The Clever Mouse

 The Clever Mouse -- it sounds like the title of a children's book, doesn't it? In this case, it's not. This mouse is tiny and possibly even cute, but since it has been nibbling the fruits and vegetables in our kitchen, it' s a pest.

The cleverness has become apparent as it has foiled several attempts to catch it in a humane trap, so I can take it down the street and release it. There is a natural area there, left as a place to soak up water so our basements in this subdivision don't flood. (We also have sump pumps.) I have captured mice before with this type of device without problems. This mouse though...

A few times it just ignored the delicious peanut butter bait. I saw that it really liked tomatoes, so I decided to bait the trap with a tiny tomato slice. The way these traps work (if you've never had to use one, lucky you) is you stick the peanut butter at the innermost part of the tube. The opening is at the other end. When the mouse enters and scampers toward the bait, its weight causes the tube to shift and closes the door at the entrance. 

On the first tomato try, the tomato unbalanced the trap so I tried to compensate by adding some weight on top. I used two wrapped candies. It didn't work, the mouse got the tomato and peanut butter and escaped the way it came. One of the candies also disappeared.

The next try, I used a smaller bit of tomato and tried to stick it into the peanut butter, being mindful of the weight and balance problem. In the morning the opening was still open, the bait was gone and the "back door" where the bait has been, was lying on the counter, tomato and peanut butter gone. 

I don't want to use poison - I imagine finding the dead mouse somewhere, eww. When we had cats mice were not a problem. The cats were more than willing to catch and torment them. We no longer have any pets due to several family members having allergies. We'd rather have them visit than have cats, or dogs.

So it's a cliffhanger - who will win this contest of persistence?