Jan 06, 2017
It all started with a tiny mouse
Colin moved further back into the garden yesterday to play his guitar as I was on the patio doing some exercises using a video.
When I was finished he moved back to his usual spot under the palapa. I sat in the shade and read. Suddenly he was calling to the girls to come as there was a mouse.
They do know what a mouse is and were down the ramp in a flash ( I don’t know how much Carmeh actually hears but she takes her cues from Caeli. ) and quickly picked up the scent. Colin said that he had actually seen the mouse crossing the patio towards the RV. We have had mice off and on over the years here on the Isla so we knew that if there was one there were more. Next he started to check all existing mouse traps. One had snapped shut and the bait was gone. The sticky mouse traps were 50 /50 with bait. So he re baited the traps and did have some difficulty setting the snap trap. Finally he got it set but as he set it onto the generator at the front of the RV his hand flew back and hit the RV. Disaster, he broke a main plucking guitar nail. All classical guitarists have come up with a solution that works for them. Colin has his various potions but for some reason his nail dryer was missing. Had he left it back home?
Similar to the missing one. I went around RV 1 to see if anyone had one.
Meanwhile Colin had gone online and discovered that there was a Sally Hansen store at the Gran Plaza. So off he went by car to the embarcadero where he took a panga over to Mazatlan. From there he traveled by pulmonia to the mall. He had the driver wait for him, dashed and got what he needed and was back here within 90 minutes. By the way that is when Caeli escaped last night, just after Colin had left. The cost to us including transport was about 450pesos/28.00CAD/21.00USD, well worth the expense.
His favorite product is Crazy Glue. The thing is, that if he doesn’t repair the torn nail ASAP it may rip off totally and he won’t be able to play for months, till the nail grows out.
Not easy to see but the tip of the nail is purple, that is the product he put on it.
A quick test of the nail and all is well so far.
Coincidentally Colin had been reading about mice in a National Geographic earlier in the day. Here is a loose copy of a part of the article.
Six months after a mouse is born it reaches adulthood. For five more months they eat and gain weight that they will burn off having sex for up to 3 weeks straight. Some couplings can last 14 hours. They get really stressed and produce a hormone called cortisol which is deadly in large amounts. Their high testosterone keeps the cortisol gushing when it should shut off. As the cortisol reaches toxic levels the male mouse’s immune system and other systems fail. The mouse will drop dead before it’s first birthday. The female will produce up to 14 young.
14 hours, are you kidding me 😥
Earlier tonight we watched the sunset together.
So far so good with the repaired nail. However the repair process might have to be repeated every few days for the next few months. At least he can play.
The end of another day in paradise.
Well not quite. Colin decided to check his traps just as we were going in for the night.
He caught one. This is not in focus on purpose. One down, how many more to go?
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You are full of information today. I didn’t know about nails and I didn’t know about the mice. We are now in FL and enjoying the sun and warmth too. Feel good!
Glad to be of service, enjoy the Florida weather.
5cs,soon as I started reading your post crazy glue came to mind,wonderful product if used carefully.All kinds of uses..even replacing a toothcap.Mazatlan still has a mouse problem,back in 73-74 our neighbor was leaving after a month at the Mar Rosa park,his moho wouldn’t start,his spark plug wires were chewed up.Here in Zihuatanejo we sometimes have an ant problem,but thats about it! 3 years ago while saying goodbye to our friends,and following them out the gate 3 rats jumped off their moho of course no camera,things are much cleaner now. Glue traps are cruel,but sic them doggies on them,thats fun.Now with the new Maz bypass we don’t go near the city,hate to pass up the shrimp,but makes our trip shorter. Thanks for your blog RyK.
A tooth cap!! Well that is unusual but good to know. Yes I agree that those glue traps are cruel but hard to find snap traps here. We do have the small ants here but easy to control. Just don’t have anything lean against your RV. FYI I have trained the dogs to go after the iguanas.
Thank you for your comment and for reading my blog. Yes the bypass saves you time unless you want to stop for a night or two. Isla de la Piedra is just a few km from Villa Union where the bypass begins. There is a plan to do an exit off the bypass to the Mazatlan airport which is just a few KM from here at Tres Amigos RV Park.
When I first read it I thought you said 14 MINUTES! I thought, “Wow, that’s quite a long time”.
Yup that was hours, I just rechecked the article.
Had mice in the RV for the first time ever this year. Started with our water in the bucket with peanut butter below the rim which they try to reach and then fall in and drown which works like a charm at home. Apparently Mexican mice don’t like gringo peanut butter so we had no luck with that! Next we set mouse traps with a tiny bit of canned salmon in them….snap, snap, snap and now we have caught six mice and no more have appeared. Well…seafood is what is served everywhere in Mazatlan so I guess that’s what we should expect them to like.
Most interesting…..next bait will be the canned salmon. Thanks for the info. Oh, we did get a second mouse today and he didn’t even eat the cheese bait.
So glad that Colin was able to repair his nail and that he can keep up with his guitar playing.
We are scared to go back to the motorhome in April! The day before we left for Spain, I found signs of mice in the motorhome, Kevin went out and bought some traps but not sue how much good they will do when we are away for 3 1/2 months. Hopefully things won’t be too bad!!!
Ruth
The problem with mice is that they like to much on your electrical wires. Well nothing you can do from Spain. Meanwhile lets hope that ail will be well. Enjoy your trim in Spain.
We very well know how much damage they can do to the electrical cables and yes, it is a bit scary but there really is nothing else that we can do except cross our fingers and hopefully in April when we are back we can try to do more to correct this problem.
Eeew, the idea of mice just freak me out, do NOT think them cute at all…
Did not know a nail was so important
Love the sunset pic of girls!!
Love the setting of all the greenery and flowers?
Always love your comments.