My journey with Einstein…

I FINALLY humanely trapped Einstein. Einstein (probable pronouns: they/them) is a mouse.  For the first time in the 19 years I’d owned this house, after a contractor left the crawlspace door cracked, I had mice (well, actually, the mice had me.)  I humanely trapped and released 4 mice using the good ol’ standbys of raw nuts. But, THEN, there was Einstein!  I’m a Quaker and a pacifist. I make every effort not to kill things. I even have a pacifistic roach trapping system, (mostly) allowing me to transport the Kafkaesque critters outside. I say “mostly“ because late at night, when I’m really tired, I have been known to pull out the vacuum cleaner.

Back to Einstein. After the trapping and release of four mice, there was a period of quiet in my household, until, until, I begin waking in the morning to piles of dirt surrounding various house plants. Huh? With some queasiness, I began envisioning a baby possum? No way! I went to Dr. Google and discovered that mice dig in plants to hide their “goodies. Ugh. I actually set up FOUR humane mouse traps which, over 4-5 days, produced NOTHING except for a different plant having been excavated each morning. I was heading into cataract surgery when I wouldn’t be able to lift more than 5 pounds for the next week. While able, I moved many of my house plants out to the screened porch.

Returning once again to Dr. Google, I discovered that essential peppermint oil deters mice because of the strong smell.  Put down my two bits at the co-op for essential peppermint oil and dripped some on the heaviest inside plants with the exception of one large plant in my bedroom. (I would’ve suffocated having to sleep with that smell.) Waking up early on the morning of the cataract surgery, I found that the lovely large plant in my bedroom was surrounded by a ring of dirt and the nearby, baited, humane trap completely untouched. Could-not-deal-with-it. As Scarlett O’Hara said in Gone With The Wind, “I'll think about that tomorrow.”

Of course, the next morning, there’s even more dirt surrounding the large plant in my bedroom. Eeek! Called my wonderful neighbors who came over and moved the plant to my living room table where I could doctor it with peppermint oil (which really works!) They were also kind enough to clean up the ring of dirt left from the excavation in my bedroom.

Still, the newly christened Einstein appeared in none of my 4 humane traps. For bait, I’d experimented with raw pecans, walnuts, almonds, cheese, peanut butter, and birdseed - all of which went untouched. Reached the “argh!”state. One more venture on to Dr. Google and discovered that mice love chocolate! (Clearly, my education has been sadly lacking.) Since I rarely eat sugar, I ‘borrowed’ a Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar from the same neighbors. The chocolate worked! Einstein and I finally had our reckoning around 5 AM the next morning. I released Einstein outside, trusting new accommodations would be found, but not in my house. Emailed my neighbors a thank you for the chocolate and received a reply, “Yeah!! Trader Joe’s always comes through!” Hard to argue with that…