Mouse 3 - Human 1 — Hualalai Farms

For the past several nights, I have heard rustling in the living area late at night. We have been eating watermelon for fruit after dinner, so I presumed it was just one of my kids waking up, walking out to the hallway, and then walking to the bathroom to empty their bladders. This happened for 3 nights in a row. So one morning, during breakfast, I inquired, "Who keeps peeing at night?"

Both kids quizically looked at me like I was high, "We haven't been waking up to go pee!"

So... either I was hearing things, or there is some poltergeist, OR...

That evening, I heard the rustling again. So, I went out to the living area and guess what I see... but some mouse's butt in the air trying to climb into our trash can! It eventually scattered and ran under the crack under the dishwasher. My testosterone raced and anger flashed across my face. How DARE some rodent come into my brand new house?!?! I hovered outside the dishwasher, made an impromptu baton out of a pile of sheet music I had laying around and just waited. After a few minutes, I realized this little guy was reticent to come out and meet his/her fate. Clearly s/he needed some prompting.

So, I Googled "sounds that mice don't like" in a hope that I could use a noise to flush the critter. I found the above annoying sound. It's on a 29 minute loop. Give it a try. I have a feeling it's more of a ploy to annoy humans. I maxed the volume on my phone speakers, pointed it towards where the mouse was hiding, and ran the sound for 15 minutes. Then, I heard rustling behind me. Wait... there were TWO rodents in the house? Is there a family of these critters?!? I whirled around, baton in hand, ready to deal some damage. To my relief/dismay I saw my bleary eyed daughter walking towards me with her hands over her ears. "What in the world is that horrible sound?" she moaned.

I promptly stopped the audio and told Lauren to go back to bed. Clearly round 1 went to the mouse.

The following day, I found some foam insulation I had laying around and crawled under the house. I figured there must be some hole/crack this mouse found. I found a few potential spots and decided to seal them up. I pulled the rookie mistake of spraying the foam without gloves. Foam got all over the place, and I used my bare hands to shove foam into some spots that the can applicator couldn't quite reach.

I'm sure you're all saying to yourselves, "What a dunder head! Doesn't he know foam sticks to flesh?"

To my horror, when I ran my hand under the faucet, nothing happened. The foam clung onto my hands tight. I wished I had some acetone on hand, but alas I did not; Since the store is a 30 minute drive away, buying some was not an option. So, I ended up sitting in a hot bath for 2 hours slowly peeling away foam and skin.

Always use gloves when spraying foam insulation.  Ask me how I know.  Mouse 2 - Human 0 — Always use gloves when spraying foam insulation. Ask me how I know. Mouse 2 - Human 0

The house should have been effectively sealed. There was no way for the mouse to come back now, right? I went to sleep confident that the mouse wouldn't be coming back.

So I woke up the next morning and saw that our friend left us a little present. Actually, there were several little presents all over the place. Perhaps I was taking this a bit personally, but I could have swore there were little pellets all over the place as if the mouse was marking its territory.

OK... this warranted the 30 minute drive into town. I bought a couple of mouse traps, baited with peanut butter, and tonight at 11 PM, I heard a satisfying snap. Oh, human tenacity. Fail fast, adapt, and overcome.