Pickles & Dimes

So, Thursday night I got home about 15 minutes before Shauna and decided that before I went into the house to feed the cats, I’d take care of a few outdoor chores first. I took the remaining 5 bags full of leaves to the end of the driveway for trash pick up the next day, and filled all 3 of our bird feeders. While in the garage I decided to check the 4 mousetraps that we have strategically placed throughout the garage for victims.

(Let me share this with you first: since the day we moved into the house, just over a year ago, we knew we had a mouse problem out there. During our very first look in the empty garage, we saw one run across the cinder block base. We put down D-Con last fall, only to find dead mice in camping chair bags and my snowboots. This spring we purchased the reusable, covered mousetraps, filled them with peanut butter, and have disposed of no less than 20 rodents. Usually 2-3 per week.)

Back to my initial story. I didn’t see any “full” traps this week, but I did see one that had snapped shut on its side, and which looked to be dragged a couple of feet from its intended resting place. No mouse to be found.

I pinched it open to reset the trap and a HEAD fell out. Let me repeat that, ONLY A MOUSE HEAD FELL OUT. Not the body, only the head, with its bulged, beady little eyes staring at me.

At that time, Shauna came home and I requested her presense in the garage. I had the trap reset, and the head was now among the leaves that had blown in on the floor. I briefly told her where I found the trap and asked her if she could find the missing rodent. She concluded that the mouse must have escaped.

That is, until I showed her the body-less victim. Startled, but not afraid, she helped me continue the search for said body, to no avail. We finished our search by sweeping out the garage, so not only are there no leaves or mouse bodies on the floor, but also not a speck of dust.

Fun way to come home. Do mice eat other, deceased mice?