Sticky Traps are for catching WHAT?
It has been dry around here. What does that have to do with anything? Well, it seems that when the creek bed behind our house dries up (or at least ALMOST dries up) we get mice. A LOT of mice! We have been invaded, and I'm not thrilled. I would much rather deal with many other pests, because mice are just nasty! Anyway......back to my post.
So to get rid of these nasty pests we have a few choices, but have decided, for the safety of the little one, we would go with sticky traps. These aren't the most "humane" choice in all honesty, but less of a risk for injury to Jocelyn. In the past, we've had great success in getting mice with the sticky traps. This year, however, it seems some bulletin has been posted about what/how to avoid these traps of death. It seems to be working- the word has spread and we never seem to catch a mouse.
What do we catch you ask? A 32 pound toddler! Yep, not once, not twice, but more than four times now. I began to think it was simply due to the marshmallows we placed on them as "bait". But even the ones with nothing but glue seem to catch her! Let me assure you these "traps" aren't sitting in the middle of the floor! They are placed behind things, in corners that even I have troubles reaching, and so on (I think you get the point). So how is it that my toddler can, in only a few seconds, get to these far off places and manage to get herself "trapped"? Well, inquiring minds want to know!
Yesterday I had to pull her free from said trap, and then proceeded to wash her with soap and water. This did basically NOTHING as far as cleaning her up. Now, by the time I washed her down, I was then having sticky "issues" as well. She had touched my arms, my pants, my EMT radio, the couch, and a number of other surfaces. All would require my attention, and frankly, I had little patience for this clean-up. Grrrrr.....
As I sat down, and tried to reflect on the fact that she is just a toddler exploring her world, I watched her have a National Lampoons Christmas Vacation moment. Do you remember when Clark got himself covered in tree sap? Picture that scene with an almost 2 yr old. Everything she touched she stuck to. It was the plastic zip lock bag that had me laughing so hard I was nearly in tears! She had it in one hand, then had to remove it with the other. It stuck to that hand and no shaking would free it. So she grabs it with the other hand, and so on. She is getting frustrated and flat out angry at this silly bag that refuses to let go of HER! She is now rubbing her hand over her face- and YES even her hair gets some of the attention. Now she is mad enough to just pull and leave some sticky mess in her fine locks. I finally, after much laughing, decide a good mother would step in and help the poor kid out.
The big question was HOW to remove the traces of STICKY glue all over my little one. I finally decided that baby oil is good for about everything....so surely cooking oil would be even better (plus I have a large surplus of cooking oil and NO baby oil). After some good old cooking oil had been lathered all over her hand, arms, legs, and some areas of her face and hair.....she was no longer sticky! She was soft as a baby's bottom once again! :) And had a nice healthy, oily glow!
{sigh} Just another hour in the day in the life of being a mother to a strong willed BUSY toddler! :) .....And this too shall pass!!!!
So to get rid of these nasty pests we have a few choices, but have decided, for the safety of the little one, we would go with sticky traps. These aren't the most "humane" choice in all honesty, but less of a risk for injury to Jocelyn. In the past, we've had great success in getting mice with the sticky traps. This year, however, it seems some bulletin has been posted about what/how to avoid these traps of death. It seems to be working- the word has spread and we never seem to catch a mouse.
What do we catch you ask? A 32 pound toddler! Yep, not once, not twice, but more than four times now. I began to think it was simply due to the marshmallows we placed on them as "bait". But even the ones with nothing but glue seem to catch her! Let me assure you these "traps" aren't sitting in the middle of the floor! They are placed behind things, in corners that even I have troubles reaching, and so on (I think you get the point). So how is it that my toddler can, in only a few seconds, get to these far off places and manage to get herself "trapped"? Well, inquiring minds want to know!
Yesterday I had to pull her free from said trap, and then proceeded to wash her with soap and water. This did basically NOTHING as far as cleaning her up. Now, by the time I washed her down, I was then having sticky "issues" as well. She had touched my arms, my pants, my EMT radio, the couch, and a number of other surfaces. All would require my attention, and frankly, I had little patience for this clean-up. Grrrrr.....
As I sat down, and tried to reflect on the fact that she is just a toddler exploring her world, I watched her have a National Lampoons Christmas Vacation moment. Do you remember when Clark got himself covered in tree sap? Picture that scene with an almost 2 yr old. Everything she touched she stuck to. It was the plastic zip lock bag that had me laughing so hard I was nearly in tears! She had it in one hand, then had to remove it with the other. It stuck to that hand and no shaking would free it. So she grabs it with the other hand, and so on. She is getting frustrated and flat out angry at this silly bag that refuses to let go of HER! She is now rubbing her hand over her face- and YES even her hair gets some of the attention. Now she is mad enough to just pull and leave some sticky mess in her fine locks. I finally, after much laughing, decide a good mother would step in and help the poor kid out.
The big question was HOW to remove the traces of STICKY glue all over my little one. I finally decided that baby oil is good for about everything....so surely cooking oil would be even better (plus I have a large surplus of cooking oil and NO baby oil). After some good old cooking oil had been lathered all over her hand, arms, legs, and some areas of her face and hair.....she was no longer sticky! She was soft as a baby's bottom once again! :) And had a nice healthy, oily glow!
{sigh} Just another hour in the day in the life of being a mother to a strong willed BUSY toddler! :) .....And this too shall pass!!!!
Comments
My cute little 21 month old, Peter has just started this phase. I've actually had to stop potty training Jimmy for a bit because I was running out of patients.
Good luck with the mice. We tried the sticky traps as well with little luck. We finally put out regular moue traps at night and put them up during the day and that actually worked really well.