Freeing the Prisoners

So it seems that our trailer has become the preferred accommodation of Joshua tree rodentia. We've used our humane trap to capture more than a handful of sneakers. These buggers are bigger and swifter than all the rest we've had the misfortune of hosting.

The J-Tree Wood Rats have managed to get into our oven. I was convinced that the oven was impenetrable and so I stored our most precious food in there - our delectable cookies. The buggers followed the wiring right to the sweet source - highway to cookie heaven.

I hate touching the trap, even though it's just a plastic cube. I'm very squeamish and unnaturally girly when it comes to touching the poopy tube. In the beginning, I washed it thoroughly. I filled it with hot soapy water and let it sit - hoping that time would clean the crap out of it. My plan backfired. One morning I found a dead mouse in it - two big beady eyes bobbing on the surface. It was not humane, I felt awful.

In J-Tree we started averaging 2 prisoners a night. We started transferring intruders into a large Rubbermaid bin. I'm so lucky that Rik is not afraid of the crap trap and the rodents. He has become very skilled at transferring rats from the tube, into a plastic bag. My job is to open the Rubbermaid bin wide enough to throw the bag in but not wide enough for the other guys to escape. I also use this time to throw in some snacks, to hold them over until their release.

Today we drove 4 prisoners out to the other end of the park. It took a while to get them out of the bin. I thought they'd be leaping out. Nope. They weren't too sure what to do. Poor buggers, I think their big beady eyes couldn't adjust to the bright sunshine. They went from dark to extreme light and were very freaked out. One little guy wouldn't take off; he kept hiding under the lid. I felt awful again. This was not humane.

I'm so sick of cleaning up their turds but I can't kill them. They obviously love our trailer. I don't blame them, I love it too - it's warm, comfortable, and filled with great food. Now our duty is to find out where they're getting in and plug it up...