Do Mice Have 9 Lives?

I mentioned previously our problem with mice lately.  Well, update there, we have gone more than 14 days without a mouse incident. The last incident was pretty memorable due to our new "shocking" mouse trap.

We had the trap four about three days and caught one mouse beneath our kitchen sink, not exactly a colony catcher, but it was doing the job.

Cameron and I were curled up on the couch, watching Daniel Tiger when I saw him.  One small mouse scurry around the the corner of the tv stand.  This wouldn't be so bad, but the mouse turned left and began to crawl towards Cam and I. Uh, no.

I stood up, scaring the little bugger away. I could care less where he was going.  I fetched our new lovely trap and set it right next to the tv stand.

20-30 minutes later, Dave came home and the three of us were playing and talking on the couch when we hear this electric sparking noise coming from behind the tv.  It's gotta be the trap causing electric interference or something.  Stupid trap is too sensitive.

So I pick up the trap and move it away from the wiring and I see it, the mouse's nose poking out the bait holder in the back. I sucked in my scream and nearly threw the trap back on the ground.  

The little weasel was quick to get to the bait, but as a result, probably was shocked...twice, hence the electric sparking noise. 

I killed him, twice, and the last mouse to die this year so far. Maybe the shock was strong enough to go through his brainwaves to other mice nearby.

Whatever the reason, the Hunt household is mouse free. 

The Smartest, Dumb Mouse

Dave and I have been in our house for close to 2.5 years. For the first two years, we only had one unwanted rodent guest.
This year, the city started construction on a new major road by our house. This new road has apparently evac
uated all the mice to our warm, cat-free and until recently trap-free house.  We have caught five mice this winter; FIVE.
They are pretty cunning mice too. Once we noticed that this infestation was becoming a bigger problem, thanks in part to a messy three-year-old who was pretty much providing a four-course meal; we invested in a team of mouse-traps armed with peanut butter bait.  Of the seven traps, only two ever caught mice, the others remained set, but peanut butter free.  Somehow these genius mice could get in these traps, eat the peanut butter and get out without setting the traps off.
I was getting pretty anxious near the end: the traps weren't working and these "lovely" rodents were giving me a different kind of wake up call every morning.
See, my shift at work started at 6:00 a.m., so I get up by 5:00 a.m. and leave shortly before 5:30 a.m. (I am luckily a minimalist when it comes to getting ready)
Every morning, I open the pantry door, only to see one of these lovely critters run around the pantry floor and either dash behind the fridge or scurry along the cabinets until it squeezes between the dishwasher and cupboards. Nothing will wake you up faster than a small rodent jumping over your feet in the morning.
One morning I encountered one of these weasel-like creatures, who had been evading capture and getting fat off our peanut butter.  This smart mouse is also super dumb.
Cameron has a habit of putting some of her push toys (ride/push Minnie Mouse car, stroller, etc) in the pantry for storage or something.  Well that morning, her Minnie Mouse coaster was sitting in the pantry and this super dumb/smart mouse runs around the pantry until he finds this great hiding spot. Only the moron doesn't fit under the coaster, so he pushes his little bum underneath the coaster and poking out like the worst hide-and-seek player ever.

So here he is obviously still in my pantry and I'm not quite sure what do with this stupid, smart mouse. I feel like he missed the short bus and I'm not about to burst his bubble. So I try to ignore him and get my food out of the pantry. While picking up my granola bar, the mouse rushes off to one of the popular hiding spots.
I don't know how a mouse can be both dumb and smart, but there he is.  Currently, we are mouse free, so we've caught him since that day. Poor guy, he was a survivor.