nature, red in tooth and claw

[edenfalling]

About twenty minutes ago I heard a funny clattery noise from the direction of my kitchen, and got up to see what had fallen over.

Not any of the dishes in the drying rack. Nothing on any of the counters. Not my poor pepper pots on the back porch.

And then I remembered that I do keep two mousetraps perpetually armed and baited (I use chunks of Snickers bars, because they don't rot) and they do sound a bit like falling dishes when they snap.

The one in the kitchen cupboard was untouched. The one under the bathroom sink, on the other hand... Bingo.

The mouse wasn't actually dead. I mean, it was fatally injured. There was no way it would recover, even if I'd pried up the trap and let it go. But it was lying there, twitching and breathing, and you know, I am okay with using snap-traps. I am okay with killing mice. But slow torment is cruel and unnecessary.

So I got a hammer from my toolbox (actually more of a tool plastic-bag-in-cardboard-box) and bashed its head in a few times. It stopped moving within ten seconds.

...

I feel kind of weird about taking a more active role in this particular mouse's death, but it's not like I don't already bear moral culpability for the previous mice I've killed with these traps, or with the mice I killed with similar traps during my years at the smoke shop. Nor do I really feel bad about reducing the number of mice in the world. They're cute, sure -- I'd never deny that -- but they're still vermin. They carry diseases, they shred important supplies (like my fucking tampons and pads, the last time one wandered around the bathroom cupboard unopposed), and they poop everywhere, which is incredibly unsanitary.

Anyway, I dumped the mouse corpse in the woodpile/compost pile in the backyard (which is where I dumped its predecessors last winter), I cleaned the hammer and put it away, I scrubbed down the interior of the cupboard, I scrubbed my kitchen cupboards for good measure (and found some telltale mouse poop, argh...), and I set the trap to soak in bleach and water overnight.

Tomorrow I'll buy a Snickers bar and bait two more traps.

Comments

[heliopausa]

Yes, it's a horrible thing to have to do (I've done it myself a couple of times) but better, much, than the callous and cowardly option of leaving them to die in more pain. :(
When those traps work well (when the mouse approaches directly) they're really instantaneous, is the only comfort about them.

[edenfalling]

Yes, when the bar comes down at a good angle, they really are nearly instantaneous. The problem is that mice don't always approach from a good angle. :(

[sabriel]

Years ago my house also had a mice problem. Be bought these plastic poison open/shut traps; added a dollop of peanut butter inside each one to encourage them to go in. Mice go in, eat poison and peanut butter, trap closes and mice dead inside.

We just throw away the entire thing afterwards, no need to go bashing any mice's head in.

[edenfalling]

Unfortunately, I am FAR more horrified of the idea of a mouse getting frantic at being trapped in a strange, small place and dying slowly alone in the dark than I am of the idea of a mouse dying relatively quickly of traumatic injury. I really would not feel comfortable using that kind of trap. I mean, I don't even feel comfortable trapping house flies under glasses and leaving them to starve/suffocate, and I hate house flies a thousand times more than I hate mice.

*hands* I am aware that this is a largely irrational reaction, but it seems to be hardwired into me.

When a snap trap works well, the mouse dies pretty much instantly. The problem is that mice don't always approach from the best angle, and can therefore get caught by more glancing blows instead of a direct smash to the head or neck/spine, and then they take a while to shut down. :(

[transposable_element]

I used to have to do this with the roof rats that our cats didn't quite kill. Not fun.

[edenfalling]

Yeah, it's an icky feeling. But really, what else is there to do in that situation? :(