mouse mouse
the other evening i'm working in the studio, just home from work, and i hear this loud rustling in the kitchen. starting and stopping, starting and stopping. i snuck over there all quiet and stealthy and localize the sound to be coming right behind the fridge.
the mouse is back, and it sounds like he's trying to chew through the wall or something. last week, he was moving about through the stove (not the cooking part, but within the frame of the appliance) to my annoyance. we'd picked up these mousetraps some time ago in order to rid the place of the one or two little guys that we'd been sharing the apartment with. the nice thing about these traps is they're black boxes with the trap inside, so you get to keep a little distance between you and your little friend.
anyway, the trap was sitting nearby, between the trash can and the fridge, already triggered (accidently by lexi) and as such harmless. still being quiet (and thusly still hearing occasional gnawing from behind the fridge), i grabbed the trap, opened it up, put a little Jif peanut butter in the bait cup and stood there. "do i set it and place it?" i knew it was a sure thing and that it was sure to be quick. he was right there. i'd be placing a trap, tantalizingly furnished with peanut butter, within a foot of where the prey was hiding. because of this lack of distance -- no placing the trap, leaving, and coming back later to find, yes, it's been set off -- i gave pause before finally setting the trap.
i bent over and, still being terribly quiet, the stealth hunter i am, i reached down with the trap, placed it on the floor and started sliding it carefully toward the gap between the wall and the fridge when...
SNAP!!
crap. i knew it would be quick, but my hand was still right by it! was it legit? did i inadvertantly trigger it? the gnawing had stopped, but that could've been just 'cause of the loud sound. a quick look through a crack of the trap with a flashlight showed nothing in residence, so i once again set the trap, now already in place, and wandered away back to the studio.
after a few minutes -- about what i expected -- another SNAP comes from the kitchen. this one is followed by the soft sounds of little mouse feet sliding repeatedly along the inside of the trap, the vain attempts of the mortally wounded and captured to get away and back to safety. no peeps or squeaks or anything. the "death throes," as lexi put it, didn't last long and the kitchen was once again silent.
neither of us had the heart (or stomach) to open the trap casing and have a look -- just seeing the lifeless tail hanging out of the one-way door made me feel bummed -- and so lexi wrapped up the trap in a plastic bag and i toted it out to the dumpster.
so long, topo! and sorry.
the mouse is back, and it sounds like he's trying to chew through the wall or something. last week, he was moving about through the stove (not the cooking part, but within the frame of the appliance) to my annoyance. we'd picked up these mousetraps some time ago in order to rid the place of the one or two little guys that we'd been sharing the apartment with. the nice thing about these traps is they're black boxes with the trap inside, so you get to keep a little distance between you and your little friend.
anyway, the trap was sitting nearby, between the trash can and the fridge, already triggered (accidently by lexi) and as such harmless. still being quiet (and thusly still hearing occasional gnawing from behind the fridge), i grabbed the trap, opened it up, put a little Jif peanut butter in the bait cup and stood there. "do i set it and place it?" i knew it was a sure thing and that it was sure to be quick. he was right there. i'd be placing a trap, tantalizingly furnished with peanut butter, within a foot of where the prey was hiding. because of this lack of distance -- no placing the trap, leaving, and coming back later to find, yes, it's been set off -- i gave pause before finally setting the trap.
i bent over and, still being terribly quiet, the stealth hunter i am, i reached down with the trap, placed it on the floor and started sliding it carefully toward the gap between the wall and the fridge when...
SNAP!!
crap. i knew it would be quick, but my hand was still right by it! was it legit? did i inadvertantly trigger it? the gnawing had stopped, but that could've been just 'cause of the loud sound. a quick look through a crack of the trap with a flashlight showed nothing in residence, so i once again set the trap, now already in place, and wandered away back to the studio.
after a few minutes -- about what i expected -- another SNAP comes from the kitchen. this one is followed by the soft sounds of little mouse feet sliding repeatedly along the inside of the trap, the vain attempts of the mortally wounded and captured to get away and back to safety. no peeps or squeaks or anything. the "death throes," as lexi put it, didn't last long and the kitchen was once again silent.
neither of us had the heart (or stomach) to open the trap casing and have a look -- just seeing the lifeless tail hanging out of the one-way door made me feel bummed -- and so lexi wrapped up the trap in a plastic bag and i toted it out to the dumpster.
so long, topo! and sorry.
posted by onlyone at 8:43 AM
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