Another day and another visit to the hardware store with Wilf and Digby to seek out ever more desperate and esoteric solutions to our problem with the little furry visitors. A box with a rather fetching, almost bucolic, artists rendering of a mouse on it caught my attention . Having been stung with the purchase of the 100% guaranteed electronic deterrent system , which has since proven to be 100% useless , I carefully read the description on the box all the way through. No more impulse buying - Mister careful shopper here I come ! The blurb on the packaging stated that the product was ecological, 'radical', proven over many years of use with hundreds of attestations ,and most important of all - painless.What's more it sported a suitably official looking logo which seemed to be the French version of a good housekeeping seal of approval. An absolute bargain at €24.80.Late last night , after 'the font' retired, the boyz and I sat in the kitchen setting the 'legacy' traps and assembling the new 'radical' device. This turned out rather mundanely to be lengths of balsa wood with glue attached. Rather more low tech than I had imagined, and hardly 'radical' in the accepted sense of the word but hey the attestation of hundreds of happy users was good enough for me. All we had to do was add a sliver of a rather fetching Reblochon and we were ready.
Up early this morning and into the kitchen before ' the font' had stirred to view the results. The Reblochon on the 'systeme radicale' was looking a little tired, but otherwise untouched.The 'legacy' traps were just that - a legacy. And just behind the electronic deterrent system with its red blinking light ,guess what? Yes,one of our little furry friends.
Wilf and Digby are in fine form. The trip with me in the car to the hardware store in town has now become a part of their routine. Having barked at the gardener, chased a few squirrels, and spent half an hour closely observing the cows in the field on the other side of the lane, they have now settled in the family room ready to be harnessed up and taken out . Digby has found an old chew which he is clutching in his mouth as if it were a fine cigar. There is of course nothing in the world that Wilf wants as much as the old chew that Digby is carefully stewarding.
My mother, whom my Dad, affectionately called the "great white trapper" because of her prowess in catching mice used the regular snapping wooden traps (I think they cost about $1.00 for 4) baited with peanut butter. Of course you have a dead mouse to deal with, but it is effective and inexpensive.
ReplyDeleteRCS+J : Thank you for this handy hint. We now have every type of trap and shall take your advice and apply peanut butter liberally on the wooden ones tonight! Stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteCONGRATS - You are the winners of our Nosey Contest - please email us at rockycreekscotties at yahoo dot com with your mailing address and we will get the prize off to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating.
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Java
HI Wilf and Digby
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd come over and visit, having read about your success in the 'nose' competition on the Rocky Creek Scotties' blog. I am a Westie and I live in Aberdeen. I think I shall enjoy reading about your adventures in the South of France, so much more fun, I suspect, than staring out of the window in the near darkness on this cold dreich November day!
Cheers, Hamish
I think getting to go for a ride to the hardware store everyday sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteBunny
I have become a follower and will be reading your blog regularly.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to meet you Wilf and Digby.
OMG. A friend is having the same problems as we (I now have a dead mouse in my second BR whom I have yet to dispose of; I use bait - very carefully). BUT, my friend used glue traps which sound like your French balsa wood. She set them up in the evening. The next morning, she heard this crash and bang, then her Beagle mix Rizzo (whom she adopted from me) came dashing out of the kitchen w/a glue trap on her paw, banging it on the floor to get it off as the GLUED ON MOUSE WAS SCREAMING! Oh, it is funny to think of but all I can imagine is the terror that poor mouse was put through before his/her final demise. Rizzo has since left the glue alone...hope things are coming along better for you and the "boyz" :).
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