"Mouse Trap"

I was laying in bed doing one final email check before closing my eyes to drift off into a much needed sleep when something caught my eye from across the room. I got just enough of a glimpse to realize that we were not alone in our little 15x15 apartment (I haven't actually measured the space, but it can't be much larger than that). It was about 10:45pm  on Thursday night when we discovered that we had a new roommate. I would describe our little "friend" as small, furry, fast, and repulsive. Yes, I'm talking about a MOUSE! No, it wasn't bigger than the palm of my hand. No, it wasn't flashing it's big, sharp teeth. But yes, I'm convinced that it would win in a fight with me because I would be turned around, running in the opposite directions screaming all kinds of things! And yes, I am aware I that I have posted pictures of me hanging out with monkeys and holding iguanas and crocodiles.  Even though I'm aware that the mouse was not out to get me or cause me any problems, I did NOT like the thought of being in such a small space with it roaming freely beneath our beds.

After that first appearance, the girls and I noticed the bags of Nilla Wafers and Cheez-Its it had pushed to the floor from the top of the microwave. Great, we really did have a mouse problem, but we weren't sure how the little pest had even gotten into the room. I'm not sure that Belize follows any kind of building codes given the amount of cracks and holes throughout our room, but we couldn't find anywhere that would be large enough for even a small mouse to squeeze in.  We decided there was nothing that could be done that night, so we all spent a very long, sleepless night curled up under our mosquito nets that we hoped would also ward off mice. We survived the night, thankfully, and woke up probably the most tired we have been over the last 2 months. Our "friend"  made was so kind as to make an appearance before we left for school just to let us know that he/she would be rummaging around our belongings while we were trying to stay awake while teaching.

Upon returning home from a busy day at school, we decided it was absolutely necessary to get rid of our "friend" and make sure we didn't get any others! We decided to go on a mouse hunt by dragging out all of our suitcases and bags from underneath our beds and cleaning out everything we could. I felt like we should be wearing Ghostbuster's gear for this task, just in case we came across anything horrifying... aka a  mouse! After just a few minutes of dusting of our suitcases Jessica pulled open one of her's that had been left open and discovered our "friend", who instantly made a b-line out the door upon the sound of 3 very high-pitched screams! Yay! Mouse hunt= success!

That is, until late last night when we saw our "friend" again or one of it's buddies... not good....

If you know any ways to successfully rid a house of mice let me know... preferably if it involves no actual contact with the mouse...