Please help! I am beyond terrified. There is a mouse in my apt.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Seriously, I am fucking scared as all shit.

I’ll skip the boring details, but to give you an idea of just how completely freaking terrorized I am, I spent hours standing on top of my ottoman and sofa when I thought it was just the world’s fastest and largest bug. I saw something dash across my floor, proceeded to Raid the shit out of the place, then saw it again and have since been unable to sleep. Having never seen a bug that large in my life, I stood watch with a Raid can ready to kill the shit out of it the moment it emerged. How long it would take was simply not a concern. I am scared out of my mind of all crawly things.

Then I saw something poke its head from beneath my couch, I shrieked in horror, then it went back under. Then I was like… oh hell no. Is this the world’s smartest beetle? And how big was that fucking thing? Was that a… and then it poked its head out again.

OH MY FUCKING GOD! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! IT’S A FUCKING MOUSE!

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

A bug terrified me enough to consider getting a hotel for the night, so a goddamn mouse almost caused me to move out. So I screamed some more, then ran into my bedroom and put towels underneath my door. I’m now locked in my room and am scared to leave. Shit, I left my laptop charger out there.

I just heard something crash in my living room. That must be it. :frowning:

I’m sure the obvious answer might be a mouse trap, but is there some way to kill it that’s fast and won’t have to deal with me touching it? I’m afraid of dead spiders, for Christ’s sake. Seriously, even if I watch someone kill it for me, I can’t breathe until it’s out of the room.

I am seriously scared as all shit. I’ve been afraid to stand on the floor for hours. I have honestly been walking on top of my furniture since 11pm (it’s 3:18am now). Jesus Christ, I was better off when I thought it was a bug. How does a mouse even get in here?

Please, please, please help.
Sincerely terrified,
Mean Old Scared Lady

2

It’s a MOUSE. An itty bitty furry cuddly baby ickle mouse. Man Up MOL!

Hell, I had a rat jump on my bed once. In the dark. Followed by a powercut. You got nuthin.

3

Call your landlord, pack a bag, move out for a few days if you’re that scared of a mouse. Make sure those towels are stuffed well and you don’t have any holes in your walls AT ALL because a mouse can squeeze through the tiniest places. And they can climb up - up curtains and sheets and stuff. Finally, if there’s one mouse, there may be mice. Mice are breeders. And some carry diseases. I don’t know where you are, but you’re sure it’s a mouse and not a rat?

Oh, and…ROFLCOPTER.

4

Have your phone handy? Do you know anybody who owns a cat?

Also, your post made me giggle uncontrollably.

5

There is nothing cuddly about it! I just need this thing to be dead and/or out of my apt. I don’t care which, but since it seems to be enjoying its stay, dead will do.

On preview: If it’s a rat, it’s a teeny tiny rat, so small it could pass for a bug from the corner of one’s eye. It is “an itty bitty” mouse, but it is NOT – repeat NOT – cuddly. Maybe letting a cat run loose in the apt is a stand up idea. I need to steal someone’s cat. I know plenty of people with cats. Edit: I’ll call them in the morning. My friends know I’m a giant pussy (no pun intended) when it comes to pests, but they’d still be mighty pissed if I called them past 3:30am to ask them to borrow their cat.

6

Don’t ask me why I’m up at this hour, but listen. You don’t know any men who can come handle that? They can chase the damn thing so that it goes in the wall or something where you feel a bit safer. They can set out traps, and get your laptop charger and all that? This is when its good to have a lil’ somethin’ on the side who aint scerred of a mouse, you know what I mean?

ETA: FarmerJane is well and truly mean

7

I promise you, it’s a lot more scared of you then you are of it. Just get a trap and a few Xanax to hold you over until it’s done its job.

8

Well right now it’s 4am, and I’d feel like an asshole calling someone (who wouldn’t answer anyway) to chase a mouse around for me. And I don’t want it in the wall; I want it dead. Tomorrow I am hitting up everybody: friends with cats, guys who aren’t afraid to pick up a mouse trap with a dead mouse in it, people who know things about killing mice, the mayor, and anyone else who will listen.

voltaire, I dunno. I’m not going to sleep tonight. That little mouse fucker is probably going to sleep like a baby. Underneath MY sofa, no less. :mad:

9

Oh dear god, there is movement in my living room. What have I done to deserve this? Besides all of those horrible things to so many people.

10

If you see one mouse you reeeaaallly… {INSERT EVIL GRIN}

11

I have no advice. But the whole thread has taken me mentally back to my last apartment where it the winter brought rats. I think I spent the night doing what you’ve done tonight, so I sympathize.

The important things: catch and/or kill mousie, and make sure the hole(s) that let them in are sealed - holes as small as a dime, iirc. I’d call an exterminator, myself. They’re used to dealing with these things.

12

Forget the cat. You need someone with a big snake (no pun intended) to come over and eradicate that little fucker.

13

I had an infested house. They were average field mice. I used cedar bedding chips to basically exclude them from everywhere and I no longer have them in the house. I basically put sachets in my drawers (clothing, kitchen, every drawer and shelf) and then sprinkled cedar chips along the walls, closets and behind furniture, etc. It worked for the type of mouse that I had. Apparently, they don’t like the smell of them and find somewhere else to live. When I vacuum them up, I just sprinkle more down.

ETA: Okay, oopsie… I may have killed them all off, here’s a page about how they’re toxic to rodents. No wonder they left so quickly: the Rat Report

14

You would so not survive at my house, Mean Old Lady, but I sympathize. I used to be that way about insects and especially arachnids. (Mice never bothered me much, I guess because we had assorted rodent pets when I was a kid.) I was working at my computer one day and a huge black spider ran across my chest and hopped onto my keyboard, where it secreted itself under the K. Every once in a while it would poke a leg out to see if the coast was clear. I had to keep working, too, spider or no spider. Later I tried to shake it out of the keyboard, but it had escaped at some point.

I’d second the cat idea, except cats have a nasty habit of presenting you with their kills, or parts of their kills, and that might be too much for you to bear. Pick up some of those traps where the mouse just dies inside an enclosure and all you have to do is toss it trap and all into the (neighbor’s) trash. Then mention it to your landlord or super; maybe it’s time for an exterminator.

15

Exactly. That’s what I tried to tell her.

16

Hmm, I could probably get over seeing the dead mouse if it were shredded up by a cat and a friend could assist with removal (i.e. do it for me), but the enclosed mouse trap sounds like an excellent idea. This gizmo is rated well and sounds like something I could use.

Ha!

I feel like an asshole for completely losing my composure this way, but I can’t help it. And I thought I turned into a complete moron when spiders were afoot. Dear Jesus in the manger, if you can make this mouse die today, I promise I will (try to my best to) not cry like a little fucking baby next time a spider comes around.

17

So maybe she could put an add on Craigslist: Wanted, someone with a big snake to take care of my little mouse.

What could go wrong there?

18

Brb, posting to Craigslist.

Okay, I need to bite the bullet at some point and leave my bunker. I need to take a shower and will probably need to pee at some point, and I have things to do, and I have to go buy mouse traps and steal people’s cats, and I can’t stay in my bedroom for the rest of my life.

I am functioning off 90 min of sleep. This stopped being pathetic 6 hours ago. I’m not even sure what the word is to describe how sad and silly this is now.

19

So, here’s how I managed making myself leave the cocoon of my brightly lit bedroom after The Rat Incident #1.

“That motherf*cker is going to die. It invaded my space. But I have to buy stuff that will let it die. Therefore I am going to clomp around as loud as I can so it hides while I’m leaving to go buy the stuff to take out that bastard.”
(even then I scooted out as quickly as I could. It didn’t help that the only entrance to that apt was through the kitchen. Which was where I’d seen the thing).

You can do this. We believe in you.

20

Man, MOL, you really are destroying my image of you. :slight_smile: But, listen! You can do this! You can be tough, you know you can. Just a bit longer. If I was close I’d come over and put traps down for you and then we could wait for the telltale SNAP! together.

Hugs!