We moved into our home in the TN countryside a little over a year ago. Although it was a nice home and well kept, shortly after moving in we noticed a little visitor in our kitchen. It’s one of those moments when you see something in your peripheral vision and then immediately doubt whether you saw something or not. A quick flash of movement, but then never track anything down. So, I began a thorough investigation by pulling out the refrigerator and stove. Ah ha! Mouse droppings. I cleaned the areas and patched the teeniest, tiniest hole in the wall behind the stove. Well, I guess I patched his favorite escape route. He didn’t remain in my peripheral vision anymore! I began to see him on the stove, running across the kitchen in broad daylight, and even sitting on my forks when I opened the utensil drawer! Okay, Mousey must go. Of course by now the kids thought this was the coolest thing ever! They would NOT hear of killing it! Being the mother that I am, and animal lover to boot, I searched for a no kill mousetrap. I ordered it on next day shipment. That night I snapped a picture of our little friend behind the stove and was feeling quite satisfied (because he was really cute) that I was going to gently relocate him to a farm meadow a mile from our home.
Our mouse behind the stove.
Shipment day dawned. I went to feed my big, silly dog and found, to my horror, our little mouse floating in his water bowl! Oh dear! He would have had a beautiful life in the field if he had just waited one more day. What to do with him now? To other people’s horror, I decided this was an unbeatable learning opportunity. I took our little guy and dried him off, double bagged him in a ziplock, and popped him in the freezer. I then gathered all I needed to embark on one of the best unit studies we have done to date! Over the following days, we examined our specimen, recording it’s length, weight, color, and sex. We compared his tail length to overall body length and compared this information to data collected on our pet rats. We researched and recorded the scientific names and distributions of various mouse species. We used Draw Write Now to draw and color pictures of mice. The kids wrote essays on their findings and fictional stories involving mice (my youngest, only 4 at the time, would dictate to me). We read several books with mice in them, including The Mouse and The Motorcycle, The Rats of Nimh, and Stuart Little. We discussed these stories and completed numerous activities relating to them. We then read all of the Beatrix Potter stories involving mice and studied her life as well. We made a timeline of her life and major world events during her time. We mapped where she lived and compared that to the mapped distribution of the mouse species. It was a wonderful time of learning!
Studying our little frozen friend.
Because I’m just a city girl, my mom needed to tell me that where there is one mouse, there are almost always more. So, I set our anxiously awaited trap. Two days later, we had one live mouse to compare to our frozen mouse. Since the trap is transparent, we were able to gather all the data we needed without being bitten! That evening, we took our live mouse and released her in a pretty field near a copse of trees. We also had a formal burial ceremony for her dearly departed husband. Over the following weeks we captured and released a total of 3 more mice using our wonderful trap. Each time we could gather data and compare it to previously recorded mouse information. Needless to say, the kids are now experts on Mus musculus (the House Mouse) and really enjoyed this educational experience! Our kitchen visitations stopped completely. No mice were seen and no evidence of mice could be found. The trap was subsequently lent out to several friends to catch mice and escaped pet gerbils and hamsters! It worked each time. Our mouse problem was gone. Until….last week I was cleaning up in the school room and found mouse droppings! With much excitement, we dusted off the mouse trap and set it up with a little peanut butter. The very next morning, we found not one, but TWO mice in it!! Very cool, and something the kids will remember and talk about many years from now. An educational experience to last a lifetime!
Two at a time!
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A successful catch and release!
