Friday night, J and I were rudely awakened by a scritching noise in one of the interior walls of our bedroom. We would bang on the wall, it would go away and then come back just as we were falling to sleep again. This was around 1am in the morning. I finally just put earplugs in because I needed my sleep and wasn't going to be able to do anything about it until the morning and J ended up on the couch because he can't sleep with earplugs and the noise was driving him nuts.
We were having friends over on Saturday afternoon, so we already had more than enough to do before the scritching started. In the morning, we started to investigate. We assumed it was a mouse or small rat as we don't have any holes that a squirrel could get back in through (see this post).
Well, J went under the house to check it out since the noise we were hearing was near the floor and didn't see any evidence that something was getting in down there. Then he went up into the attic and did find two holes in the plywood above that wall that looked like they originally were going to run wires through it and then decided not to use them. He could see some evidence of small rodent traffic. Since it is an interior wall, there is little to no insulation and that is how they are getting all the way to the bottom. I was horrified that we had a mouse...I guess I figure if you keep a clean house, you don't get them but I am wrong apparently because our house is clean.
I went to the store, and purchased, along with a bunch of stuff for our BBQ, two mouse traps (he was sure they were mice by now). We didn't know how many but hoped it wasn't too many. I was horrified that we had a mouse...I guess I figure if you keep a clean house, you don't get them but I am wrong apparently because our house is clean and we have at least one. Seems that all the clear cutting and construction on our street is causing the wildlife to flee indoors.
He set the traps the next night, I slept with earplugs again, and in the morning, we had caught a mouse. The traps are still up there set (unless there is a dead mouse in one) and I need to go check them, but I haven't heard any more scritching. J is off on a conference trip...somehow this kind of thing always happens before he leaves, and I am stuck with mouse duty until he gets back (hopefully it will all be over by then).
There is an whole other story that goes with this one...it was not as easy as that, but I will post about it later.
2 comments:
Ahhh yes, if they are clear-cutting and doing construction next door, I guarantee you will end up with rodents, repeatedly, until they stop the work. Plug any holes you can find, no matter how small. We have rats--not mice, but rats (it gives me shivers of disgust) in our attic at work because of construction across the street. You have to make it profoundly inhospitable for them. Of course, rats will eat ANYTHING, so we occasionally catch one with a trap, and the rest go happily on. Ugh. I don't know if mice will eat whatever is in front of them or not. But no, it's no reflection on you or your cleanliness; it's a reflection on animals having to flee the habitat they call home when it's destroyed.
We had a bear behind a Home Depot in Atlanta recently for the same reason. They had to shut down traffic on the interstate to try to catch it.
TDG, thanks for the words of encouragement that it is not me. These guys don't seem to be inside the house at all, just in that one wall so far...and hopefully we have them under control.
We do have a mouser cat (Maine Coon) so if they get into the house, I think she will be in charge at that point.
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