Caught two elusive mice

For the whole of the summer, fall, and up until last night, I knew there was at least one house mouse that I hadn't caught back at the end of summer. As part of my Zipcar shopping trip yesterday, I picked up a live-trap, since none of the traditional mouse traps were able to capture it (they have been good at capturing four mice so far though...).

Looking around, earlier, I had noticed that the mouse basically confined itself to the loft area, and had somehow brought in some black sunflower seeds (likely from the bird feeder outside). This makes me think that there is a hole somewhere in the roof or a hole between the chimney and the roof (and mouse tracks in the snow on the roof seems to bear this out). However, this bit of knowledge made me realize that this was a good (and easy-to-clean) option of baiting the trap, and this is what I did.

By sometime after midnight, I heard some noise from the trap, but not wanting to deal with it at the time, I left it alone. This morning, I peered through the holes and found ... that there was indeed a mouse inside. Yes! I had finally caught the little bugger that had been scratching along the roof line and scurrying along the exposed chimney-stones. Carrying the trap outside, I upended it into the snow-covered fire-pit, and out fell two house mice (result!). One immediately shot off for the woods, while the other ran and hid under a piece of half-burnt wood. Hopefully the distance of the campfire will be enough to make sure that they don't get back into the house.

I have re-baited the trap, and left it out again. Hopefully, I won't have to worry about more mice, but if they are there, this little trap seems to be a good one for the more wily house mice that have learned (either via nature or nurture) to avoid the snap-traps. (And it's apparently good for up to 30(!) of the wee sleekit cowrin' tim'rous beasties.)