Rodent Update

Round XXIVICIVIXIII of the mouse infestation, and the rodents are winning. By a lot. So here's what we've got so far:
1) Wooden traps with peanut butter
2) Wooden traps with peanut butter and sesame seeds (to give them something to nibble on, keep them there long enough to get smacked)
3) Poison bait
4) Glue traps
5) Exterminator (who apprently seems to only have left a different kind of bait. Is it a different flavor? I don't know. So, the mice ignored it for a few days, and then made off with it. But did not die from exposure, because a week later, they were still there, but the bait was gone.)
6) Wooden traps with smashed up bits of dog biscuit (they really seem to like these things, having bitten a hole in the bag and dragged an entire dog biscuit behind the oven, just to leave it there)
7) Another exterminator visit, more of bait type #2. So far the bait is still there, and so are the mice. The more cleaning I do, the more mouse scat I find. I mean, it's on the window sill in my bedroom. But that's the only place in my bedroom that I can find it. Not the floor, the closet (which has been thoroughly cleaned due to pending holiday), the dresser, under the bed, behind the bookshelf, under the dresser/desk, etc. Also, I live on the second floor. Of a brick apartment building. So, do these mice have rapelling equipment that they have used to infiltrate my particular apartment? Also, how did they get in through my window without it being open? Or, did they come in through the central heat/AC ducts in the ceiling (again: rapelling equipment). And: Who is making mouse-size rapelling equipment?! Someone should really look into that, because I wouldn't think there would be much of a market.

So now I'm really looking into option W: rent-a-cat (or borrow, really). Several of my co-workers have offered to let me borrow their cats' for a week. This saves me the trouble of getting one myself (my dog chases cats, which raises an initial problem with the borrow-a-cat for a week situation. But I could find someone to watch him for a week. Especially if it solves the rodent issue. But the more pressing matter of getting my own cat, besides the constant dog-chasing-cat cacophany that I would not want to deal with, is the pet care and maintenance required when one actually owns the cat. On top of already owning a dog. In an apartment). This solution makes the most sense to me, in the biological area. It's the biological solution. No need for nasty traps that you can get your fingers stuck in, or that fly across the kitchen as you are trying to set them, spraying peanut butter and dog biscuits everywhere. No need for glue traps that your kids constantly want to play with. No need for rodent poison that you're worried the dog may eat. It's a biological solution. I see an open market waiting to be tapped: rent-a-cat. Seriously. I mean, apparently Japan is a bit ahead of us on this, companion-pet-wise, but I am thinking biological-control-wise. Some pest company should look into this. It would give the cat ladies of the world something a little more useful to do.

I have also learned two things about mice I thought worth sharing. First, they only eat rice cakes when all other resources have been exhausted. Secondly, no matter how hungry they are, they will not eat peeps. I guess they don't recognize them as food. I had left an open box of peeps out on the dog crate, and they just didn't go for them. Even when I tried to use them to lure them to the glue traps. I wonder if that should tell us something. I wonder if you could even train a mouse to want to eat a peep. Or if that would be considered animal cruelty. Hmmmm.

Anyway, if you've got a cat you'd like to lend me, let me know.