Today a great mystery was solved when we were finally able to answer the long burning question, “What goes bump in the night?”
It all started back on May 21st, 2014. Shae and I were laying in bed and dozing off to sleep when we heard it.
chtchtcht chtchtcht chtchtcht
“what is that noise?” I thought to myself while laying in bed.
“Did a bat get in, it sounds like it is coming from the ceiling”
I flipped the light on. There was nothing flying around the ceiling.
chtchtcht chtchtcht chtchtcht
The sound moved across the room over to the wall.
“Maybe a squirrel or raccoon got into the attic?” I said to a groggy Shae.
Tepidly I opened the attic door and walked up the steep steps. Hmmm, maybe I should have brought along some sort of weapon to fight off a rabid coon. gulp!
I made it to the top of the steps and gingerly set the light dimmer all the way down so as not to enrage the beast. <flip>
Nothing. I peak around the area above our bedroom and fail to see any intruder. I crank the lights to full brightness just to make sure the neighbors know how strange we are.
I walk back downstairs and see Shae staring at the bedroom ceiling right above where we sleep every night.
chtchtcht chtchtcht chtchtcht
A year later…
and the mystery noise made another appearance. As we tossed and turned in bed trying to not think about the critter walking around feet away from our heads I devised a plan.
The next morning I cut a hole in the attic floor.
Our bedroom has a drop ceiling that is hung from 1×2 strips. Above that is the original lathe that held the now gone plaster. Then above the lathe are the joist bays. The drop down ceiling provided the perfect place for critters to scurry around unobstructed. My plan was simple. Break a section of lathe so that any critters could more easily move between the drop down section and the joist bay, then place traps within the joist bay. Finally, I replaced the cut out section of flooring.
After a few days of checking the traps and not seeing any results I left them alone and then forgot about them. It wasn’t until today when we were cleaning up the attic that I checked them for the first time in months.
Sure enough, the home invader had been stopped with deadly force.
It must have triggered the trap shortly after I had set it because the corpse was thoroughly desiccated. Now we know what goes bump in the night.
Parents tripping over toys and little mice scurrying around the joists.
A note about frugality and humane killing
Old fashioned mouse traps like these are cheap at less than 50¢ a trap. They are also a very humane way to get rid of mice. They are designed to break the neck of the mouse, which would be a near instant death. The last thought of this mouse was most likely, “wow this peanut butter tastes great”.