baited with the equivalent of a 4 course gourmet meal and now I wait.

In my mind, I have made this out to be one mouse - still lost, wanting to leave the house. It is a male and will not have babies here. A lone wolf mouse who prefers to travel and live alone. Time and trap snaps will tell.