Kim at LiaS has rodents.

[Kelya]

Two posts, and another one on the way, dedicated to how she thought her house was infested with rats, but instead its a squirrel.

Some great quotes:

It was a very busy week, and somehow I managed to “forget†about the problem.

[bionicmlle]

Reminds me of MckMama and the bug infestation.

[Austin]

Rodents?

:shock:

I've have to be tranquilized until after the exterminator was gone.

[Wolfie]

Um, my brother had a squirrel problem. (His house had been vacant for a while before he bought it) and they called in professional help to get rid of them very early on. (basically they got advice on how to get them out and keep them out) And he didn't even have kids at that point!

[ilovetchotchkes]

Rodents?

:shock:

I've have to be tranquilized until after the exterminator was gone.

[Kitty]

I used to hate mice, but accidentally trapping one wayward mouse in the bathtub cured me of that. I tend to think small, furry animals are cute, and I felt bad for poor little mousey so I trapped it in a jar and tossed him outside.

But a whole bunch of them, to the point of hearing scurrying noises? Fuck getting another cat. Cats don't do anything to mice except watch them run around. I'd hire a fucking exterminator.

[Austin]

I used to hate mice, but accidentally trapping one wayward mouse in the bathtub cured me of that. I tend to think small, furry animals are cute, and I felt bad for poor little mousey so I trapped it in a jar and tossed him outside.

But a whole bunch of them, to the point of hearing scurrying noises? Fuck getting another cat. Cats don't do anything to mice except watch them run around. I'd hire a fucking exterminator.

[ChunkyBarbie]

I can't even begin to imagine 1. not calling an exterminator and 2. broadcasting for all the web-wide-world that I had a rodent problem. Gah!! I am going to have nightmares now. Yuck.

This isn't the first time she had problems with rodents. IIRC the kids filled the walls with water to try to drown rats or mice because they heard about doing that from a book.

[Conuly]

I'm not a snake/spider person, so this might not be as awful as i feel it is.

[tabitha2]

Kim's kids pretty much run wild but her mantra is everything is a ''learning experience''-That's how she justifies the lackadaisical,spotty schooling she gives her kids.Seriously,the heifer is lazy.IMO She procrastinates,is spoiled,does things halfway.This goes to raising kids right-the hard stuff is takes work,you know!

[icecreamycakeycake]

Rodents?

:shock:

I've have to be tranquilized until after the exterminator was gone.

[theologygeek]

I can't even begin to imagine 1. not calling an exterminator and 2. broadcasting for all the web-wide-world that I had a rodent problem. Gah!! I am going to have nightmares now. Yuck.

This isn't the first time she had problems with rodents. IIRC the kids filled the walls with water to try to drown rats or mice because they heard about doing that from a book.

[outrunningzombies]

When a mouse leaped out of my pantry, I may have run screaming to the apartment office and hysterically demanded that they get rid of it NOW. Maybe. ;)

The only squirrels allowed in my house are the stuffed dog toys that my dog mauls.

[Rachel333]

Squirrels are awfully cute, though.

My high school had a mouse problem my junior year. My lit teacher loved it; she named the one in her room Hamlet.

[DistantStar]

When I had a boa we referred to the frozen dinners as mousecicles or ratsicles. Snakes gotta eat and they are so not going to go vegetarian. Obviously keeping them as pets is not for everybody, but personally I like them.

If I had mice in my house, I would be on my landlord to get an exterminator NOW, unless it was just a random one that wandered in one day. But in the walls? The cupboards? [bugs Bunny voice]This means WAR.[/bugs]

[emmiedahl]

When I had a job that included taking care of a corn snake, he would only eat if you warmed the mouse (I would drop the baggie in a beaker of hot water 5-10 minutes before Houdini ate) and then you had to grasp the mouse by its tail and wiggle him until the snake struck. I did it with those llloooonnnggg tweezers that we had in the lab.

So. damn. gross. I am forever grateful that I never have to care for a snake again. Oh, and there is a DAMN good reason he was named Houdini. He could get out of an air-tight gun safe. And just try getting him out from behind a cabinet while an entire microbiology class is watching. Stupid snake.

[tabitha2]

At the Wal-mart I worked at a baby possum strolled in and took up residence for about 4 months.They half assed set traps but he had plenty of water and food,as this was the hall right behind the meat dept where they placed rotten meat in a buggy and there was pipe that always leaked water so he blew those off.I came upon him one morning brunching bad steak and the bugger winked at me ;0.Anyhow an associate finally caught him and let him out.We also used to have small flocks of birds-they just flew in.

[Wolfie]

I used to hate mice, but accidentally trapping one wayward mouse in the bathtub cured me of that. I tend to think small, furry animals are cute, and I felt bad for poor little mousey so I trapped it in a jar and tossed him outside.

But a whole bunch of them, to the point of hearing scurrying noises? Fuck getting another cat. Cats don't do anything to mice except watch them run around. I'd hire a fucking exterminator.

[Conuly]

Cats don't do anything to mice except watch them run around.

[Kelya]

When I had a boa we referred to the frozen dinners as mousecicles or ratsicles. Snakes gotta eat and they are so not going to go vegetarian. Obviously keeping them as pets is not for everybody, but personally I like them.

[leena_noor]

I can't snark on their lack of fear of the squirrel. I raised rodents most of my life and they don't freak me out at all. The thing that does bother me is how dangerous it is to have animals that you can't identify, pooping where you eat, freely roaming where you sleep, and potentially biting on of your hoard of kids. Their method of trapping the squirrel was moronic, and seriously dangerous. I thought the story was going to end with a trip to the ER because the squirrel got scared and went apeshit on one of the girls. I wonder if they found other creepy crawlies down there.

At least her writing style is amusing, which is welcome after reading too many borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring blogs to attempt to get to the juicy details of insanity.

[Wolfie]

But if you want to raise a mouser, don't overfeed and don't separate too early.)

[leena_noor]

Depends on the cat.

Due to a combination of factors such as ill-fitted doors, roof damage, and a current plague in NYC, we have a mouse problem. We can get rid of them, but only until new ones come back in. (And forget glue traps. Last time I saw a mouse in there I spent 20 minutes with vegetable oil and a toothpick, carefully releasing the terrified creature.)

We currently have a cat. Haven't had one in YEARS, but we got one this summer. She moved in on her own, her and her pregnant self! So we have a cat and a small kitten infestation. At any rate, this cat is dedicated. I have seen her spend days patiently doing nothing but sitting outside a specific hole or nook where a mouse was hiding. She killed several within two weeks, and suddenly our mouse problem got a lot smaller. Mice are smart enough, I guess, to recognize the terrifying smell and sound of the furry apocalypse!

It seems to be an inherited trait. Her kittens haven't caught mice (although it's strangely endearing to watch them play with the dead mice their mom brings them), but I've seen them jump and catch flies in mid-air, flies that were twice their height up.

In the past I had cats that could bring down squirrels and pigeons - and these were small cats! They were just that good.

Of course, a well-fed kitty who has never had to hunt mice and was separated from her mama too early to learn from her (a common problem, but you don't want to hear my commentary on when kittens REALLY should be weaned or adopted out as compared to what Google tells people and appears to be "common knowledge") won't be as good a mouser as one who has spent a full three or four months at mom's side (or more!) or who has spent years living on the streets by his or her own wits. (And that's not a bad thing, necessarily. We want our pet cats to be loved! Feral cats have miserable, short lives - if they even survive kittenhood. But if you want to raise a mouser, don't overfeed and don't separate too early.)

[tabitha2]

I do not understand breeding your own gerbils to feed, alive, to your snake, especially when you have 10 kid'

[ladypuglover]

I agree that somebody has to teach them, but if you have a mouser and get a kitten that they take under their wing (sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't) they will teach them how to mouse. And my best hunter was free fed for most of her life so far, and when she was allowed outside she used to bring home rabbits as big as she was! (not free fed anymore, but because one of the other cats was getting fat.) I think that females tend to be better mousers, but growing up we had some good ratters (we had rats more than mice) who were male too.