Cat TV

[chelidon]

Tonight for the second day in a row, noting all of the cats gathered intently around the upstairs fireplace (which we haven't used in a month or two) with focused interest, I found a field mouse running around in there. The fireplace has glass fire doors, so the mouse can't get out, and so it climbs up and down the metal mesh screen inside the glass doors, which provides endless fascination, and no small frustration, for the house cats. Here's one picture of Cat TV (all the more perfect because the air grate lets them smell each other, too), and here's another pic. Both nights I tossed in a live trap and pulled it out when the wee beastie crawled in (which, since the trap has a clear glass top, created yet another perfect episode of Cat TV, and let it loose at the end of the end of our road. I don't have a problem per se with using kill-traps, though I have my own peculiar sense of morals about it. If the mouse gets trapped but not killed, he's earned his freedom. And if we start having a real infestation, I'll do whatever I need to do to get rid of 'em -- Hantavirus and other rodent-borne bugs are nothing to mess with. But these are the first ones I've seen inside for a while, other than one the cats got a couple of months ago. Now, two nights in a row, I'm a bit concerned. With the first one, I figured one had just fallen down the chimney, but now I'm not so sure. I sure hope there's not a mouse-sized hole in the masonry somewhere. It's time to have our sweep come in anyway, to check out the flue the wood boiler uses, see how it held up after our first full year of being solely on wood heat -- I'll have him check out the flue cap and other chimneys as well.

Ah, wildlife ;> But, thinking on the bright side, it's possible that my catch and release program is helping feed the local owl population. We have fox, fishers, hawks, and a number of other raptors and small mammals on the land here, so it's no wonder the mice prefer inside to out. But, all dismay of the cats aside (for getting rid of their toys), the wee mousies willl be staying outside, one way or another.

Comments

[alobar.livejournal.com]

> all the more perfect because the air grate lets them smell each other, too

Back when the new Komodo dragon exhibit at the zoo was just completed, Raven and I went to see the dragon. The exhibit had huge sheets of plexiglass between the dragon and the humans. But the builders had not yet finished caulking the space between two of the plexiglass sheets. There was a guard stnding there to make sure no small child stuck a finger between the plexiglass sheets. Space was about 1/2"

The dragon had his nose pressed to the open space and was breathing noisily. It could smell the humans, but not get at us.

I squatted down and put my nose about 1/2" from the gap. When hot acrid the dragon's breath hit my face, I had an amazing bodily reaction. I nearly pissed myself, my legs went weak, and my heart started pumping real fast. My instincts were telling me to get the fuck out of there before I got eaten. 10 minutes after I left the dragon to go see the sea lions, my heart was still raccing and my knees were still weak.

So I imagine the mouse who could smell the cats was not having an easy time of it.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Nifty story, thanks -- hindbrain-memory, indeed! Oh, as frustrated as the cats were with the glass betweem themselves and the mouse, I suspect the mouse wasn't enjoying it one bit. Talk about job-related stress... ;>

[ravenedgewalker.livejournal.com]

when bored due to bad weatheron a field trip a friend of mine experimented with catch and releaseing mice in humane traps - and shaving fur off their backs in order to recognise them. it turned out the little suckers were travelling over a mile every night to get back to the nice warm field centre....

in other words, it could be the same mouse returning!

[http://users.livejournal.com/faerose_/]

i wonder if food colouring would work?

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

I was wondering myself if it was in fact the same one, though I thought that since we just put a new roof on the house earlier this week we may have sealed off a usual route for a nest of mousies living in one of the walls or up in the ceiling panels and rafters. My partner suggested putting a spot of paint on it last night -- if another one appears in the same way, I definitely will. Or I could just let it out in the house and let the cats at it, but honestly, they're so well-fed they just play with it until it either escapes or eventually dies (I suspect of fright more than anything else...), neither of which are outcomes I'm particularly keen on.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

I would not be surprised, and I had that suspicion myself... C suggested a spot of spraypaint on the back, which I may do if another one appears tonight...

[http://users.livejournal.com/faerose_/]

cat tv huh? *laughs* :>

[mystfemme.livejournal.com]

That made my day! Thanks.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Yer very welcome! :>