Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Spontaneous Generation

If you're not familiar with the theory of spontaneous generation, it's something they came up with centuries ago to explain the presence of something when there's no possible other way for it to have come about.  So, say, you've got a bin full of grain and you think it's pretty secure, but one day you open the bin and it's full of mice.  They must have spontaneously generated.  Right?

Of course, upon further inspection the theory was disproved.  Mice got into the bin because mice can get into anything with like a 1/2" wide gap.  And if there isn't one, they'll make one.

This theory always fascinated me.  Things don't just poof into existence.  Derp.

This morning, though, I'd almost be willing to subscribe to the theory.  In the past four years, we have plugged every hole possible in this house to keep the mice out.  Every. Hole. Possible.  And yet, this morning, there was a mouse on the sticky trap* next to the fridge.  Hubs dispatched it

So, now we're trying to find how the damn thing got in.  All of the steel wool I have stuffed into all the exiting holes appears to be in place.  Except for that spot next to the dishwasher, which I'll reinforce after I've had more coffee. 

I've come to terms with mice in the walls.  And in the garage.  Even the thought of mice running around in the house doesn't really squib me out.  It's when they get into the cupboards and you never know if they've run around licking the silverware or whether they've used the dishtowels as a litterbox that gives me the heebies-jeebies.  They need to not be in the house if I can ever use my utensils and stuff without washing everything beforehand every single time.  Thus, they need to get gone.  Seriously. 

Never mind about the cat.  She's useless.  She's like that stupid commercial where the bank is being robbed and the uniformed guy says "I'm not a security guard, I'm a security monitor.  I only tell you when the bank is being robbed.  :pause: The bank is being robbed."  She's a vermin monitor.  She'll point it out, but she rarely does anything about it.  She might pounce on a baby cricket, but that's where her effort ends.  She did visit the bedroom in the middle of the night last night, but since she doesn't speak English, we didn't even get the message that there was a mouse in the house.  Like I said.  Useless.  "You've got claws.  You've got fangs.  Kill the damn thing already, or let me sleep."  :eyeroll:

Anyway, since I know spontaneous generation is so not a thing, I guess I need to search for possible entry points I missed over the past 4 years.  With mice, it's sort of 'where there's a will there's a way' and I will probably never totally mouse-proof my house.  Ten years from now, I'll be sitting here scratching my head and looking for their latest access point, I'm sure.

For now, though, when I'm caffeine and nicotine deficient, I'm leaning toward spontaneous generation.  Poof! there's a mouse.  

Ugh.


*I keep sticky traps all over the house to catch brown recluse spiders.  I do not use sticky traps for mice.  Snap traps are best. 
 

6 comments:

  1. Do you have anything on the ceiling that might have openings? Our recessed lighting has air vents, maybe not big enough for mice, but big enough for scorpions.

    We discovered the scorpions were coming in by way of the attic. Check your attic door too in case there's a gap big enough to go under.

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    1. Nope. Our ventilation is all on the floor and the vent holes are too small for mice.

      Eww, scorpions. We don't get those, thank goodness. (Also, thank goodness the local tarantulas stay down the hill.) No attic doors, just crawl space access panels with no gaps. I'm tellin' ya, Maria - spontaneous generation. ;o)

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  2. Mice. I'd almost trade you my rats. They live in the concrete block wall out back. We've demolished part of the wall. We've put out traps (they ignore them), and poison, which is sort of iffy because of wild birds, squirrels, and our own dogs.

    We also have possums. Cooper catches them, they play dead, he brings them to the door all proud. I put on heavy leather work gloves, grab a plastic sack (in cease they aren't playing), and walk them out to the curb. 9 times out of 10, they're gone by morning. You'd think they'd learn.

    Air vents and the attic is a good idea for entry. Check your soffit vents. Hang in there!

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    1. Nope, no rats for me, thank you very much. They're too smart.

      Ugh, I couldn't deal with dogs and possums. I mean, we have possums, but they keep to themselves for the most part. So do the raccoons. We managed to blockade the squirrels. It's just these damn mice. Well, and spiders, bugs, etc.

      I think they're getting into the walls from some point up under the siding. I don't care about that - I mean, it is what it is - but how they're getting from the walls into the kitchen is my big quandary. I found one last place they might be using and stuffed it with steel wool. Now we wait.

      LOL, it's not really that big a deal. Good for a blog post and some conversation, though.

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  3. Mice chewed a big hole around the shower head in the unused back bathroom. A BIG hole. There's only one of me; I never check back there. But when I was infested with mice a while back I checked everything.

    Right now the hole is stuffed with steel wool, and when I get someone to help me fix it, the wool will stay there as a deterrent.

    Rotten mice!

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    1. Ugh, I hate when they chew holes. Dirty rotten little bastards.

      Yay for steel wool.

      I agree! Rotten mice!

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