Surprise visit from Pest Control

I got a knock on the door at about 11am this morning. A team of house clearers have arrived to start removing the furniture from downstairs, so I thought it might be one of them with a query, or something. But no, it was a guy from 'Rokill', sent by Mr Lyman in response to the recording I emailed him.


That's him, checking out possible entry points (turns out there's more than I realised).
I told him about the mouse in the Trip-Trap, and he seemed to see this as conclusive evidence that I've got a mouse infestation and that he'll find the external entry point, seal it off, and then all my problems will disappear..
I mentioned that the mouse should have been ALIVE, and that it smelt long dead, but he just looked at me like I was a right weirdo and said that sometimes the stress of being confined in a small space causes mice to have a heart attack and die. He assured me that there was nothing unusual about this and anyway, -how else could it have got there?

I decided that it might be best not to tell him about my theories regarding large, hairy, scheming creatures, since he was already giving me the 'have you taken your meds' eyebrow raise.
Hmph.

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Something smells fishy.. (or at least unpleasantly pungent)

There's definitely something not quite right about all this. I know, I'm doing the looking-for-trouble thing again, but just hear me out:
- it's DEAD. It's in the humane trap! It's not supposed to DIE!?! And not only that:
- I just removed it from the trap, and it SMELLS. I know dead things do that, but it smells like it's been dearly-departed for a good few DAYS. it was really horrible, I thought I was going to gag.
- I already decided that the evidence points towards larger critters (see the footprints in the bloodstains, amplitude of noises)
- there's no way this tiny little thing created the pawprints in the blood trail - it has three toes, for a start! (though I suppose blood stains aren't the most accurate guage of this)
I took a photo, for your viewing pleasure.. it looks way too NEAT, you know? it just seems... weird.
WARNING: FOLLOWING PHOTO NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART


So where does this leave me...? I guess I'm going down the 'something planted this mouse to put me off the trail' route. Which sounds ridiculous, but think about it:
the run-in with Scamps means that I'm aware of the existence of these creatures, they know this and are getting scared I'm going to realise they're more intelligent perhaps than your average mouse. They're worried I'm therefore going to get more proactive in my hunt for them, so they plant a dead mouse they found somewhere in their travels in rodent-land to make me second-guess myself and believe that the measures I already have in place are enough.
That suits them because they're clever enough to avoid all that, so as long as they sporadically feed mice into my traps, they can go on living their merry little lives while I think I'm tackling the problem.

Very clever! And it nearly worked! But I'm a step ahead..

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CAUGHT A MOUSE!!!

LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN THE DINING ROOM TRAP JUST NOW!!!


Well.....
I feel kind of embarrassed, now. Like, I've been making all this fuss and entertaining all kinds of ideas about exotic rodents and communities of humanoid creatures, and... they're just MICE after all.

It's kind of an anti-climax, you know?? I was almost hoping it would be something different and exciting... oh well. At least now I KNOW, and can stop getting all sentimental and just get rid of them like I know I should.

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Trip-Traps and Pest-Stops

I've decided to try the DIY approach. Following yesterday's trap talk, I went out and bought 4 more Trip-Traps (and some more cheese!) and have placed them in strategic locations around my flat:

under the bin!

under the shoe cupboard by the front door

in a dark corner of the main room

behind the TV (to avoid dangerous wire gnaw-age)

under my wardrobe

And, finally, the verdict on the Pest-Stop 2000 sonic repellant:

IT DOESN'T WORK.

That's £18.69 down the drain.. If anything, it irritated them and exaccerbated the problem. I could swear that when I turned it on, they just made MORE NOISE just to spite me. Little bastards.

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Exciting packages!!

I go for weeks without receiving anything more than the monthly bills, but today Royal Mail was smiling gently down upon me. A package from my parents was part of the haul, and I wasted no time familiarising myself with the contents:



I also finally received the Pest-Stop 2000!! I can't wait to try it out but, typically, there are no major noises to be heard so I'll have to wait until later to contribute my two cents to the does-it-work discussion.

Keep checking for updates!!

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