The Case of the Missing Mousetrap

[wsmith]

This afternoon I tied a 20 yard long string to one of the remaining mousetraps, and secured the other end as well. Now we wait...

 

[pichuris]

Can't wait to know what is happening with them.

 

[wsmith]

This afternoon I went out and found a small mouse in the "string" mousetrap. Then I turned around, and saw that one of the other traps was missing...... I went around to the back of the shed and found it. Stuck in it were two sparrow legs, and next to it a sparrow. wing. Seems thst the sparrows were strealing thebait and getting caught in the traps, then flying off. This one was eated by another larger bird. tentatively i am thinking the mystery is soved, but I would like to get another confirmation.

 

[joesmania]

Deleted by me

 

[wsmith]

No progress or other developements since the mouse and sparrow.

I haven't seen any rats other than an occasional kangaroo rat, but they are actually pretty small. We do get larger birds that visit though. Magpies, Sage thrashers and crows are pretty frequent, and all are capable of doing the deed. Hawks are seen as are owls, but we haven't observed any in the chicken operations areas.
We also set a larger rat sized trap, but the bait is still there and it hasn't been triggered.

 

[chkn]

I had a problem with mice for awhile and was using sticky traps and peanut butter. I'd put traps underneath one of those small plastic organizers out of chickens way but where the mice still had access. Traps kept being moved and flipped and no mouse. I fastened the traps to a brick. Several times traps disappeared completely. I got at least half dozen mouses but there was just that one or two more...

I had one tiny feral momma cat with a big litter I invisioned with a sticky trap on her face and no ability to hunt. Yet another neighbor tiger cat who 'happened around' from time to time. I wondered who wound up with the indelible sticky.

One day my question was answered. Opening the chicken run one morning I see a little brown something tightly woven through the plastic basket. Oops a little blood so there's something here. A mouse had threaded himself out and back in the basket holes and the chickens had had some fun. Here I have a sticky trap, attached to a brick, the mouse's tail attached to the sticky trap, the mouse attached to the basket...what do I do now? Suddenly, the mouse starts squeeking loudly which enhances my anxiety. The sticky only has him by the very tip of his tail...

I'm down on my knees pondering and I look to my right and there down low right next to me is the neighbor's big tiger stripe cat come to the call of the dinner bell. Now there's a solution I thought. And as if the cat read my mind, like a perfect gentleman, and as if saying "here, allow me" tore the mouse right clear of the sticky without a glitch. It was as if the whole thing was played out many times before.

So ended the mystery of the disappearing traps and so ended my worries about their effect on neighborhood kitties.

 

[OmeletMan]

If the trap catches and kills a mouse I've seen traps still go missing. Shrews are carnivorous. I have seen them drag off the trap just to eat the dead critter in the trap.

 

[joesmania]

Deleted by me