Ok this has to make me the luckiest mouse breeder ever!
Firstly, We lose 'Shadow', unfortunately due to our niece taking her outside and thinking she would be alright for a second while she came and got me to show me where she was. (Lesson Learnt for all involved!) So Shadow escapes underneath the decking, I bait up the humane trap with peanut butter and leave for 10 mins. I come back out and ask my niece where is the trap, she had pushed it underneath the decking and lost it from our reach. (Second Lesson Learnt!) I am now worrying Shadow is going to get trapped in the trap and die from starvation. Oh my goodness, what an Awful Awful death! And because Our decking is made out of Ipe, (which is a strong as iron and price-y) I am not aloud to dismantle the deck to get the trap.
Two days had passed and I am dreading a developing smell right next to the deck where we sunbathe (or try to, we do live in England). Sitting at the office computer, working from home with the doors open because the chickens were loose in the garden, I start to hear a rustling behind me, I ignore it first thinking oh it's just the Cat, but then I realize we don't have a cat and I pull myself out of work to look at a pile of papers moving. Underneath is Shadow! I was shocked and amazed, she hadn't gone into the trap or got eaten by the local fox, cat or our chickens! So I chased her into the Utility room and caught a very scrawny Shadow. :mrgreen:
So I feel blessed and happy at this point and walk into the garage with her and start to look into the two top cages to put her back. I am then in complete dismay, a wood broom handle had fallen onto the frame the cages were in and my last litter of 5 week olds had taken the mass escape into there own hands. I knew the top two cages full of Does and their babies were sneaking into each others at night, but a mass escape!?! All 10 of Strawberry's litter had escaped, leaving Mum and two Aunts behind. I start looking everywhere for them. Fearing they had run underneath garage door, I half gave up, later on that day I go to clean the cages out and grab the bag of Yesterdays News only to find FIVE of them! I was so happy! I put them in a cage all safe and then grab the box I keep all mousey and cage extras in and find the other FIVE!! I was so over the moon, I had managed to find ALL THE MICE! :roll:
So cages clean, it turned to operation Mouse Mite and Flea Treatment! All that running around in the Garden and on the dusty Garage floor had caused them to get eye infections. So a little TLC and some mite spray Sorted them all out fine. Now all that is left is for them to try to negotiate the pecking order, all that freedom gave them some ambitious dreams! Look out Meeces, I have some Leaders of the Mouse world in training over here! :lol:
Firstly, We lose 'Shadow', unfortunately due to our niece taking her outside and thinking she would be alright for a second while she came and got me to show me where she was. (Lesson Learnt for all involved!) So Shadow escapes underneath the decking, I bait up the humane trap with peanut butter and leave for 10 mins. I come back out and ask my niece where is the trap, she had pushed it underneath the decking and lost it from our reach. (Second Lesson Learnt!) I am now worrying Shadow is going to get trapped in the trap and die from starvation. Oh my goodness, what an Awful Awful death! And because Our decking is made out of Ipe, (which is a strong as iron and price-y) I am not aloud to dismantle the deck to get the trap.
Two days had passed and I am dreading a developing smell right next to the deck where we sunbathe (or try to, we do live in England). Sitting at the office computer, working from home with the doors open because the chickens were loose in the garden, I start to hear a rustling behind me, I ignore it first thinking oh it's just the Cat, but then I realize we don't have a cat and I pull myself out of work to look at a pile of papers moving. Underneath is Shadow! I was shocked and amazed, she hadn't gone into the trap or got eaten by the local fox, cat or our chickens! So I chased her into the Utility room and caught a very scrawny Shadow. :mrgreen:
So I feel blessed and happy at this point and walk into the garage with her and start to look into the two top cages to put her back. I am then in complete dismay, a wood broom handle had fallen onto the frame the cages were in and my last litter of 5 week olds had taken the mass escape into there own hands. I knew the top two cages full of Does and their babies were sneaking into each others at night, but a mass escape!?! All 10 of Strawberry's litter had escaped, leaving Mum and two Aunts behind. I start looking everywhere for them. Fearing they had run underneath garage door, I half gave up, later on that day I go to clean the cages out and grab the bag of Yesterdays News only to find FIVE of them! I was so happy! I put them in a cage all safe and then grab the box I keep all mousey and cage extras in and find the other FIVE!! I was so over the moon, I had managed to find ALL THE MICE! :roll:
So cages clean, it turned to operation Mouse Mite and Flea Treatment! All that running around in the Garden and on the dusty Garage floor had caused them to get eye infections. So a little TLC and some mite spray Sorted them all out fine. Now all that is left is for them to try to negotiate the pecking order, all that freedom gave them some ambitious dreams! Look out Meeces, I have some Leaders of the Mouse world in training over here! :lol:
I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to grab 5 5-week-olds at a time and in a hurry before they scurried off again?! :shock: I had 1 4 1/2-week-old black self doe escape and, of course, hide behind my absolutely HEAVIEST gecko rack! She was a little stinker! At that age they're so quick! lol After much chasing about we caught her. I think she thought it was a very fun game. :roll: I am not keen on letting her play it again! 
