jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Some old notes
that were written before my ant incident!
The music of a Mousetrap
has become one of my favorite sounds at this time in my life. I am one who is against killing and even consider ants to be a natural cleanser so I
leave them alone. (Then!)
I also don't eat shark as we made a deal. I just hope they hold up to their end of the bargain.
Back to the subject, I have been traveling the back country of Baja for some time now and have encountered many animals, reptiles and creatures,
none of which have particularly bothered me. These include rattlesnakes, unhappy bees, wild boars, scorpians, agua malas and stingrays, and bulls with
an attitude.
I have now been building a natural dwelling in one of the more remote regions of south Baja for about two months now and have finally come across
the most intelligent, persistant, annoying, and costly critter of them all.
I am constantly at war with this enemy and as I am writing this I am listening to their incessant marching to their next conquest. Another one of
the wires to my interior lighting will be chewed through and I will have even less success at seeing them to blow their little brains out.
And, they know this. Otherwise they would be eating the cheese snacks, p-nut butter and celery sticks, caviar and the rest of the mouse smorgasbord
stuff I put outside so they would leave my van alone. They have a plan!
But, so do I !! And I am going to share it because it is working. Come to find out these little ratones can't resist good home made tortillas.
Just a little in a trap is guaranteed success as I have learned the last couple nights.
I still hear their marching but their numbers are dwindling and so is their hope for victory.
Next time I'm in Los Barriles, I will pick up a bunch more of these melodious instruments and play a final tribute to the worst critter ever
imaginable.
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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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I'm not going to get into the subject of kill vs capture and release
That's nature.
But I have a story for you.
Years ago, my girlfriend gave me her accumulated set of mice that had been scheduled to be python food (don't remember what happened to the pet
snake). My daughter was at the age where she was in love with small animal, hamsters, gerbils and mice.
I transported them to my husband's office for temporary storage. During transit, some of them escaped the cage and proceeded to run around the inside
of the car. Upon arrival, I scooped up all (I thought) of the loose miscreants.
Once the cage was installed in my husband's office, all, repeat, all mice disappeared into the netherwhon (with the exception of one mouse still in
the car that in its hours there eat several holes in my upholsterey and when I found it dehydrated and expiring on the back window ledge, revived when
put in the cage in the office and then, promptly disappeared to join his fellow fleeing felons.
We set out live traps everywhere and anywhere for the next several days, using all kinds of bait; cheese, meat, bread, milk, anything we could think
of (not fresh corn tortillas, but we did try fresh Doritos).
Nothing worked and we were going crazy with the damage and mouse residue.
One day I thought of...trying Cheetos.
Within twenty-four hours we had dozens of mice in the traps, transferred to cages and waiting for more Cheeto snacks! 
My daughter happily took all of them to her Dad's home. I told her about the Cheeto/medication effect, but I don't think that she listened to me.
One month later, she told me that her Dad had packed up all the mice and took them out to a field "to release them back to nature". She added, "He
seemed really mad about all the holes in the furniture and everything."
Maybe Cheeto addiction is affecting Britney Spears Federline, too.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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A MAJOR STORY TELLER IS EMERGING
Do I sense a new "Mike Humphrey" coming on to the Baja cyber space scene? Me thinks so. Great story, well told, JR. The rudiments of a book in the
works, I suspect.
I will be looking for more, of course. (-:
Barry A.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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Opps----sorry, Mike
To correct an unforgivable sin, I now correct Mike's name spelling to "Humfreville", not "Humphrey". What was I thinking? Barry A.
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elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4347
Registered: 11-19-2002
Location: Yes
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Barry A.
Hit edit.
Choose delete this message.
Return to thread.
Hit reply.
Re-type.
Post reply.
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Barry A.
Don't sweat the small stuff. Your contributions to the Baja Boards are genuine and speak well for you. Misspelling a complex name is certainly not a
sin. Write on amigo!
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Sonora Wind
Nomad
Posts: 228
Registered: 9-25-2003
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A better mouse trap???
I just returned from a H***ing trip in Utah. The guide showed me this.
1 - 5 gallon plastic container with 4 inches of water.
2 - large can like a pineapple juice can with a small steel rod thru the ends.
3 - drill two holes in the plastic container so the steel rod holds the can like a wheel at the top of the 5 gal container.
4 - put a strip of bacon held in place with a rubber band around the juice can.
5 - place a ramp 1" X 2" so the upper end is close to the bacon.
Results: Mice walk up ramp and jump to the juice can for the bacon. Juice can spins. Mice fall to the water.
After three days there where no mice.
Please note the following: If you do not wish to hurt the furry little ones, do not add water. They jump right out and head back up the ramp. Soom
they are in line like the rides at Sea World. It drives them crazy.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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Thank you's
Thank you, Mike---that is very nice of you.
and elgatoloco, thanks for the info---I did not know how to do that, but now I do.
A new mousetrap story-----isn't this the way to earn millions----- or at least someone once said that. Sounds like it would work.
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