Beat the mouse (finale)?

I picked up the humane mousetrap from the post office in lovely downtown Lagunitas today and it's baited with peanut butter on the floor in his usual running path. the mousetrap will only hold one mouse at a time and I plan to deliver each of my captives to the creek far, far away from my RV.

Update: 10:00 PM Wednesday, May 20, the trap closed with Beat inside. I rounded up two women from the girls kayaking club who were camping here. One had a lantern and they lighted the way to Beat's new home away from the campers in the underbrush next to a large redwood. He scampered away within seconds.

I went back inside and reset the trap--just in case.

At 5:00 AM, I heard a commotion in the trap. Yep, Beat invited friends. I stayed in bed until light and then we took a stroll to the creek so he could join his buddy.

I went back inside and reset the trap--just in case.

Beat the mouse continued

The mouse has decided to stay. For those who suggested fabric softener sheets as a deterrent, they didn't work. My RV smells like laundry and the mouse just ran right over them as he dashed around the floor.

I pulled out the kitchen drawers revealing a large open space under the counter all the way to the exterior wall behind the sink. The most noxious chemical I have in the RV is Lysol, so I sprayed it liberally inside the opening. He was next to it this morning.

As I was working, he boldly ran out onto the carpet from under the shelf on the desk. As I stood up, he ran back under the shelf. I sat down. He came out. I didn't want to keep playing this game so I stood up again and stayed standing. He peeked, crept out again and dashed to the bedroom. Great: now I won't be able to sleep tonight.

The guys in maintenance are going to bring me a humane trap and that should take care of him before he brings additional family and friends to join him.

No traps in maintenance but Beat came running out of the bedroom and went under the desk again to hide. At least I'll be able to sleep.

I told my friend about the lack of mousetraps and he immediately found a company to ship a humane trap to me here. He reminded me to release my mouse companion to an area where he can hide and feel safe. At least I know what to bait the trap with: peanut butter and cheese.

Update: this morning at 5:40, I heard the plastic bag lining the paper garbage sack rattling and realized I had forgotten to hang the sack off the floor on the key hook. I turned on the kitchen light and expected the mouse to run out of the fallen bag. Somehow, he had found a way into the bag without knocking it over and must have been nibbling on the popcorn kernels I had dumped there last night. I picked up the bag by the handles, opened the door and threw the bag outside next to the trees. Plenty of places to hide and feel safe in the bushes. Now I wait to see if he was alone.

Beat the mouse

I have a mouse in my RV. Again. He's small, brown, very fast and clever.

I have headphones with small earbuds that I use when I watch DVDs or listen to music on my laptop. Occasionally, one of the foam covers will come off and I have to search for it. A couple of days ago, it was missing and I looked everywhere with no luck.

The next night as I was watching a DVD, I noticed a small brown blur running across the floor and making a sharp right behind the desk. Drat. As I peeked behind the desk, he ran next to the wall, across the driver's floor mat and disappeared behind the dashboard. Swell. Now I know what happened to the foam cover.

I have no mousetraps so I tried to think of a way to catch him. I do have super-sticky wide Velcro strips. I cut a six-inch section of each side, turned the sticky sides up, overlapped the fuzzy side slightly across the looped side, and pushed the looped side into the carpet to hold it in place. I took the remaining ear foam, pressed it open side up into the middle of the tape, filled it with peanut butter and pressed a small piece of Monterey jack cheese about two inches away.

The following morning, I found the ear foam empty, the peanut butter and cheese missing, and no mouse. My friend started laughing when I told her about my trap and I was a little miffed at her. She said, "I have a picture of this small mouse full of peanut butter and cheese shaking his leg trying to get the Velcro off." OK, it's funny. I picked up the useless trap.

My friend said if I had the mouse for a roommate, I would have to name him. His name is Beat. Since he does nothing around here, I was going to name him Deadbeat but he's not dead. Yet.

Yesterday, I hadn't seen him so I started the engine. If that didn't get him to leave, nothing would. I haven't seen him since but when I took out the coffee filters from the lower cabinet this morning, I found mouse poop in the filters. Gee thanks.

It's raining and I want him gone before he brings the rest of his family and friends inside. Tomorrow, I'm getting a couple of traps.