A Mouse in the House - Update

We hadn't seen much mouse action since buying the sonic plug-in deterrents and thought they might actually have worked. We also had ordered a couple more pre-baited traps, so now we had four; two in the larder, where there was most evidence of the little bliters, one in the hall next to a hole in the floorboards which I expected was their 'way in' and one in the living room.

One night, whilst watching TV, we saw a mouse scaling the curtain next to our Xmas tree. By the time I'd gotten up to try and find a make-shift 'trapping / maiming' device it'd disappeared. It was late, but the idea of this little fucker invading our living room drove me to tipping over the couch in an effort to find it. However, there was no sign of it, slippery little bastard. We pulled the couch forward a little and set a couple of traps next to the wall, along the route it would most likely be following (they tend to hug the walls); one near the tree and another at the other end of the couch. (We later found a half chewed chocolate Santa hanging form the tree - it had obviously sniffed it out and climbed up the curtain to get at it.)

Some time passed without any further sitings, of the mouse or droppings. Before too long we were in the throngs of the birth, so we were in and out of the apartment. I checked the larder from time to time but still didn't see any further activity.

The day after Laura gave birth her parents came up to stay. As Laura was still in the hospital, I arranged to meet them back home to let them in and give them a spare set of keys before heading in for evening visiting hours. As we were sitting in the living room drinking some tea Laura's mum saw a mouse next to the fireplace! I looked up and sure enough, there it was - trapped...but still moving. In fact it was dragging itself along with the trap in tow. I bundled it into a bag and took it outside. Poor thing looked like it was in pain, it had been caught by the leg, which was broken for sure - it was all red and swollen. I could have let it go but I reckoned it would be more humane to put it out of its misery. I didn't really have anything to hit it with to hand. At the bottom of the stairs there was a pile of phone books. I tried dropping them on it, but it only seemed to stun it - so I took it outside and stomped on it - several times, just to be sure - and threw it in the trash. Ugh.

The day after Laura and Seren got home Laura's dad found another mouse in the larder caught in a trap, this time dead - a clean snap to the neck, as it should be.

We reckon we probably got the mom and the dad, so we're hoping that's it, for now at least.