EEK!! Scale of 0-5 how disturbed would you be if you found evidence of a mouse...

[Julie in CA]

{Gag!} :ack2:

 

We live on a farm. Farmhouses sometimes have mice. I know that this is true, but only from the experiences of friends. In the last 20 years, we've only had 2 mice in our house, one of which I saw come in an open door and the cat caught it right away. My husband has grown up in the farm life, and it's not a huge deal for him. :001_huh:

 

Today I found, er..."evidence" of a mouse in my bread drawer. I'm grossed out beyond rationality, not because I'm somehow afraid of the mouse, but only because I'm disgusted by the mess and the sense of...violation (lol!).

 

So I'm just curious, how would you feel (on a scale of 0-5) if you found that a mouse had taken up residence in your home?

[Julie in CA]

So far it appears that there isn't much middle ground on the Gross-O-Meter!

You're either mostly ok with it, or really *not ok* with it!

[clarkacademy]

My cat catches them out in the fields and tries to bring them in the house AHHHHH:confused:

[hornblower]

I voted 1 just because they startle me.

 

I currently have here a cat & 200 lbs total of dogs.

 

And until about a week ago, I had a mouse scurrying around.

 

Happens every year when the weather gets cold. I first learn of the mouse because I hear all the sets of dog & cat paws scrabbling around on the floor & when I come into a room, all the animals will be staring intently under some piece of furniture..... You would think one of them would manage to catch the thing.

 

Nope.

 

This year's was a smart one too. Evaded the animals and the traps for about a week. One day, we were running late for ds's fencing class & while he was having breakfast, I brought him his runners & was on my hands and knees shoving them on his feet, all the while muttering chew & swallow, chew & swallow, can you do that faster, please, we're late. As I'm fidgeting with the shoe & opening it up for ds to slip on, the darned mouse jumped out his shoe, ran across my hand, leaped on my leg & then down to the ground & scurried away right in front of one of the dogs.

 

I had to go out on the deck to do a bit of girlie screaming after that one because it startled the heck out of me.

 

I'm not grossed out by them. I'm just startled & I'm sorry because the ones that dare to get near our home will be dead soon.

 

I foster fancy pet rats for a rescue so I quite like rodents, but wild mice in the house are just a no go.

[Wendi]

I have OCD, and although it's well under control, the thought of a rodent in my pantry would seriously concern me! I'd be a bit freaked out about sanitation! :blink:

 

I'd also be a bit concerned about the possibility of it scurrying across my feet at some time when I least expect it, which might make me scream, drop something, or pee in my pants. :willy_nilly:

 

Maybe I should have voted 5. :001_unsure:

 

Wendi

[jkwynn]

9

[Tutor]

 

This type of evidence totally creeps me out. (I posted just how creeped-out here.)

 

Regular, run-of-the-mill evidence... not such a big deal - especially not now. :D

Edited November 3, 2008 by Tutor
made picture smaller - I think

[Paula in PA]

I voted 0, but if I found a mouse in a glass, well, even I might freak a little. Normally I don't because we get them every single year. :glare: Though with 7 cats now, I don't expect any of them to last long. :D

[Tammyla]

We had two in our last home. I did the dance of those about to faint around the kitchen....It had taken a bite out of my bananna............Ick...and the loaf of bread on the counter. They were just little bites, but I had to detoxify the entire kitchen...My neighbor was thrilled with my trash pile.

 

DH...grew up more in the country...He sets a trap, waits the critter out and then disposes of it.

 

May the mouse catching force be with you.:grouphug:

 

{Gag!} :ack2:

 

We live on a farm. Farmhouses sometimes have mice. I know that this is true, but only from the experiences of friends. In the last 20 years, we've only had 2 mice in our house, one of which I saw come in an open door and the cat caught it right away. My husband has grown up in the farm life, and it's not a huge deal for him. :001_huh:

 

Today I found, er..."evidence" of a mouse in my bread drawer. I'm grossed out beyond rationality, not because I'm somehow afraid of the mouse, but only because I'm disgusted by the mess and the sense of...violation (lol!).

 

So I'm just curious, how would you feel (on a scale of 0-5) if you found that a mouse had taken up residence in your home?

[anissarobert]

I'm not grossed out because I think they are cute. However I don't want them living with me and they try to move in every winter. We don't believe in killing them, so chasing them away is difficult. Our cat killed a baby one last week, and the kids were all crying.

 

Does anyone know how to nonviolently discourage mice?

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

Okay, I once banged my head on dh's weight set, knocked myself out & required stiches in my forehead because of a mouse. Not because I was grossed out though, it startled me by running across my flip-flop wearing foot! Mice come w/the territory around here. We set traps and we just adopted a cat.

[Melissa in Australia]

{Gag!} :ack2:

 

 

Today I found, er..."evidence" of a mouse in my bread drawer. I'm grossed out beyond rationality, not because I'm somehow afraid of the mouse, but only because I'm disgusted by the mess and the sense of...violation (lol!).

 

?

 

it doesn't bother me any more.

But, what I was grossed out by was I found some mouse droppings in my bread tins, and I had just used them to bake bread!!!:glare:

[GailV]

It would depend on the evidence.

 

If the evidence is in the pantry, I'd be freaked out.

 

If the evidence is a mouse running across me or near me, I'd be startled.

 

If the evidence is bodily remains left by one of the cats, I'd just get a bag to throw it in the trash and not think much of it.

[Tabrett]

I have OCD, and although it's well under control, the thought of a rodent in my pantry would seriously concern me! I'd be a bit freaked out about sanitation! :blink:

 

I'd also be a bit concerned about the possibility of it scurrying across my feet at some time when I least expect it, which might make me scream, drop something, or pee in my pants. :willy_nilly:

 

Maybe I should have voted 5. :001_unsure:

 

Wendi

I vote 5 because I have had RATS run across my bed and wake me up in the middle of the night when I was a teen!!! I chased them out of my bedroom with a broom!!!! :scared:Then later that night I had to go to the bathroom and forgot to shut the door and had to chase them out AGAIN.:eek:

[RebeccaS]

You probably wouldn't want to hear about the first year we lived in our house (very old, circa 1819) and stopped counting at 60 mice we trapped. I found out later, from our next door neighbor, that the previous owners hated to kill anything, so they were just one with the mouse. Oh yeah-I voted 0, though we have house cats to take care of the problem for us.

[abbeyej]

I gave it a four. Pretty darn horrified, but there are worse things, so I needed to maintain a little space to be *more* horrified by something else... (Whatever that might be, I'd rather not consider...)

[RenayofRohan]

Pre-Samoa? Absolutely a 5. Now that I have lived here for 3 years? I put 1. The mice do not really bother me, but the thought of disease, etc. is a concern. I've dealt with so many critters here in the tropics, that nothing really phases me anymore. If I see "evidence" I usually just wonder if it's name is Stuart or Mickey and proceed to setting out the traps. :tongue_smilie:

 

I have also grown accustomed to washing (again) every pot/pan/etc. that I take out of the cabinets.

[dawn of ns]

Mice? A 1 at most.

 

Rats? A 6.

 

And ye, I've dealt with both.

[jojomojo]

I was about to choose that it didn't bother me much (picturing little mice scurrying across the floor)....then I read about mouse poo in the bread box :ack2: I didn't think about that. I chose 5.

[Matryoshka]

Mice don't phase me that much. It annoys me when I am woken up at 3 am by a cat dispatching one, especially if I have to hear it being crunched.

 

Flying squirrels and bats, on the other hand, freak me out. I DO NOT like flying things in my house!! (yes, I know that the squirrels don't really fly, but general zooming over my head is not okay either.)

 

Yes, I live in an old farmhouse. Pretty much impossible to keep them out (currently the latter two seem to be confined to the attic, but we have had incursions, and are attempting to keep them out of the attic too).

[Shenan]

Oh, the mice stories we have to tell....

 

Dh catches them with his bare hands..I think he has caught up to a dozen during our 19 year marriage.....One of our cats just plays with them....another cat leaves partial carcass' around for us to observe.....and our new kitten likes to eat them whole, without chewing, which created a lot of EEEEWWWW! exclaimations from the entire crew who watched the mouse be captured and consumed.

 

So I fall in between! It doesn't bother me most of the time until the EEEWWWW! factor kicks in.

[Ria]

I try to catch them in a live trap and keep them in an aquarium for a few days...lots of fun watching them. Then I let them go.

 

Ria

[Parrothead]

I voted 0. I've got cats and with the exception of them playing cat-and-mouse all night long disturbing my sleep, mice don't bother me.

[RenayofRohan]

I try to catch them in a live trap and keep them in an aquarium for a few days...lots of fun watching them. Then I let them go.

 

Ria

 

 

Gracious, I must be tired. At first when I read your post I imagined a fish aquarium! Now that would be EWWW!!! :lol::lol::lol:

[Audrey]

We're on a farm, too. Honestly? If I saw a mouse or signs thereof, I'll tell you what! Those cats would get cut off their kibble quick as that!

 

I cannot tolerate a lazy barn cat. Nope. No way. No how.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

..

[TeacherZee]

I live in the woods. We get mice every single winter. I still voted 5. I hate them. I make my other family members take care of the corps. Ugg ugg ugg

[Laura Corin]

Called the landlord, he set poison traps. End of story.

 

Laura

[Julie in CA]

{Gag!} :ack2:

 

We live on a farm. Farmhouses sometimes have mice. I know that this is true, but only from the experiences of friends. In the last 20 years, we've only had 2 mice in our house, one of which I saw come in an open door and the cat caught it right away. My husband has grown up in the farm life, and it's not a huge deal for him. :001_huh:

 

Today I found, er..."evidence" of a mouse in my bread drawer. I'm grossed out beyond rationality, not because I'm somehow afraid of the mouse, but only because I'm disgusted by the mess and the sense of...violation (lol!).

 

So I'm just curious, how would you feel (on a scale of 0-5) if you found that a mouse had taken up residence in your home?

 

My overnight hunt was successful, and I got a big mouse.

Now to reset the trap and see if there's more.

[ma23peas]

It wouldn't bother me, it'd be a "cool" moment...I'd make sure that I created an environment not friendly to mice sans the traps...I'd put my bread in a sealed bread box and keep all pantry items off the floors and never let food sneak through the house...food is only in our kitchen/breakfast room ever.

 

We live on a farm and look at all animals as having the right to live here...they were here long before we were, but I'm not going to feed them and prepare a room for them...now barn rats..I have to admit I put out poison there because they can really rule a barn and all the feces can be harm to the horses/cats/dogs...so everything in moderation...but invasions, no, I'd take action.

[Bev in B'ville]

{Gag!} :ack2:

 

We live on a farm. Farmhouses sometimes have mice. I know that this is true, but only from the experiences of friends. In the last 20 years, we've only had 2 mice in our house, one of which I saw come in an open door and the cat caught it right away. My husband has grown up in the farm life, and it's not a huge deal for him. :001_huh:

 

Today I found, er..."evidence" of a mouse in my bread drawer. I'm grossed out beyond rationality, not because I'm somehow afraid of the mouse, but only because I'm disgusted by the mess and the sense of...violation (lol!).

 

So I'm just curious, how would you feel (on a scale of 0-5) if you found that a mouse had taken up residence in your home?

 

is a cat or two. We, too, live on a farm and we don't have mice problems because we have cats for pets (and a big fluffy dog, but he doesn't count here). My only quibble is they tend to bring them to me after they've killed them (some sort of pack mentality I think). I've also been brought chipmunks, baby opossums, and a snake. Thankfully, they're all dead when I get them.

 

Get a cat.

[Rosie_0801]

A mouse puts me to 5 on the freak-o-meter. Last time we had any, they were living in the stove. I refused to cook anything in the kitchen, would only eat food out of the mouse-free pantry and fridge. I wouldn't even eat bread out of the perfectly intact packet just in case it had mouse germs on it.

Rats in the house make me move out until Dh kills them.

Rosie

[Kathy in MD]

Growing up, the only time a mouse upset me was when I almost stepped on it in my bare feet. Otherwise, we just kept our bread and other foods in mouse proof containers.

 

BTW, my girlfriend had a pet field mouse, so I was used to handling them.

[Laurie4b]

It's annoying until the critter is caught. I get "upset" when I have to do extra cleaning, but it's not that big a deal.

[Doran]

...I do have to speak aloud to them, saying something like, "All right you critters! You do NOT belong in my house. There is land and food abundant for you OUTSIDE these walls. Stick around, and you'll not enjoy the consequences!!"

 

It relieves the guilt I have over killing them. :D ;)

[E_Edgerton]

We just recently had some evidence. We set the trap and by the next day our problem was solved. The only "Eek" is when I have to wash all the dishes, pots, pans, silverware, etc. just in case. That took forever!:glare:

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

LOL, Abbeyej!!!! Exactly what and why I voted. :)

[danielle]

Our house sitter breathlessly told us a story of how she had stepped into the first floor shower, heard rattling, and found a mouse in there with her. She jumped out screaming, caught the thing in our tupperware, then used her hairdryer to blow dry it: she was afraid it would get pneumonia if she let it outside wet. Then she fed it some cheese because she was afraid she'd traumatized it.

 

I like animals, but imho mice are protein on feet. Luckily, our two cats usually get to them long before I have to deal with them, altho dh once surprised me with a mummified one caught in our dryer hose. (Some boys just NEVER grown up.)

 

While we were sitting in the dining room sorting the stack of mail, I smelled something BAD. Dh as usual poo-pooed this, but I have a nose like a truffle pig. Sure enough, two rotting mice under the radiator--I guess the cats had been playing mouse ping pong and couldn't reach.

 

Grossed out enough yet :001_smile:? Ah! autumn!

Danielle