oh dear god

[cornerofmadness]

well...the mouse didn't leave the house when the tempts hit triple digits and no one was here leaving new food/water. But first some references for the trauma of last night.

1. My sugar was high. High sugar means you pee. A LOT. Niagra Falls. Every Hour. (Just to let you know your body is in total distress)

2. at 11:30ish my stomach started hurting. horrible burning and nausea. Stomach meds didn't help and it was really rather too late in the day to have been dinner not moving through.

3. Was going to the bathroom to brush teeth, take care of #1's issue and contemplating the old 'throw up and maybe you'll feel better scenario.

The stage is set and so was the porcelain throne when a HUGE mouse nearly as long as my foot ran right over it. There was some screaming because it's now quarter to 2 in the morning and I was startled.

So was the mouse. I go into my room and wedge some stuff up under the enormous crack under my bedroom door. The wall where the toilet is has my headboard on the other side. It's only two steps from bathroom to bedroom.

I try to go to sleep wondering a) where was the mouse when Kanda was in the house (probably in the living room holding paws singing songs when I wasn't around and b) is the mouse going to get into the bedroom.

I'm not afraid of mice. I'm afraid of the disease they carry and I KNOW this one has toxoplasmosis. It has too. It keeps pooping near Kanda's litter box. T. Gondii is a parasite that most of us have been exposed to. It's harmless to humans (unless you're pregnant at time of exposure). The parasite needs both mouse and cat to complete its life cycle so it kills the mouse's natural fear of the smell of cat urine. In fact it drives the mouse TO the urine since the parasite needs the mouse to be eaten to complete its life cycle, slick huh? Not being pregnant I'm not worried about Toxo. I AM worried more about the hanta virus and other nasties mice carry.

I try to sleep but no. Apparently between the sheer pain in my stomach and the adrenaline dump there shall be no sleeping. I'm also shaking. At 3:30 I give up and go pee hoping at least if the bladder isn't killing me I can sleep. I notice the hole in the wall the one I've been asking the landlord to fix since day one (he never finished the baseboards and around the tub is rotting and the whole floor is peeling up). There's only two places that hole can go, outside or right under my bed.

I decide to duct tape it up but it's nearly 4 in the morning and all I can find is packing tape. I seal up the entire two walls. By now I'm shaking harder. I check my sugar. I get a message E 11. I have NO idea what that is. It's never come up in the life of my monitor. I look it up. It's an abnormal reading...okay that tells me nothing. I take my sugar again. It's still high so that's not really why I'm shaking.

walk back past the bathroom. The mouse is STILL there. Okay this is not really normal mouse behavior. I drag out mouse traps and put them around my bedroom. I put the poison he's ignored for two days in the bathroom (kanda is outside at this point and I contemplated bringing him in but I wasn't sure if I wanted wild kingdom in my bathroom at this point)

I go back to bed. I hear the mouse ripping at that tape. I finally fall asleep after 6:30 Am and wake back up at 8. I'm going to work on less than 2 hours sleep. Today is my 6 hour lab where I'm on my feet and talking non-stop for all of it.

Shoot me

Comments

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. To hell with the cat, you need to borrow someone's dachshund. My Schultzie was the best mouser I've ever seen.

But I don't blame you for curling up in fear of the mouse. I *hate* mice in the house. Hate. Them.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

little dogs in general are good mousers. I have none of those on hand. I do have useless cats though.

so do I. I fear cleaningup their shit. That's when you're going to breathe in the hanta virus

[enemytosleep]

Azra likes to catch and kill things. She is a good poodle like that. Nearly caught a sparrow at my parents' house. Leapt right up in the air, teeth snapping. She ripped out some tail feathers, but not enough to catch it. XD

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

geez, poor sparrow but yeah terriers especially are good mousers. Never figured a little poodle for it but I can't say I'm too surprised. They can be aggressive little buggers

[enemytosleep]

Poodles were originally bred as game dogs (like spaniels), so the flushing instinct is still there even in the bitty ones. Terriers were bred as ratters/vermin catchers, so they are totally ready to eat mice.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes i've thought about hunting with a standard poodle and thinking MY GOD. how do you get the burrs out of that? Of course I'm not sure how anyone does anything with poodle hair so...

[enemytosleep]

To keep this from being a novel, the continental that we see today:

http://fuzzywashe.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Poodle43.18101107.jpg

evolved from what is now referred to as the historically correct continental:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/2331098841_c6328ce682_m.jpg

Poodles can still be shown in cords, though it is not very common. Clipping the pattern reduced coat care for the hunters, but left hair over essential joints and the chest cavity to protect and keep warm.

Please feel free to ask me more about poodles. :)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

see I think that is literally the silliest looking thing ever even if i understand the reasoning behind it. Do people cut the little poodles like that too (I haven't seen it)

I like Puli's. After hearing the care required, I would never own one

[havocmangawip.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Scary! NOT FUN AT ALL!

Persistent bastard mouse!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I keep getting them in here too

your icon is exactlly what I contemplated. I have this Japanese hoe thing that's pretty much a samurai sword on a stick. I was so ready to get that out last night

[marynachaotica.livejournal.com]

Okay listen.....I have mice problems too, living out in the country tends to do bring that situation. And like you I HATE mice in my house. However I do not freak out....well..okay...not much anyways. *blush* My little dog is very diligent, and has shown me where the rad blasted filthy vermin are coming in at. One place I already knew about....somewhere from under the water heater. Solved that one by putting up screen around tank, and even duct taping it at the seams. Sticky traps works wonders! I refuse to use poison, since when they die hey if they go outside...guess what eats them? Guess what else dies? Sticky traps puts them to sleep, take them outside...predators can eat without dying. Yup you need little dog.

Now as to the clean up. Simple antibacterial anti dust mask, surgical gloves. Long sleeves, shoes on feet. You're not touching the stuff, or breathing it in. Long sleeves can then be sprayed down with Lysol, as can the shoes.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

my problem is the landlord won't fix teh door or the wall so. i'm going to get more traps.

i'm rather an expert on cleaning up contaiminated waste

[marynachaotica.livejournal.com]

Considering the line of work you're in, I can well imagine you've become an expert at the contamination clean up!

Okay listen...how big is this hole really? Humongous or 'oh we can fix this ourselves' size? Tell you what...send me a pic of it. I am betting I can tell you how to fix it rather cheaply and BETTER than anything your landlord could ever do.

[jojo-kun.livejournal.com]

argh, that is the worst! And you've got a bad mouse there, too! The worst mice are the ones that are loud and poop everywhere and eat all of your food on the shelves. That pretty much sums up most mouse problems right there, but I've had a few mice that were very quiet and didn't get into my food much, so there are some exceptions.

Lots of house cats won't go for mice because they're so well-fed. My cat used to go for them and play with them mercilessly until they died from it, but I've heard of other cats that just turn up their noses.

Anyway, I hope you get him! One way to plug up those holes is to stuff steel wool into them so the mouse can't chew through it.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

this is a feral cat who's just learning to be in the house so I expect him to kill it (he was outside at the time)

oooo steel wool. Gotta go up to wal mart so i'll get some

[marynachaotica.livejournal.com]

Steel wool alone won't solve it. It'll slow them down a wee bit...but that's it.