Mouse war

We've had mice in our house since we moved in 2 years ago, but their presence has become much more, er, noticable lately, especially in the kitchen, which is just unacceptable. Larry bought some glue traps on Tuesday and we put them in a couple of drawers and cupboards. We caught 2 mice the first night. Larry dispatched them with a shovel because I just couldn't - they are SO cute. But he was away on Wednesday, so I was faced with what to do with the two we caught during the day. I couldn't even consider doing what he did, so I checked online and found that if you put some cooking oil on the glue, the stickiness is neutralized. I put the trap with the first mouse into a big shoe box, poured some oil on the trap, and he got free quite quickly. However, when I opened the box to put the 2nd trap/mouse inside, the first mouse, who is all of the size of my thumb, popped right out of the box, ran off the counter and disappeared around the corner. I applied the oil to the 2nd trap and closed the lid (after putting in some cheese to sustain my captive for the evening). This morning I took the free mouse to the parking lot where I get on the commuter bus (I put him in the bushes at the edge of the lot). As for the escapee, I'm getting more traps on the way home tonight and I'd bet dollars to donuts that he's there in the morning - he may be spry, but I'll bet he's not too bright!

ADDENDUM 11/7/08

Now, who's not too bright? My nemisis was back Thursday night, but he got away again. I think I just need a new cat (we did NOT have this problem when Casey lived with us!) Then this morning there was no mouse AND no trap. Houdini mouse!

ADDENDUM 11/9/08

Nothing on Friday night, so I added some cheese as extra incentive. He ate the cheese and left the trap! I think he climbed on a ziploc box and leaned over to get the cheese out of the trap. So I added more cheese on Saturday night and removed everything else in the drawer. Then Sunday morning, again, the trap itself was gone. This guy is good! I'm stumped for now, but I'm not giving up! I will not be outsmarted by a miniature rodent!

ADDENDUM 11/11/08

I tried this "Have A Heart" mouse trap but caught nothing overnight. Not sure why - the website says it works great. Next up, this one.