Normal to feel sad about a dying mouse?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,
So the last two days my boyfriend and I heard mice in our kitchen. So we set traps we caught a mouse on a sticky trap and my boyfriend basically beat him to death he was aiming for his head/neck to end him quickly. I wasn’t to release it somewhere but my boyfriend said not to or it would come back. So back to the question is it normal that I feel super sad about the situation. We have a child and pets so I understand the need to handle the situation but heating the little guy was just not it for me.

Updates

+1 y

*i wanted to release him

Updates

+1 y

😭 * beating him. I am so sorry for the typos and punctuation errors!

[ohsheeT]

Is a spray bottle put some cayenne pepper in it a little bit of Dawn dish soap some apple cider vinegar and if you have peppermint or lavender oil put some of that in it and every day at least twice a day for at least a week spread up underneath your sinks where your pipes come in the floor because that's usually where mice come in from but any place that you think that my would come in spread it down spread wherever their trail might be but you have to do it every single day at least twice a day you don't have to really do it twice a day but it's if you want rid of them do it twice a day. But they will leave and they won't come back they hate those smells

[RebelinSteel]

I have 2 cats, we don’t get to the sad and dying stage, just the dead stage. It’s always strange how with a mouse we can go aww but with a rat, it’s kill it, kill the damn thing. Yes I know why but it’s just how humans are with saving one animal and killing the next.

[Asker]

I think that’s why I get sad about it, it was a mouse and he was cute. I worked at a pet store and got sad when my manager told me the mice were feeder mice and most of the time not bought as pets 😭

[RebelinSteel]

Yeah food chains is a reality, admittedly I would not buy my cats mice etc, they have a hard enough time catching the local wildlife

[Razp_Sorbet]

That's not unreasonable but please for the love of god never use sticky traps. They're so inhumane. Get a snap trap, I know they seem awful but they quickly kill the rodent rather than making them suffer. Or get a live catch trap so you can release it. This is unlikely to solve any issues though as they will just keep coming back.

[Asker]

Just switches them out with snap traps. I couldn’t get over the Poor little guy getting beat to death 🙁

[TheSpaceGnome]

Its best to use no kill/live catch traps and release it, the only reason to have dead mice is to feed a snake or large tarantula or whatever, but those you want to get feeder mice from a store, otherwise the parasite/infection risk to your pet is higher.

[Razp_Sorbet]

@TheSpaceGnome that's not the only reason, if you don't kill mice they will find their way back

[TheSpaceGnome]

If you release it far enough away they don't. In most cases the mouse "returning" is actually just another mouse.

Unless you seal up your home well, and line the outside with a smell they don't like, more mice will always be around to take up the new vacancy, and if one particular mouse did keep returning, I'd just keep them as a pet.

Also thats not a big enough problem to warrant killing them in my opinion (but I'm also the type to have pet animals in my home that eat mice, and the type to have large rats as pets).

[TheSpaceGnome]

Its also not a big deal to me to have to re-release a returning mouse repeatedly.

[Flowergirl1111]

You clearly have a lot of empathy so I would say this is entirely normal and actually a nice trait to have

[Horse-girl]

It's very normal, they're still living beings even if they're a pest. I've had pet mice and they're lovely creatures. I'd say the best way is the humane traps, just take them at least 5 miles away or so because we've had one come back even from a cross a river.

[OfMiceandMen]

Sure it is, it's a little thing that feels stuff too. I typically set live traps and take em down the road aways and release them. They may end up being hawk food, but at least it's not by my hand. My parents taught me, don't kill anything you're not going to eat.

[avery58]

Why couldn't he go drop it off at a forest or something? Another animal would might have ate it but it's better than beating it to death.

I don't blame you, I probably would have felt the same way.

[Asker]

He claims that even if you take them far away they can follow their scent back to their colony

[TheSpaceGnome]

Thats not true, also mice don't even live in colonies, the only rodent that does is the naked mole rat.

[HawkPerception]

Unless you want your house infested by rodents, you have to accept that you should probably kill them. I am being a little hypocritical because I haven't done it myself. It's still a life and it's okay to feel compassion for other lives, no matter how small. But it's the circle of life and survival of the fittest. If other living creatures jeopardize your standard of living, then it's best to get rid of them.

[NamerOfStars]

Yes. Glue traps are just so cruel. I mean, he's not wrong in thinking that releasing it outside will likely just lead it getting back in (unless you go far away); I understand killing it. But traditional lever traps just snap their necks and get the job done instantly; leaving them trapped and forced to slowly starve... eugh.

[12karen]

Yes, I'd feel sad too
Once, I caught a mice in our living room, it was so cute, and it looked at me and didn't want to leave, I opened my door and pushed her? a little with my foot but she didn't move, she was starting at me then my mom came in the room, she saw it, she screamed and called the cat, I couldn't watch what happened, but I was really sad.

[purplepoppy]

In the UK we recently banned the use of glue traps except by licensed pest controllers. Not only are they inhumane but most people don't know how to kill an animal. Just because it's a pest it doesn't mean it has to suffer.

[trickykiwi]

Yes
That's why we use a cage and release the mouse in the outdoors

[Asker]

Do they come back?

[trickykiwi]

No
We release it far away from home

[Asker]

That’s exactly what I wanted to do! What traps do you use?

[trickykiwi]

Small steel cage

[SotiCoto]

Do I look like I know anything about normal?

I was raised by cats. I think like a cat. I see a mouse move, I want to catch it. Maybe draw the line at chewing it, but definitely want to catch and kill it. Maybe leave it on someone's doorstep if I like them.

[Asker]

😂😂

[Wise4myage]

I use to use sticky traps and I stopped using them because even though I was glad to catch any mice, It just didn't feel right. So yes, its normal to feel sad.

[Asker]

He set up snap traps and just recently put sticky traps because of YouTube videos 🤦🏻‍♀️ i personally wanted to get the trap and release traps but he said they wouldn’t work. Thank you for your answer!

[Wise4myage]

You're welcome. Find where they are getting into your home and stuff steel wool in the location. And remember, mice can flatten themselves as flat as a dime.

[exitseven]

It is sad when any living creature dies. I sometimes will spare stepping on an ant if I know he will not get into my house. I ran over a squirrel one day and I was sad for a week. However, my house was over run with mice and there was even a nest of them in the wall. I did not mind killing them.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I mean if you liked the mouse you could have kept him as a pet.

[Asker]

I wanted to 🥲 but my husband said no

[TheSpaceGnome]

You dont sound very compatible.

[Asker]

It’s not that deep 😂😂 someone doesn’t have to fulfill your every wish to be compatible with you.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I beg to differ c:

[leahzrc]

Those sticky traps looks sad on video I would rather give it a something like mouse poison if that's a thing

[MacDaddyRico]

That's a cruel way to get rid of the hungry little critters. All they want is a little food.
My solution: A boa constrictor.
Or a cat.
Or a dog.
Because they get hungry, too.

[DaBiggestBird]

Of course, it’s a wee refreshing witnessing compassion when it seems the chances of meeting a talking Moa are higher.

[LiamJHayden]

There is nothing wrong with feeling compassion for it.

[spartan55]

A bunch of sympathy for some disease carrying rodents in this thread...🙄...
Catch and release a fucking mouse? Insanity...

[Ms_Facesitter]

It's "normal". But only because we have grown soft.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Thats a good thing, it enables conservation efforts to rebuild ecosystems.

[Surely]

To each their own opinion of what to do with rodents. I will keep my thoughts on what to do to myself. Being raised on a farm!

[laly520]

its totally fine to feel sad

[Account]

Fuck. I shouldn't have read this.

[Account]

What your boyfriend did is fucking insane to me.