My family & I live in a very old house. And like many old houses, we have mice. When we first moved in, we would occasionally hear them in the walls. Chewing, scurrying, doing their mousey business. For the most part we ignored them. They kept inside the walls, we kept outside, and never our worlds would meet.
Several months ago, I received an email out of the blue. It was from a gentleman who works for Victor Pest. Victor Pest is the manufacturer of the mousetraps you see everywhere, the ones emblazoned w/ the big V logo w/ the mouse head.
Snap traps, glue traps, they make them all. Anyway, “Mr. Victor” said he’d been reading & enjoying my blog, and as I have a decidedly ‘country living’ angle – along with a love of products, was wondering whether I’d be interested in reviewing the NEW! Victor® Multi-Kill™ Electronic Mouse Trap. As it just so happened, a night or two before receiving this email I’d been awakened by some especially loud gnawing coming from the corner of our bedroom ceiling. So w/out hesitation, I said YES.
Within a couple weeks, my mousetrap arrived. Unfortunately, instead of sending it to my PO Box, Mr. Victor sent the package directly to my house. Where it was signed for by my older daughter, who brought the box in and immediately opened it, because that is what 10 year olds do. The next thing I know, my daughter is in hysterics, demanding to know why I am trying to electrocute rodents. I had to promise her I would never EVER use the trap. I emailed Mr. Victor the next day to explain. He very graciously said he understood. I stuck the box in the closet and promptly forgot about it.
Until two weeks ago. My husband & I were watching a movie. It was late. I was half-asleep on the couch when suddenly John LEAPED UP and dashed to the corner. He grabbed the small hatchet we keep to make kindling. I thought he’d lost his mind until he shouted in a half-whisper. “I just saw a mouse.” Mickey never saw it coming.
We thought it was a fluke, this mouse. We do have a parrot – not the tidiest eater, as well as hamsters and guinea pigs. And our house isn’t exactly spotless. My hatred of cleaning in combination with all the work we’ve been doing has pretty much ensured a layer of debris everywhere. But this was the first actual mouse we had seen (apart from a dead one in the toilet) and we figured it’d be the last. HAH!
The next day I noticed a mouse turd on the counter. I was aghast. I may not be a clean freak, but the kitchen? That’s different. I am a mother, I am a licensed commercial baker; I do have STANDARDS. I called my husband over immediately. We assessed the area, discovering more droppings in the back corner. I fetched that box from the closet faster than you can say U R TOAST.
The Victor Electronic Mousetrap looks like a plastic lunchbox, the kind you see in black & white photographs of men perched 40 stories above New York.
But instead of sandwiches, it houses metal plating and electronics. A small dual staircase in the back leads rodents to the upper chamber. You bait the end with something – we used peanut butter – and the mouse enters to get a free snack. But at what cost! As soon as it reaches the end, the metal plate beneath its feet fires, zapping Mickey to kingdom come. The floor then drops, dumping the body into a collection chamber below. The plate flips back up, ready to work again. Its ingenious design is essentially foolproof. As long as it’s baited and has working batteries, the Victor Electronic Mousetrap is a killing machine.
Within two weeks, we caught 11 mice. Typically 2 at a time, and always in the same combination: one large brown mouse, about the size of a gerbil, and a tiny gray one. Were they working the kitchen as teamed pairs? Who knows? But after catching 5 sets like this – they sure seemed to be. The only odd man, another small gray, was odd in more than one respect. Most remarkably, he was still alive! I heard the telltale zap and came running into the kitchen. The day was rainy and before I trekked out to the yard, I wanted to make sure I hadn’t been hearing things. I peeked into the chamber and two bright eyes peered back at me. YIKES! I closed the box quickly and grabbed my shoes. Instead of tossing the little lifeless body into the pile of yard waste with the others, I hiked further back into the woods. When I was a decent distance from the house, I stooped down in the tall grass and let him go. He was alive, but obviously stunned. I had to tap the container to get him out. He walked awkwardly and when he looked up at me, his black eyes shone w/ hatred.
That was the last mouse we caught. The turds have magically disappeared. No more scurrying noises from the walls. In my heart I know I’m not a bad person, but I still see those two eyes looking up from the grass, and I feel bad. Perhaps the survivor has warned his comrades. Maybe they fled before they too fell. I’d like to think so, at least. But just to make certain, the trap’s still on.
i am CRYING from this post. the poor little mice! you are a stone cold killer. 🙂
but this product may make up for the glue traps that my parents used back in the day. i’m still scarred from one mouse being trapped on the glue, trying to gnaw his OWN leg off. then his little nose got stuck on the glue trap. i was about 12 and HORRIFIED. i got the bright idea of putting some water on the glue pad to loosen the mouse but only succeeded in drowning the poor guy.
i still have nightmares about this. i clearly need some therapy.
but i’m happy to see that some mousetrap company finally figured out that we don’t want to SEE the cute little things we are killing. the design of this thing is genius! that said, i’m thankful not to need it.
i’m forever dubbing you and john the the portland stranglers.
xoxo
Oh I know. We are terrible. But truly, the mice had to go. Not only is it unsanitary, but it is UNSANITARY. It’s bad enough when you know there might be one or two living in the wall, keeping to themselves, but another thing altogether when they are making brazen appearances in the KITCHEN OF ALL PLACES! HELLS NO!!
Anyway, after long debate w/ our children, we assured them this was truly the most humane method of dispatch. Having dealt w/a previous mouse infestation in Philly, we KNOW WHAT’S WHAT>! Those humane traps are a joke. The snap traps only kill the dumb one of the bunch. The glue traps are simply horrific, topped only by the hideous reality of poison. Remember “Dead Mouse Smell”?? I still get umpteen hits on this blog from that lil number. **shudder**
I do not relish killing anything (other than mosquitoes), but this electronic trap works wonders & is about as cruelty free as possible. As I described to my older daughter, “he is eating happily when the quick jolt hits, and then he wakes up in mousey heaven.” PETA willstill likely have my head, but.. Thank you Victor!
darn dishy that’s almost enough for a fur stole!
if you don’t off them, they tell their friends and their friends tell friends…next thing you know…it is party time at the Colonial ! P.S. they are only cute in cartoons 🙂 My daughter said they had some take up residence in her piano…talk about creepy…hearing music while everyone is asleep!
Now THAT is seriously spine tingling! As for the stole, LOL – but NO THANKS! I may be an exterminator of the mice but I do NOT do fur~!
Perhaps get a cat…it’s more natural and the girls will agree with the choice!
Yes that would be a more practical solution right? But John has laid down the law NO MORE CATS!! Apart from the risk to Kiwi, we have this uncanny ability to adopt the sprayers of the world.
so they DID build a better mousetrap!!!
They did; WATCH OUT mice!
I think the decision to harm another animal (in this case rodent) depends on the diseases they carry and the dangers they pose, not necessarily their nuisance. You sacrificed your ethics for the sake of your family’s health. Good for you!
Now, if you took pleasure in using the device, that would make you a real psycho. LOL
Thank you Tammy!! Sorry I’ve been AWOL so long – will have to catch up on your blog asap. Hope you & the fam are having a lovely (relatively cool) summer!
The collection chamber seems like a real problem for someone lazy like me. I can imagine myself never taking a minute to dump it, allowing hundreds of dead mouse bodies to accumulate in the thing.
HAH! You never fail to make me laugh, UM! Such a funny gal.
Hey pretty lady! I have not been on your blog in a while. Seems lots have changed. 🙂 Just redid and actually wrote on mine in almost a year. So easy to neglect! Stop by if you have the chance.
xoxo
Hey there GORGEOUS! SO Nice to have you back – will def stop by soon. Hope all is very well! xo
I love this.
I am sending this to my sister.
My entire family is being terrorized by these “invisible” creatures…. if only they would stay invisible. At night, I hear them. During the day, I hear them. The past two months have been hell. They have gotten BOLD. They probably laugh and poop a crusty black turd every time they hear a scream. They eat everything else – I wish they’d eat their own poop!
I’m convinced they are genetically engineered mice and escaped from some lab nearby and are hell bent on kicking us out of our own home. WE have become the pests and intruders. I’ve bought all kinds of traps and “poisons” for them. HA! POSION! HA! That poison is more like protein shakes for them!
I keep having “nightmares” that mice are in my bed…. hell, maybe they are! **faints** But not for long…. death to the little suckers. I’m totally buying this.
Mandy, so sorry to hear you’re being terrorized by the mice from hell. I feel your pain. Well – technically no longer, due to this glorious zapping machine (no mice have dared return) – but you know what I mean! Best of luck!