voles
Since we moved into this house, we have had unwelcome visitors each fall. They're small and disgusting, can squeeze through the smallest holes, and cause general distress.
The first year we were here, we were naive and unknowing. One morning Bob went to put on his boots and found they were full of dogfood. It was odd, but he dumped them out and went on his merry way. Over the next week, there were several more mornings when he found dogfood in his boots, and I even found some in my boots too. We figured it was either the dog going crazy, or the children being funny. So we scolded the girls, dumped out the dogfood and kept on trucking. That weekend I went to clean and vacuum and discovered several stashes of dogfood, with various other additions - popcorn, old cereal, cracker crumbs. It still didn't occur to me that we were infested; I thought we were just an unusually sloppy family. And so it went until one morning when Bob and I both found boots full of chow and hollered at the girls "If this doesn't stop we're getting rid of the darn dogs!" We heard the girls as they retreated to their rooms, "Did you do it?" We listened as they both denied knowing anything about it, but pleaded to the other to stop so we could keep the dog. Luckily for all of us, we became enlightened soon after, when Ali came running from her room screaming that she saw a mouse in her closet.
Suddenly all was crystal clear! We had voles (since mice aren't found up here very often). We set about on a mission. Bob set trap after trap and I cleaned like a crazy woman. That night, with ma in her kerchief snuggled safely upstairs, we could hear our success. Snap. Snap. The traps were working and I cheered Bob on from afar as he cleaned and reset.
Still, after a few days, the wiliest of the vermin remained at large. We stepped up our attack and purchased poison. Within a week, there were no more sightings, no dog chow in the boots, and we declared victory. Bob cleaned up the traps, put the poison safely away under the stairs and life returned to normal.
Then one night in the dead of winter, Ali called from her bedroom where she was settling in for the night, "There's something weird in my bed." I went to look and sure enough, in between her sheets were strange blue pellets. Huh. I pulled off her sheets and gave her some clean ones. All fixed.
The next night, there was another call. "There's more of that stuff in my bed. It's like, everywhere!" I pulled back the sheets to Ali's bed and found a nice pile of blue pellets; what could they be? By that time, Bob had arrived on the scene and he knew right away. It was mouse poison. In my daughter's bed. This was really creepy and disgusting. As I changed the sheets again, I found a second stash. The voles had a back up plan and had placed a pile of poison inside Ali's pillow case as well. Suddenly, Hannah let out a scream from next door! She had seen a vole run across her room, and when she jumped on the bed for safety she found piles of poison under her covers.
That was it. Even for this tough Alaskan woman, voles in our beds was too much to handle. I hustled the kids up to our bed and boldly informed my husband that he needed to take care of this problem, or else.
So Bob cleaned the kids' beds, set more traps, strategically placed poison (he found where the voles had infiltrated the storage under the stairs, and assured us all that we were safe. The girls were snuggled into sleeping bags on the couch when I realized the seriousness of the situation. The voles had declared war. They were trying to poison my children.
So I went under the house, found potential entry points, and went on the assault. Once more it seemed like we could reclaim our home.
After the initial invasion, we have been largely vole free. Each fall when it gets cold, we have a sighting or find a food stash that alerts us to their presence. Usually it takes a few days of traps to clear 'em out and all is well. They're still disgusting and give me the willies, but we adjust. This year has been a bit more intense; Jed had one run across his foot while he was going pee. And then we had the incident yesterday where Jed and I saw the little brown nose peering out from under the stove, looking to make a run for it. We saw it and got up onto our chairs while Bob went into full attack mode. He grabbed a big pot from the top of the stove and chased the critter into the bathroom, where it escaped before he could smash it with my calphalon.
I'm a bit worried that the voles might retaliate with another attack on the kids, so I'm secretly checking their beds each night before I tuck them in. So far so good.
If only the boys didn't have allergies and we could get a cat....I'm ready for these things to be out of sight and out of mind.
The first year we were here, we were naive and unknowing. One morning Bob went to put on his boots and found they were full of dogfood. It was odd, but he dumped them out and went on his merry way. Over the next week, there were several more mornings when he found dogfood in his boots, and I even found some in my boots too. We figured it was either the dog going crazy, or the children being funny. So we scolded the girls, dumped out the dogfood and kept on trucking. That weekend I went to clean and vacuum and discovered several stashes of dogfood, with various other additions - popcorn, old cereal, cracker crumbs. It still didn't occur to me that we were infested; I thought we were just an unusually sloppy family. And so it went until one morning when Bob and I both found boots full of chow and hollered at the girls "If this doesn't stop we're getting rid of the darn dogs!" We heard the girls as they retreated to their rooms, "Did you do it?" We listened as they both denied knowing anything about it, but pleaded to the other to stop so we could keep the dog. Luckily for all of us, we became enlightened soon after, when Ali came running from her room screaming that she saw a mouse in her closet.
Suddenly all was crystal clear! We had voles (since mice aren't found up here very often). We set about on a mission. Bob set trap after trap and I cleaned like a crazy woman. That night, with ma in her kerchief snuggled safely upstairs, we could hear our success. Snap. Snap. The traps were working and I cheered Bob on from afar as he cleaned and reset.
Still, after a few days, the wiliest of the vermin remained at large. We stepped up our attack and purchased poison. Within a week, there were no more sightings, no dog chow in the boots, and we declared victory. Bob cleaned up the traps, put the poison safely away under the stairs and life returned to normal.
Then one night in the dead of winter, Ali called from her bedroom where she was settling in for the night, "There's something weird in my bed." I went to look and sure enough, in between her sheets were strange blue pellets. Huh. I pulled off her sheets and gave her some clean ones. All fixed.
The next night, there was another call. "There's more of that stuff in my bed. It's like, everywhere!" I pulled back the sheets to Ali's bed and found a nice pile of blue pellets; what could they be? By that time, Bob had arrived on the scene and he knew right away. It was mouse poison. In my daughter's bed. This was really creepy and disgusting. As I changed the sheets again, I found a second stash. The voles had a back up plan and had placed a pile of poison inside Ali's pillow case as well. Suddenly, Hannah let out a scream from next door! She had seen a vole run across her room, and when she jumped on the bed for safety she found piles of poison under her covers.
That was it. Even for this tough Alaskan woman, voles in our beds was too much to handle. I hustled the kids up to our bed and boldly informed my husband that he needed to take care of this problem, or else.
So Bob cleaned the kids' beds, set more traps, strategically placed poison (he found where the voles had infiltrated the storage under the stairs, and assured us all that we were safe. The girls were snuggled into sleeping bags on the couch when I realized the seriousness of the situation. The voles had declared war. They were trying to poison my children.
So I went under the house, found potential entry points, and went on the assault. Once more it seemed like we could reclaim our home.
After the initial invasion, we have been largely vole free. Each fall when it gets cold, we have a sighting or find a food stash that alerts us to their presence. Usually it takes a few days of traps to clear 'em out and all is well. They're still disgusting and give me the willies, but we adjust. This year has been a bit more intense; Jed had one run across his foot while he was going pee. And then we had the incident yesterday where Jed and I saw the little brown nose peering out from under the stove, looking to make a run for it. We saw it and got up onto our chairs while Bob went into full attack mode. He grabbed a big pot from the top of the stove and chased the critter into the bathroom, where it escaped before he could smash it with my calphalon.
I'm a bit worried that the voles might retaliate with another attack on the kids, so I'm secretly checking their beds each night before I tuck them in. So far so good.
If only the boys didn't have allergies and we could get a cat....I'm ready for these things to be out of sight and out of mind.
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