mouse escape

Question
My mouse escaped and is hiding around my house,
I can't catch him by hand, so what is the safest way to catch him?

Answer
Dear Danny,

The way to catch him is with a toilet paper roll.  If you know where he is, that shouldn't be too hard.  He will like to go into the tube and then you can put one hand on each side and you have him.  But if he is gone missing, the following advice should help.

The first thing to do is to locate which room the mouse is in.  Because he will probably stay on the floor, you ought to be able to do this by looking on the floor under things and behind things and listening in a completely quiet, dark room.  Especially if it is nighttime, you ought to be able to find the right room by listening completely quietly for five minutes.  Especially if you lie on the floor, he is likely to at least come near you.

Once you think you know where he is, seal off that room.  Put a dish of food and a dish of water on the floor close to the center of the room.  Put a couple of toilet paper rolls with the food. Mice have an incredible instinct to go into round openings such as toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls. Lie down on the floor nearby and wait.  When the mouse comes out, he will check out the food and at any go into a toilet paper roll.  Then you can catch him.  If he doesn't come out, give him more time.  Leave the stuff in the room and leave the room sealed.  He will investigate it.   An hour later, go back into your position on the floor and wait again.  He should return as curiosity.  Then you can trap him.

I hope this helps and I hope it is easy.  The mouse should want to return to you.  It is important that he get caught as quickly as possible, because mice on the floor can panic and they can even change their personality through that, becoming less friendly.  When you catch him, give him a lot of quiet attention before putting him in the cage.

Good luck!

squeaks,

Natasha