My no-kill trap worked beautifully. The only problem I have with it is that the dark green translucent plastic it’s made of is difficult to see through. You have to look really hard to see if there’s a mouse inside, and I think I might have missed my victory the first time I checked, meaning that I was bustling around the kitchen within inches of the trap while the poor mouse inside was scared out of his mind. Sorry mouse. I tried moving the trap at one point and didn’t feel the weight of them, so I figured it was empty, but they’re light that you can’t feel them anyway.

In the time we’ve had the mice, I’ve only seen two: a bigger feisty one I named Ben (after the movie) and a slightly smaller one that was more timid, called Baker (because he was in the stove). I released them into the (subsequently scrubbed) bathtub; Ben burst out and immediately began trying to climb the walls, while Baker cowered in the trap. Rob put them into a cardboard box for me, and we brought them to the park. When all was said and done, I didn’t have the heart to give them to Bra like I’d planned.

It looked like the city had raked all of the leaves from the park into an enclosed fenced area, and I released them there, figuring that the leaves underneath were decomposing and creating warmth. I didn’t want them to freeze to death.

Watching them go off into the pile of leaves was fun. Ben was all, “FREEEEEDOM!” and went hoppity-hoppity away, and Baker needed a little encouragement to get out of the box, and then he hopped away, too.

I am hopefully de-moused now, but I re-baited the trap just in case, and I’ll move it around the house for a few days.