Please bury me with it...

Forgive me father, for I have sinned.

It's been 32 years, 10 months, and... forget it. Let's just hope the body my soul inhabited before me was more repentant than I have been up to this point. Plus, we all know I'm not Catholic. Why pretend?

I am here asking for your forgiveness for killing one of your creatures.

It was a dastardly thing to do, but he didn't give me much choice. The little sub-rat bastard moved in my house. He wouldn't leave. He had taken up residency in the insulation of my stove! If he had been there much longer, he might've gnawed through cables thus requiring me spending hundreds of dollars on repairs or a replacement.

So I did it. I went to Ace and bought a trap. I couldn't poison him or he might die in the insulation and then stink up the place while rotting. I was told glue traps wouldn't work and might just hurt him more if he hits in an awkward position and stays there all night. Box traps wouldn't work because there was no way to set it up to guarantee he'd use it.

I needed something he wouldn't miss. Something I could set in the path that I had observed him taking several times before.

I bought a snap trap instead. And I placed it in that one spot... his common exit and entry point. Within 15 minutes of shutting off the lights, I heard it snap shut. During Letterman, too... just as six interns were about to be jumped over by some street daredevil.

He was killed instantly. No pain that I can imagine. He just laid there.

I instantly felt remorse over what I'd done. I even apologized to him. Too little, too late, I'm sure. But still.

I never wanted to kill him but I knew there was no choice if I wanted to avoid the fees for replacing our oven. And I cannot afford that. And nothing else was working. He was just too quick, too nimble, and too smart. And all he wanted was to avoid the cold outside. But these are all just excuses.

Even this morning, I can still see him in my mind's eye.

I'll probably be haunted by this a while.

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Howsabout some snippets? Clean-up The post-mouse clean-up continues in Casa Kapgar. I'm feeling less and less bad about the steps I had to take to eliminate our houseguest considering how much he, well, "left behind" for us. We completely wiped...

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Lisa

Ewww! I have a hard enough time squashing the little eight legged inhabitants of my abode, I can't even imagine having to hear the *snap*. Or having to dispose of it once later. Yucky!

tori

We used the trap and release traps. Of course when it caught him, my husband was out of town so I had to go into the forest and let him go. Unfortunately he came back (I'm talking about the mouse...I wanted my husband to come back). Since I just can't kill creatures, I paid a man to "give them a stern talking to" and if you tell me he killed the mouse, I will never believe you. But the mouse is gone. So sad! I can't imagine having to see it and dispose of it!

diane

This is why I have cats. They do the dirty work for me, and I can just chalk it up to the circle of life! :p

sue

I never hated mice. I even had pet ones growing up. Then I moved into my husband's old farmhouse that he'd lived in forever. It had problems. There were mice. Serious mice. We had Terminix on retainer and still had troubles. Finally got a handle on them, but I had one set of drawers in the kitchen I refused to put anything in because the mice could come up under the kitchen sink and get behind and into those drawers. Why tempt them with nesting material? After I quit putting stuff in those drawers and we kept the poison around, they finally were scarce, but damn, I hate those dirty critters now.

We've even had the cats catch a couple of babies in the new house and have no clue how they got in... We're hoping it was a fluke and they slipped in when the door was open. (Crossing fingers).

sizzle

i would be haunted by that too. in fact, i am. i had a mice problem in one place i lived in. but you had to!

Catherine

I understand your feeling, but I hope it doesn't haunt you for long. I think it's more or less natural (I bet it's even hardwired) for humans to get rid of creatures in their dwelling which can bring harm to their families (potentially carrying fatal disease and other filth) and disturb their peace, and if the visitors can't catch a hint, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Dagny

I suppose you used peanut butter in the trap. That's what my mother used to use when I was growing up. And then we'd argue in the morning over whose turn it was to dispose of the thing. If we were lucky, we could get a neighbor to come over.

Now a couple of neighbors have complained about seeing mice. I haven't. Then again B&N are pretty good hunters. I just hope they never bring me a "prize" one morning in bed.

kapgar

Lisa, I have gotten much better about killing spiders. It's a work in progress.

tori, just think he took them swimming and imagine them with little floaties on their four legs.

diane, too many allergy problems with me and cats at this point in life. Never really was too bad when I was younger and owned them. But now... I do like the "circle of life" justification, though.

sue, I can't say I ever hated mice. I think they're cute little guys. I even had gerbils as pets growing up so that made me more tolerant of mice as well. But to have him roaming free and diseased in our kitchen just ain't cool.

sizzle, I keep thinking about the little booger. He was so damned cute.

Catherine, he certainly wasn't getting the hint.

Dagny, didn't need any bait whatsoever because he just fell from his hiding spot right on the top of it. Very strategically placed. I'd go the cat route if my allergies hadn't gotten worse since my teen year cats have died. Can't be around cats all that long anymore without being somewhat drugged up. So you're hoping not to find the proverbial horse's head in your bed? That would suck.

g-man

Bummer dude. It was quick, it was the best you could do for him/her. Better than the mice that lived in the air duct of my car and died a horrible slow death in the summer heat. (Not that I knew that until after they were dead and stinking the interior up)

Bre

Blugh!

I have the grossest mental image now! Thanks, Kevin!

Hilly

I'm sure that God, Buddha, Mother Earth or whatever you want to call it...forgives you :). You are sorry and you did the best you can!

kapgar

g-man, that's what I was afraid of having happen. And Katie was cooking last night in the stove. I was waiting for the little bugger to come flying out of there, but he didn't. That could've been really bad.

Bre, sorry to do that to you. Be thankful my descriptions weren't as vivid as the image I've got stuck in my head. It gets far, far worse.

Hilly, all of the above?

ajooja

We have a mole that's been digging up our yard. We're being all "Kumbaya hippies" about it right now, but it may change if he starts being an ass. :)

Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

Foo

To me it's a better choice than glue. They use glue traps at my work and while death sucks, I would think being stuck to a massive piece of sticky cardboard would be a huge negative as well. Not like you can wash that shit off in a mouse sink and how the heck could you ride a motorcycle?

kapgar

ajooja, Kumbaya hippies, eh? I know the concept, but have never heard of it referred to in such a way. Interesting. Good luck with the blind rodent.

Foo, oh c'mon! Anthropomorphizing like that isn't helping matters much. Thanks a pantload. ;-)

tana

When I lived in our old barn my Grandpa converted in to a house he would set traps but expected me to dispose of the deceased. He would tell me just to chuck them down the hill where he put yard waste; but somehow disposing of a possible source of Hanta Virus near a stream seemed not so healthy so I would have a mini funeral and toss them in the fire pit. He thought I was so weird.

Now that we have our house, and an apparent Mousie Theme park in our attic, we use the baits. It (supposedly) shuts down their kidneys and makes them really really thirsty; so in theory they should leave your house to find water, then they die, desicate and become little mousemummies.

kapgar

tana, mousemummies??? My house is already haunted by a human ghost. Don't need the spirits of mice with unresolved business roaming the grounds as well. Welcome aboard, by the way!

Allison

We live next to a farm and get field mice every year around this time. It isn't a big deal. Put the poison out. It makes them thirsty and then they go outside to find something to drink and die. Painless (for me), easy (read: no) clean-up.
I hate to do it too, but the little buggers make such a mess in the cabinets and they chewed through the hose on my dishwasher last year, so I have no choice.

kapgar

I considered poison until I thought about how they might just go back in the stove and die there.

suze

ugh! I hate mice. I understand the need to use the trap. I think you will be forgiven...

kapgar

suze, I don't hate them, but they can sure be bothersome.

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