Work Mouse Infestation....

[moriah]

Okay.... someone noticed their food in their desk was getting nibbled on.

A few misguided rodent lovers in our office decided to start leaving food in their desks, readily accessible, calling it "their friend". Finally an eek! moment happened to one of the girls, who convinced management to call Terminex.

They put one thing of d-con out and set up glue traps in the office.

Two other coworkers have purchased mousetraps -- the one who was feeding them got one of the "humane" traps and has hauled out mice on 14 separate occasions (we aren't sure if they are the same ones or not). He was clever and put the trap in his desk. Another coworker got one of the really cool D-Con snap traps that you don't actually have to touch the mouse to get rid of it after it's dead.

Two have been caught on the glue traps. One died very quickly, suffocated as it had its face in the glue.

The other is outside in the office, caught sometime tonight, and is still alive.

I don't want to touch it to free it, but I'd like to put it out of its misery. Would holding it near the exhaust of my car do the trick? I can find a plastic bag....

[jeff30997]

1. They shoot horses don't they?

:P

[moriah]

2. No bullets, unfortunately....

.... and my office has this weird policy about firearms.

We work in IT and it can be high-stress. I think they're worried if someone brought a gun on the property and had to deal with the crap we deal with daily there would be as bad of a reputation here as there is at the post office.

Edit to add: I personally think glue traps are horribly cruel, and it's so hard to free them from glue traps that most who are freed are hurt pretty badly. I would prefer to dispatch it humanely if I can, or at least keep it from suffering longer.

[alphafemale]

3. Hammer. Brick. Foot.

Or dunk the mouse trap and all in a water bucket.

Glue traps are awful.

Any of the above suggestions are awful but are a kindness compared to slowly starving to death.

[moriah]

4. Agreed, and Herr Mouse has been dispatched.

I can't call it a "good death" -- I did do the exhaust thing because I had no bricks, no buckets at work, and the guys in my office were too busy laughing at the mouse's plight to actually do something about it. And no offense, but I'm not about to step on the thing. The whole "not touching it" issue.

I considered going home and trying to find some vegetable oil to try to free it with a pencil I could throw away or something, but by the time I got out there the poor thing was already gnawing at itself and had done considerable damage.

I now officially have bigger gonads than my male coworkers.

[NJmaverick]

6. Got a bucket of water, you could drown the poor thing

[NJmaverick]

5. That's why snap traps are the best, no issues over suffering

they are dead when you find them. We had mice in our office. I am in an office with mostly women, so I ended up being the designated mouse disposal person. To be honest I feel bad seeing their dead furry little bodies, but considering the health hazard they pose, it's a neccessary evil.

[moriah]

7. Agreed 100%.

... I am in an office with mostly men, two men on the shift there tonight. You'd THINK I wouldn't have to do it, but noooo...

One of the guys even came out to watch me as I used a newspaper to assist in getting the trap in the bag without touching it. And snickered. I said "Okay, you take care of it!" "No way...."

I do not really care to kill another living creature, but I also don't care to die of hantavirus -- and while I was looking at it closely to dispatch it I did confirm they are deer mice, not standard house mice.

Not only are snap traps more humane than glue traps (occasionally one will not be killed cleanly but it's rare), but they are also more sanitary. That sucker had bled on the trap, not to mention ejected other fluids and solids in its panic. If you forget about them you'll have rodents laying there for days expelling infectious materials as well as the rotting corpses to deal with. There's a story (dunno if it's urban legend but it sounds like it could happen) about a hospital that hired a company to come in to exterminate mice, and either didn't realize they'd put out glue traps or didn't check them. It became a hazard for their patients.

Humane traps are great but since the office has not expended the effort to inspect the building and caulk any holes they may not be as effective.

My concern is that with the raised floor our office has to accommodate cabling runs that they are either nesting in the floor or will be shortly. And that will be very difficult to control.

[Kali]

8. humane traps are not fine.

at least for things like mice - it just puts the likely death out of view. Snap traps are best. Glue traps are just awful. I can't think of a redeeming reason to use them at all.

[moriah]

14. ???? "Death out of view"?

I'm talking about live traps, where the animal is not injured at all during the trapping procedure.

Then the person releases them outside. I don't think non-domesticated mice will die just because someone ejects them into the great outdoors without harm to the animal.

I said they weren't always effective because my work has not bothered to look for access points to the office and try to caulk any holes, so they could just get back inside.

[Kali]

16. trap and release is self delusion

yes they will more than likely die, first of all they are prey animals to begin with so the odds are already against them, second being dumped in an unfamiliar environment after having been caught (and terrified just from the handling) and then transported to where-ever is disorienting at best. More likely to be injured or caught via fighting for new territory or by predators.

Snap traps are best. And yes prevention if at all possible by sealing up the building and putting away food and garbage.

[Blue-Jay]

9. Put it in a bag and whack it on the sidewalk.

Don't be squeamish. Do it hard, and put it out of its misery.

[sammythecat]

10. I can't think of anything more inhumane than a glue trap

Christ! isn't there anybody there that can hit it with a rock or a brick or something?

[skygazer]

11. Frankly, the inhumane thing was feeding the things in the first place

Your irresponsible co-workers should have to pay for the damn exterminator.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Can you get an office cat?

[moriah]

15. That's the approach I would have taken in an ideal world....

.... where no one was allergic to cats. Our office is big enough that most likely someone is highly allergic. (I am somewhat allergic to cats but I only notice it when I'm at a friends house with more than a few cats, or with some specific cats by themselves -- it takes me about two weeks to get acclimated to a new cat in the house when we get one, and I have never kept more than two.)

[Lorien]

13. I use havaheart traps-even for mice

You can find multiple animal traps like these that are very effective: http://www.livetrap.com/cgi/search.cgi?user_id=id&database=dbase1.exm&template=products.shtml&2_option=1&2=Multiple+Catch+Traps
Once it has a few mice in it I'll take them with me when I'm driving through an uninhabited area, then I let them go. I'm sure the local raptors are thankful, and I don't have to take a life in the process.