Mouse Disposal

Living in the country we have a fair amount of mice, especially in the colder months.  We have two spots where we set traps- under the hutch in our kitchen and in the space between the refrigerator and cupboard (we have other traps set through the house as well, but the kitchen traps are the only ones regularly visited by mice). Last week the trap set between the fridge and cupboard went missing.  We pulled out the fridge, looked under all of the other appliances but couldn't find it.  Then, a day or two later, we could hear a rattling coming from behind the cabinets. The mouse that got away with our trap obviously didn't die, but it couldn't get out of it either.  Again we tried to pull out the fridge and find the trap but had no luck.  Currently my kitchen has an underlying smell of death, but there's nothing to do but wait it out.

Which brings me to a short lesson I like to call, "How to Dispose of a Mouse When Your Husband Isn't Home and You're a Baby".  Periodically I scrub down and polish the kitchen and dining room floors- I vacuum every week but sometimes the wood just needs a good polishing.  This was made difficult yesterday by the presence of a mouse in the trap under the hutch in the kitchen.  Normally I would have left it for Art to dispose of (because I don't like to touch them and refuse to even think about emptying the traps. Once, when Art was out of town for a week there was a mouse in the trap, I doubled bagged my hand, grabbed the trap and threw the whole thing away), but I was in cleaning mode and couldn't be stopped.  If ever you find yourself in the situation, here's what you do:

1) Find an implement with a long handle (like this handy snow shovel) to scoop up the trap without have to physically touch the mouse/trap. It may take a few tries to get the mouse/trap onto the shovel, but if having difficulty, you can use a yard stick to lift up the end of the trap and allow the shovel to slide underneath it.

2) Take shovel holding mouse/trap and set on the back step where someone else can deal with it.

You're welcome.