I let the mouse go...

[teach1rusl]

I keep my chicken supplies in our detached garage. I was out there yesterday and saw that I'd forgotten to put the lid back on the trash can I keep scratch in. I went to grab a handful of scratch for the girls (and to replace the lid), and found a little mouse inside. Evidently it had gone in to get a meal, but of course then couldn't get back out. Being the sucker that I am, I let him out onto our storage shelves out there and he scampered away in a heartbeat.

I rarely see mice around our place, maybe because we have two good mousers (have seen plenty brought to the patio door

dead). So I'll use that as my excuse for feeling badly for the little guy and setting him free...

Have you done things like that too???

 

[Mak]

Oh, heck, yeah. We get mice in the basement every winter. Any that are foolish enough to venture upstairs quickly become cat toys, so I don't worry about it. I have been known to "accidentally" drop some wild bird seed or peanuts on the basement floor. And if we get 'em up in the attic, I will only set a live trap. I know- they just turn around and come right back in, but I just don't like killing them. I'm a sucker...

 

[PineappleMama]

I've never intentionally let one go... them getting away before my ratters (dogs) can get them, yes... or the time that one was in the birdcage (I think he pulled a Mission Impossible cable from the ceiling to pull that one off) and thus the dogs couldn't get to it so we just sat there staring at each other... DH did NOT believe me when I told him there was a rat in the birdcage... gave me That Look. But then the dern thing did it again and DS saw and ran and got DH so no trip to The Bin for me. I think there was some seed or millet or something in there that drew the little bugger in. *shudder* Not a cute little mouse, but an ugly gray (but smallish) rat.

A mouse maybe I could handle.

 

[Dunkopf]

I found a nest of mice next to the coop one day. There were about 10 babies. The chickens loved them.

Mice breed too fast. We have 3 barn cats, but the mice stay in the coop. Cats can't get to them. I don't want to put poison or traps in with the chickens. So I have no mercy. Mice can carry disease and I don't want them around.

 

[NoelTate]

I turn them loose, too. I can up you one, though. Back in the summer a snake got into my aviary and went into a hole in the ground. I stuck the waterhose in it to wash him out to kill him (which he never did come out)...a while later I went back to check for the snake and found two little baby mice with hair but eyes closed roaming around. Apparently, I washed them up out of their nest. I felt so bad that I put them in a cage with food to nibble on until their eyes opened and they got big enough to turn loose in the woods.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have approximately eleventy billion of the little suckers that you can have. The first one was cute. They are out of control now and are no longer cute. Ugg.

 

[AKsmama]

The ones here are usually catmeat before we see them, but yes, on the occasions I have been able to get one away and it wasn't injured, I've let them go.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
I have about half that amount, SO FAR. The ones I find inside a tub, trying to get out, I take outside and let free. That's because they are cute, and I am a wuss. I cannot kill them myself. I do give the house cat dirty looks, although I do have proof that he has caught at least one.

However, with that being said, I just bought some RatZapper "humane" killing traps. They use battery power and electrocute the critters. You pick up the unit, carry it out to the trash, and tip the carcass out, never having to touch it at all.

Here's my reasoning:

Snap traps could harm inquisitive noses or paws of my small dogs and cats. Plus, sometimes they only cripple what they catch, instead of killing them cleanly. Then you have to rest the things after disposing of the catch.

Glue traps are cruel, plus you have to kill the critters stuck to 'em.

Poison is not good at all. Plus, dying critters crawl behind unwieldy appliances or into places where you cannot retrieve the rotting bodies. Or a companion animal eats it. Very not good.

I'm about to set some RatZappers right now. Wish me luck.

 

[Dunkopf]

Catch them, Put them in a model rocket and blow them up like a missile. Fast and they get a thrill out of it.

 

[kooltex]

I found one in the tub a few months ago, put him in a can opened the back door, let him out. Before I could close the door it ran back in! We have poison out in various places in the house, well a few days later found him. He wasn't running anywhere this time. I tried to put him out, but he insisted on being in, not smart.