Continuing with my recent mouse theme…

Over the last few days a horrible smell developed in our kitchen (no, it wasn’t my wife’s cooking). I have inherited a rather strong sence of smell from my dad, and so went to work trying to find the source.

Two days of frustration, and a sheet of jib off the kitchen wall later… and the mystery was no closer to being solved.

Disturbing clue: It seemed as though every time we used the oven, the smell would worsen.

I checked in the oven… nothing (told you it wasn’t my wife’s cooking).
I checked behind the oven… nothing.
I checked under the stove… nothing.

In desperation my trusty nose and I reconnoitered every inaginable nook and cranny off the oven… Bingo (or should I say Oh-no. I gag easy).

I disassembled the glass top of the stove (not an easy feat), and discovered one dead mouse… one dead rotten, smelly mouse who had either…

a. electrocuted itself
b. got stuck and starved to death
c. died of old age
d. or all of the above

I believe the correct answer is ‘d’, and I’ll tell you why. Seeking revenge on Burton for capturing (and therefore humiliating) it’s great-grandchild in the ‘mouser arrest’, and knowing it was nearing the end of its life, the mouse went on a hunger strike, became thin enough to crawl into the tiniest and hard-to-access places of the oven, wedged itself under the element wiring, and waited for someone to cook some pasta.

Rodent’s revenge.

I’m very happy to announce that the ever-so sneaky, and very illusive mouse which lived in my shed has been successfully captured using the MAM01 (Mouse Arrest Mark 01), a feat which standard mousetraps just could not do (even with peanut butter smeared on them).

I thought the culprit had earned the right to freedom, since he was so clever (and because I’m a big softy), so me and the boys let it go in the bush after breakfast this morning.

Cute little thing he was (pictured above minutes before his liberation)… tiny, hyper and covered in slippery cooking oil – thanks to the ingeniously designed MAM01.

Click here for the original ‘Humane Mousetrap’ plans by Manny Leger.

I have some very clever little mice in my shed (you can read about them here). They have been taking great pleasure in toying with the conventional traps I set.

So, in response to their mocking, I have constructed ‘The Mouse Arrest: mark 1′. I scoured the internet to find some fail-safe trap designs, but most of them kill the poor things slowly and horribly. The ‘Mouse Arrest’ (MAM01 for short) doesn’t kill the cute critters, it simply traps them (so I can then feed them live to our pet eels .

I based the MAM01 on ingenious plans by Manny Leger found here and will let you know who wins round 2. By the way, I’m just kidding about the eels.

I don’t know how people can be scared of them. They are cute and cuddly, not 8-legged and creepy. I was speaking at a camp earlier on in the year and was rudely interupted by one of my leaders freaking out because she saw a mouse. I thought ladies just did that in the movies.

Wild mice, while still cute, are an annoyance, especially when they are thriving in my shed. I set three traps last night and was quite excited (as were the boys) to see the carnage this morning. We were bitterly dissappointed. All the cheese was gone, and the traps hadn’t been set off. The wierd thing was that I had tied the cheese to the traps! The culprits must be MacGyver fans

I will not be defeated. Be assured that I will do research and will be building the mouse trap from nam. In the meantime, have a look at a mouse problem of Biblical proportions.