Sammy Grigio
Avid Member
For the last few months the wife and I have been waging a relentless battle against mice in our house. This is a rather hardy and persistent variety that is endemic to Alaska. They're not any bigger than any other mouse but they do seem to be a lot more tenacious in eating and breeding. We have tried everything short of fumigation to eradicate them. We go through a few weeks of peace and no mouse activity to spurts of tepid activity and rummaging wall raptors. Raptors because the sound they make scurrying around inside the walls sounds like a ravaging raptor looking for a way out.
The defining characteristic in these mice is the figurative size of their balls. They are absolutely fearless. They aren't scared of our two pit bulls, our crazy kids or us. A month ago as we were having a family dinner with a hearty spread on the table one of them jettisoned up my daughters leg, down her arm and onto the table. It darted for the dinner rolls and parked itself right there and began munching in front of us. We were shocked. My daughter was frozen still and mortified. Once I came to my senses I attempted to shoo it off the table. It catapulted off the with a piece of dinner roll in its mouth and vanished as they do.
That was the last straw. I bought 50 sticky traps and 50 "poison control stations" and set them ALL around the house. Within a few days there was no sign of them anywhere. Out of the 50 sticky traps 36 had done their job and captured the culprits. The rest we assumed were done away with by the poison. That was four weeks ago.
Now, the nightmare. Last night my wife and I were in our room watching a movie. My chameleon Jimmy (male Ambilobe) is housed in our room with us just off and to the right of the foot of the bed. I heard a scratching sound inside of his cage. I didn't think anything of it as it's a fairly common sound caused by crickets that escape the feeder and claw at the walls in the bottom which are lined with poly film for water proofing. The scratching sound continued and became a bit louder and more hurried. Then it stopped suddenly. Shortly after it stopped the wife and I both looked over at each other simultaneously and said "Did that kind of sound like a mouse in Jimmy's cage to you?". Panic. I jump up to investigate and my eyes immediately catch one of those little a-holes trying to get into Jimmy's feeder to munch on the veggies and bug burger. Before I could land on my feet I saw Jimmy staring at this mouse with utmost disdain, and it that moment he did it. In pure chameleon fashion he stuck him with his tongue, reeled him in, gave him about four hard chomps and swallowed.
I still can't believe he did that. It makes me happy and excited but also mortifies me. I can only pray at this point that mouse didn't have any poison in its system. I will find out, no doubt, when I get home from work today. If Jimmy is still alive, not only will I be a very happy and relieved man, but it will further prove the sheer awesomeness of our beloved chromatic dinosaurs.
Who needs a cat when you have a chameleon.
The defining characteristic in these mice is the figurative size of their balls. They are absolutely fearless. They aren't scared of our two pit bulls, our crazy kids or us. A month ago as we were having a family dinner with a hearty spread on the table one of them jettisoned up my daughters leg, down her arm and onto the table. It darted for the dinner rolls and parked itself right there and began munching in front of us. We were shocked. My daughter was frozen still and mortified. Once I came to my senses I attempted to shoo it off the table. It catapulted off the with a piece of dinner roll in its mouth and vanished as they do.
That was the last straw. I bought 50 sticky traps and 50 "poison control stations" and set them ALL around the house. Within a few days there was no sign of them anywhere. Out of the 50 sticky traps 36 had done their job and captured the culprits. The rest we assumed were done away with by the poison. That was four weeks ago.
Now, the nightmare. Last night my wife and I were in our room watching a movie. My chameleon Jimmy (male Ambilobe) is housed in our room with us just off and to the right of the foot of the bed. I heard a scratching sound inside of his cage. I didn't think anything of it as it's a fairly common sound caused by crickets that escape the feeder and claw at the walls in the bottom which are lined with poly film for water proofing. The scratching sound continued and became a bit louder and more hurried. Then it stopped suddenly. Shortly after it stopped the wife and I both looked over at each other simultaneously and said "Did that kind of sound like a mouse in Jimmy's cage to you?". Panic. I jump up to investigate and my eyes immediately catch one of those little a-holes trying to get into Jimmy's feeder to munch on the veggies and bug burger. Before I could land on my feet I saw Jimmy staring at this mouse with utmost disdain, and it that moment he did it. In pure chameleon fashion he stuck him with his tongue, reeled him in, gave him about four hard chomps and swallowed.
I still can't believe he did that. It makes me happy and excited but also mortifies me. I can only pray at this point that mouse didn't have any poison in its system. I will find out, no doubt, when I get home from work today. If Jimmy is still alive, not only will I be a very happy and relieved man, but it will further prove the sheer awesomeness of our beloved chromatic dinosaurs.
Who needs a cat when you have a chameleon.
