Lethean
Posts: 292
Joined: Jan. 2014
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| Quote | | You are an annoying pest, to add to the mouse on the loose in the house that is smart to how the cage mousetrap works, was surprisingly able to with their feet wet with olive oil get out of an almost upright 1800mL glass boiling flask I lured them into with a peanut butter cracker that was bigger than its head, that it stole, and the balancing tube idea that gives it four feet to jump after tipping over from its weight isn't working either. I have a spring loaded snappy trap that would probably save me the finding them a new home when it warms up outside, but after getting to know them (before they escaped by chewing through plastic cage cover) it seems too cruel, even though they are as much of sneaky pest playing with my head as you are! |
| Quote (GaryGaulin @ Jan. 13 2015,18:29) | I caught the mouse! Last night, right after shutting off the computer and lights then went to bed I heard what sounded like the balancing plastic mailing tube hitting the floor. And it did alright, but the piece of electronic hookup wire holding the tube to the horizontal balancing rod was too loose so the tube slid right through the loop and landed flat on the floor, mouse escaped. I first assumed that would not try that again. But from the mouse's perspective the mistake it made was to not grab the peanut butter cracker sandwich before running out of the tube. So just in case the teasing critter wanted to try that again I set it back up, this time with almost no slack left in the wire. Just enough to hold the tube while tipping upright, then drop an inch or so to the floor from at least the force of their trying to jump out.
This morning I awoke to find the tube pointing straight up on the floor, with the mouse calmly waiting inside (certainly not in panic over the ordeal). It's now in a good sized plastic holding tank instead of running around the house all night while spreading fleas and who knows what that they bring in from outside.
The mouse is the right age to be one of the two babies that were eating a peanut butter cracker my wife gave to a chipmunk while I was working with someone out in the tracksite. They had no fear at all of me, just kept on eating while I sat right next to them. It seemed like I could have petted them, but just in case they thought my finger was food or carried something contagious I kept a couple of feet of distance from them. If that's one of them then it has since learned how to be sneaky. But never got good at it. They made themselves rather obvious. A day before I knew they found the longer cardboard tube (leading to the one that was balancing) from the amplified chewing noise coming though the other end of it, that's 6 feet from where I'm now again typing into the computer.
After having mentioned the mouse I had to follow up on our progress. |
Once again, Gary steps up the plate and adds complexity to a scenario more easily solved by a more simple and elegant solution.
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"So I'm a pretty unusual guy and it's not stupidity that has gotten me where I am. It's brilliance."
"My brain is one of the very few independent thinking brains that you've ever met. And that's a thing of wonder to you and since you don't understand it you criticize it."
~Dave Hawkins~
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