Oat, Emile, and the rest of the family

Warning–this post may not be for the weak stomached. I find it amusing (I have to!) but some people might find my story a little creepy.

Last Friday, I went down to my basement storage room to get a can of something from our food storage. The can of whatever it was was sitting next to the box of instant oatmeal, and it didn’t take me long to discover all of the mouse droppings around the box. Mice! We’ve only had mice one other time since we’ve lived here. About 8 or 9 years ago, we caught one in the “live-catch” mouse trap that we set out (on the same storage shelf….). Haven’t heard or seen from them since.

So as part of our Saturday clean-up, Peanut Butter cleaned up the shelf and set out that mouse trap (with oatmeal inside, since we know they like it!) once again. The next time we checked it, there were two tiny mice huddled in the corner. That was fast! The kids were very excited and had to name them: Oat and Emile, after their favorite food.

Later that night, we set the trap out again, empty. Before we went to bed, we had caught Daddy Mouse. Eww! The toddlers were kinda cute, but Daddy was a little creepy. We let him go pretty fast…

Last night, before bed, we set the trap out again. This morning, this is what I heard from Noodle:
“Mommy, we caught another mouse and she had a baby!”

Yep, Mama Mouse climbed in the trap this morning just in time to give birth, in the trap, to a wiggly pink mouse. Grossed out yet?

Fast forward to 9:30, when the four kids that I’ve been babysitting today came over. First thing Reese said to them was “We’ve got two mice downstairs!! Wanna see them??” (I don’t want to let them go anywhere near our house, and I was really hoping PB would do the job….) I took the kids down to the basement to see Mama and Baby, and WALA! There was not only one baby, but FIVE!!! Mama wasn’t finished…..

So far we’ve caught 9 mice in the last 3 days. I’m supposed to be doing laundry today, but my washer and dryer are in the same room as the food storage. I’m a little wary of going in there without socks and shoes. I’m afraid to lift up that pile of clothes on the ground….

About Lolli

Lolli has written 3740 post in this blog.

I became a mom in 1996, and in 2005 I had my fifth. Yes, 5 kids. In 2007, this blog was born (my 6th baby that will never grow up) and I've been sharing recipes, photography tricks, parenting tips, and everything in between. (Formerly Better in Bulk)

About Lolli

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