If I Could Just Teach Him How To Ride a Motorcycle...

for the last few weeks, i've been living with a mouse. i thought it was just one, now i KNOW it's at least two, and it may have been three, though one is back outside freezing his butt off. i have no desire to kill the poor things (because, really, who can blame them for wanting a nice warm place to stay?) but they're too damn clever for their own good. i got one out (i think) a week or so ago - the trap was closed, it seemed heavier, and i put it outside... thing was, it was too cold that morning for me to hang around to watch, so i just set it up and left it. when i got back from work, it was empty, and i figured a) i caught him and got him out, or 2) he figured out how to get the peanut butter out and i didn't get him at all. then i heard scampering the next night and figured i didn't really trap him at all. but this morning the trap was closed, but didn't really feel any heavier. i looked inside, but saw nothing. apparently, though, this mouse was tiny and managed to curl up in the back and i didn't see him. when i saw the little brown one a few minutes ago, i got up to reset the trap. when i pulled out the back to put in more peanut butter, out plunked the other mouse (which was a rude awaking, since he seemed to be snoozing - took him a second to take off) onto the floor. i've reset the trap, but i'm afraid that now they know what happens when you get the peanut butter, they won't even get near the thing again. *sigh* i refuse to kill them, because that's just plain mean, but there aren't a lot of "catch and release" traps out there... most of them are the fatal kind. and though they don't really get into much (at least not of MY stuff - who knows what they do in the rest of the basement) they really need to go. time for round two...