My adventure with sixteen traps, a can of peanut butter, and some mice with bad luck
It all started when my roommates and I were suddenly surprised by the ice-cold temperatures. I was sitting wrapped in my Vikings blanket and comforter, trying to get warm while our house creaked as the freezing wind blew through its cracks. My art history book wasn’t keeping my attention, and my mind and eyes were wandering. That’s when I saw him.—a tiny light brown mouse lying on my floor-board heater. It took me a second to snap out of my coma and realize what I saw. Of course, when I realized what was going on, I let out an audible gasp. That was his cue to dart across the heater and into a hole the size of a dime. I immediately jumped from my cocoon into a frantic dance on my bed. I lunged for my cell phone and called my roommate. I could hear her answer the phone in the room across the hall.
“Holy Sh*t!! There’s a mouse in my room! What do I do?!” I was in a panic. I already felt sweaty. And I was pretty sure that the mouse was in the process of getting reinforcements. My roommate rushed in and jumped onto the bed with me as her boyfriend crouched down to search for the bugger.
Sixteen traps and a can of peanut butter began the “de-mouse-ify campaign.” A simple operation consisting of setting traps, waiting, and setting more traps.
Here’s the problem: None of the female roommates knew how or wanted to deal with a trap that had sprung. We relied on our male roommates being in a good mood to deal with the mice. That would have been fine, but everyone knew when a trap had been disturbed. You can actually hear it snap when it catches something. So, lately, when I’m doing homework in the kitchen and I hear the distinct, “SNAP!” I just pick my things up and move to another room and ignore it all together. It can be someone else’s problem.
The thing is, I do not want mice in my house. Duh. If they would just stay in my walls and not come out, I would be fine. Really. Ignorance is bliss. But that little brown guy ruined it for everyone else.