We have a mouse!

[Crackpot]

Kitties make me sneeze. No kitties allowed. We got some traps and Decon. BTW Sue made my husband chuckle.

Get a Sphinx cat (think Mr. Bigglesworth) I believe they’re hypoallergenic.

[Big RR]

My wife has a very sever cat allergy (so severe she carries an epi pen), and as I recall, cat allergies are generally die to saliva and skin allergens, which might be present in the sphinx cats, rather than fur (FWIW, dog allergies are more based on the fur, which is why we can own a dog that has hair rather than fur).

On mouse control, we have a wooded lot and a slight mouse problem which the exterminator controls through a mixture of traps and poison--I am not sure what the poison is but the mice, upon ingesting it, are driven outside in search of water; we have never had any die in the walls or on the floor, but I do check the traps occasionally (we only get a few mice each year.

[eddieq]

144779212_10225294484371834_2827475704334069254_o.jpg

Possums are a pest too

Oddly enough, the "Australian Possum" is about the only animal that flips the script. Most of the time, I see Australian versions of a super cute animal we see in North America and it's terrifying.

American possum

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[eddieq]

As far as "get a cat", many of you may remember my cat, Spook that lived to the ripe age of 19. He was the worst. mouser. ever. I only ever saw him catch one mouse and it was already dead in a snap trap. Once a mouse ran across the living room and climbed the curtains. The cat jumped up on the sofa with me as if to say, "Hey, dad, did you see that? It's a mouse! You should get him!"

[BoSoxGal]

American possums aren’t pests, they’re actually beneficial in the ecosystem because they control a lot of other pests, like ticks which they eat by the thousands. They’re usually shy and pose no threat to humans. It’s sad how many people kill them anyway, for no good reason.

Australian possums are also marsupials, but otherwise have very little in common with American possums. They’re indigenous there so I assume they have a niche in the ecosystem.

[Long Run]

This is an excellent opportunity to practice your cartoon "EEKS!!"

[TPFKA@W]

This is an excellent opportunity to practice your cartoon "EEKS!!"

I was most ashamed of my screech. I pride myself on confrontation with beasts with valor, but not this time. (I garnered local fame for dispatching aggressive geese by grabbing them by the neck and flinging them.)

[Sue U]

I take them to an office complex where I know there are hawks in residence and release them there. If you let them go where there are hawks, the birds will swoop down right past you and grab them. If you do it a couple of times, you will become known to them as The Lady With The Snacks.

Bonus points if there are tenderhearted little kids around to experience the circle of life.

My old house was old (built 1909) and was therefore "leaky," so we had mice (and occasionally chipmunks) attempt to move in every year when the weather got cold. So I started catching them overnight and taking them to the office with me in the morning, since there was all kinds of wildlife around there and it was far enough away that they wouldn't come back. The first release or two were uneventful, with the mice just scurrying into the undergrowth. But the hawks were apparently watching (like, well, hawks), The next time I brought a mouse I had just dumped it out of the trap in the parking lot and a hawk zipped right past my ear, snatched it up and flew to the top of the nearest light standard, where he (she?) just started chomping away at the thing. It really was pretty cool to see a mouse achieve its highest purpose. Had similar experiences three more times -- although it wasn't every time I brought a mouse. Anyway, it was more satisfying to feed the hawks than to try (most probably unsuccessfully) to create a rodent infestation in a gated community.

[TPFKA@W]

Did you ever try slingshotting them upwards and see if the hawks would catch them mid air?

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Gob]

The next time I brought a mouse I had just dumped it out of the trap in the parking lot and a hawk zipped right past my ear, snatched it up and flew to the top of the nearest light standard, where he (she?) just started chomping away at the thing. It really was pretty cool to see a mouse achieve its highest purpose.

[Long Run]