Mouse in the Trash Can – Hive and Nest

Finding this in our driveway last week jogged my memory of having a smidge of a mouse problem when we lived in Utah many years ago.

Our house was down the block from a huge vacant lot meadow. As you can imagine the critters living in nature sometimes got cold or wanted something tasty to eat so they snuck their way into human houses (it was our neighbors too, not just us) and struck gold in their garbage cans and trash compactors.

Every day when I’d open my trash compactor (a drawer full of old food! A mousey dream come true!) a mouse or two would scurry out, back into the netherworld behind my cabinets. Rodents do not bother me at all but this was getting disgusting. Who knows if those mice were breeding back there or something.

Mister bought several different types of mouse traps which the insanely clever mice managed to evade. Even the ones sitting right in the middle of the trash compactor. Our cat Sophie was idiotic about catching them as well (She was pretty much idiotic about everything, though). I’m sure if we’d had a video camera going it would have looked like an episode of Tom and Jerry. We had no choice but to try some of the more “humane” traps. I was completely happy killing the mice but that didn’t seem to be working so what the heck.

We purchased one trap that looked like a small plastic tray. Apparently the idea is that the top of the tray is incredibly sticky and the mouse’s paws get stuck to it and that’s that. So humane, right? No snapping of the neck or violent killing involved. Mister placed the trap in the trash compactor and left for work.

Within a couple of hours I went to throw something away and there was a mouse stuck to the trap. Hooray! Success! Only . . . now what? Do I let the mouse sit there until it starves to death? That hardly seems humane. What if the mouse panics and chews its hands and feet off trying to get away? I could picture a bloody scene with four little mouse paws stuck to the trap. A horrid scenario, but not out of the question. Should I toss the mouse and accompanying trap in the garbage can outside to roast slowly in the hot Utah sun? That seemed unkind, not to mention smelly.

What to do with a squirmy, trapped mouse? I came up with a quick and non-offensive way to put the poor little mouse out of it’s misery: I tied the trap with the mouse attached in a plastic Target bag, then rebagged it into another Target bag. I then placed the bag on my driveway directly behind one of my car tires.

You know what came next.

Although running over the mouse felt incredibly awful, it seemed to be the kindest option. It died quickly (I’m guessing. I didn’t check.) and I didn’t feel anything as I ran it over.

So be warned if you start getting mice in your house this winter. Not all traps are created equal. You may be forced to commit mouse-cide yourself.