In NYC, there were and are, of course, mice and cockroaches and – in the subway – rats, as well as raccoons in Central Park (so chubby, the happy little garbage diggers) – but in rural life, real rural living, the critterage is at a whole new level.
My present house is set on a hillside where, above me, the 5 acre lot was, for many decades, a hay or corn field. When I first moved in, during the pre-Diego era, turkey and deer were regular visitors, as was a very large black bear I still see, but from afar now we’re so closely guarded by my own dear furry bear of a pyre-doodle. This has saved myself and my closest neighbor untold amounts of bird seed money, as the bear is sleeping during most of the winter, while avoiding our houses in late fall and early spring.
In the house, however, critters are a problem and, over the years, there has been a steady stream of critterage infestation of various kinds, with which I have had to deal, like it or not.
The house was empty for over 2 years before I started my renovations, thus the mice had taken over, so much so that they had no problem sauntering through the kitchen or, worse, my bedroom while the lights were on and I was sitting right there, horrified by their presence. Unacceptable. Horrifying. Terrible.
I became a little jumpy and paranoid; I started looking for their movements every time I came downstairs; I threw back the covers whenever I was about to get into bed (relax, I never found them, or signs of them in my sheets etc). No, no, and no.
Mice in previous homes had been at least aware enough to stay hidden until after I went off to bed! The boldness of my new ‘neighbors’ – or do I mean ‘roommates’ stunned me, and freaked me out. Jeez.
A friend I had stayed with on and off during my renovation had fashioned a bucket trap for her mouse problem, but that was equally horrifying to me; drowning these little critters?! Say it ain’t so? But. After a few months of realizing I had to do something, and feeling that glue traps were much, much crueler and therefore worse, I had to do something, and cats are simply not my thing, or an option.
I figured I would catch about, I dunno, 15? 20 mice during the first season, June – March, I set up a bucket trap in my house> Nope. I caught over 90 mice. The first and second seasons combined I caught – and, yes, killed – over 150 mice. It was staggering. I researched. They can have babies every 60-70 days!! Sheesh.
Now, a few years out, the problem is minimal, and the bucket trap lives permanently in the basement. This ‘season’ I have nabbed only 2 rodents, apologizing to them weepily the whole time because I would so prefer to not, ever, kill anything but – having also learned that they’re peeing the entire time they’re dropping those little black pellets – nope! Nope. Not happening. Buh-bye!
Ants. I like ants, always have. In Native American cultures they represent patience and industry. Great. Terrific. But. One morning I woke to see a handful of ants on the white wall of my bedroom – thinking, ‘oh, well, have to take care of that!’ And then, rolling over on my back, I spied at least 50-60 more on my sloped ceiling – oh hell no this ain’t happening!
At first I was sure my Shop-vac would be the cure, but ants are prolific and persistent, thus despite my having planted multiple peonies to provide them with the sweets they desire, they kept on coming, and coming, and coming. Ant traps took care of it, once I accepted that even a Shop-vac run continually by an obsessive compulsive can’t fix what’s broken! And yes, I tried peppermint oil sprayed around my foundation and some other non-toxic fix, neither of which worked, at least, they didn’t work for me.
Wasps. They let themselves those first two years in on a regular basis, although how beats me. Like mice, perhaps they can squeeze their little bodies through anything, any space, no matter how narrow. That said, wasps pollinate and kill smaller insects, which smaller critters I really do not want around. So be it, we do’t kill the wasps, we catch and release back into the wild. I don’t allow them to build nests on my house (a three sting experience making me look like I’d had a wisdom tooth or 3 extracted taught me all about the ‘wisdom’ of that), I do support them being around. Ditto ants, for that matter – just not, not, not in my house.
Five years on, the critters have been held at bay, and I don’t jump out of my skin when I see a shadow as I did during the mouse armageddon. A few very tiny moth-like things are this years infestation, although it’s hardly that. Still, I remain ever vigilant. Think about it, up to 3 babies every 60-70 days, peeps! That’s a lot of mice. As for those who actually say they enjoy lying in bed, hearing the snap of those spring traps – what is wrong with you?!!
As for the snakes in the wall? Well, they rarely appear inside the house, so – live and let live? Seems smart to me.