Then, Leo decided to take down the Christmas tree. Which had been sitting in the corner well into January, and we had taken quite a bit longer to getting around to taking it down than usual. He lifted up the bottom third of the tree (yes, it's one of those huge fake ones), and all of a sudden, he screams and jumps up onto the couch. Immediately realizing that he sounded like a little girl, he jumps off the couch and proceeds to start looking behind our stereo and the couch for something. I, sitting at the other end of the couch, am now completely intrigued. So, I ask him what the big deal was, did he see a huge spider or something? Nope, it was a mouse. According to him a big fluffy brown mouse, and it ran "right across his foot!" Alright, my hunch was correct, and now we have confirmation.
Now that Leo finally believes me that there might be, and in fact there is, a mouse in the house, and I am not as crazy as he would have me believe, he decides that we're going to the Home Depot "TODAY!" to get the mouse traps. Me, being an animal lover, I agree because you can't very well live with a wild mouse living in the house, but secretly decide to get the humane ones. Once there we grab the "catch and release" traps and a package of the sticky traps, which come 4 to a pack. We get them home and place them around the house in strategic places. Leo and I agreed that putting the catch and release trap in the kitchen was probably the best idea because that's where I'd seen Stardust run to most often; so it gets loaded up with peanut butter and placed beneath the cupboard.
About a week passes, with us checking the traps every morning, and every time we get home, with nothing. Then, one morning after Leo had gone to work, I got up and stumbled into the kitchen to get my breakfast. Lo and behold, the catch and release trap is in the middle of the floor. Curious I bend down and peek inside; sure enough we caught a mouse! After doing a little victory dance I assessed the situation. This little guy was no bigger than an inch in every direction! HA! This was the mighty mouse that had caused my big navy submariner to jump up onto the couch?!? Oh, this was too good!
I briefly thought about just taking the mouse outside and let him go when a couple of thoughts entered my mind. First, he would probably just get into our house the same way he did before. It was cold outside, and I'm sure that's the chief reason he came into the house in the first place. Second, it really was cold outside! The temperatures had just dropped to the low 20's and me being the bleeding heart that I am couldn't bear the thought of him just freezing to death outside! So, I placed him on the counter, out of the way of the cats (who had obviously been playing with the trap all night), and presumably into the arms of safety.
On the counter he sat, all day, until Leo got home. I didn't want to just make a decision like keeping the little guy without consulting my husband first. The results could be disastrous. So, once home I told him about the mouse and we agreed that we could get him a small cage and some food, but "only until the weather got warm!" Of course this decision was reached complete with heavy sighs and eye rolls.
So, off to PetSmart to get the little guy a cheap cage and food. Once we got home and got the cage ready it was time to take him out of the trap. The poor thing had been in there all day, and was covered with peanut butter from head to toe. Leo took one look at him and said "he looked much bigger before, I'm sure he's fluffier without all the peanut butter on him!" Uh huh. After getting him into the cage we noticed that he's got a gimpy arm! The poor little guy had been fending off cats for weeks with one good arm. So, now we're teetering between letting him go when it's warmer, and just keeping him. He's awfully cute; but like we need another pet.
So, for now, we've got an uninvited house guest.
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