A Nightmare Realized

I'll try to address everyone's curiosity here in one breath. With the sticky trips, if it caught a mouse I would remove it outside as soon as I noticed, say a little prayer for the mouse (so it doesn't suffer) and hit it in the head with a hammer to quickly dispatch it. I hate killing ANYTHING. I just don't have the heart to kill a living creature whether it's a mouse or even a bee or bug just because. If it's food, that's fine. If it's a pest, that too is fine but I can't feel comfortable unless it's done quickly and efficiently. I hate suffering. We all do.

The magnitude of this problem cannot be solved with extermination. As it was brought out, the dead bodies would just rot in the walls and anywhere else there was felled mice. We have decided to have the house condemned. We are fortunate that our home owners insurance is essentially going to cover the cost of a new home. We are very sad, obviously, but also relieved. The idea of moving back into a house with rotting mice invokes nothing but feelings of dread and doom. The cost of demolition and reconstruction might even exceed the cost of a new home. That was a determination made by our insurance agent. We are blessed to have the resources to make a transition like this possible much less fairly simple, though not without heavy hearts.

My wife and I pride ourselves on being clean people. Our home was always clean, tidy and in showroom form. I understand that being clean people doesn't make one(s) immune to an infestation, but all of this has left us feeling like grimy and dirty people. How ironic that of all things this is the feeling we are left with given how much time and energy we have put into making sure we never feel this way.

Anyway, progress is a slow process and when you do it right, you do it light. Certainly don't want to do this wrong and in turn make it a long suffering process.
 
I'll try to address everyone's curiosity here in one breath. With the sticky trips, if it caught a mouse I would remove it outside as soon as I noticed, say a little prayer for the mouse (so it doesn't suffer) and hit it in the head with a hammer to quickly dispatch it. I hate killing ANYTHING. I just don't have the heart to kill a living creature whether it's a mouse or even a bee or bug just because. If it's food, that's fine. If it's a pest, that too is fine but I can't feel comfortable unless it's done quickly and efficiently. I hate suffering. We all do.

The magnitude of this problem cannot be solved with extermination. As it was brought out, the dead bodies would just rot in the walls and anywhere else there was felled mice. We have decided to have the house condemned. We are fortunate that our home owners insurance is essentially going to cover the cost of a new home. We are very sad, obviously, but also relieved. The idea of moving back into a house with rotting mice invokes nothing but feelings of dread and doom. The cost of demolition and reconstruction might even exceed the cost of a new home. That was a determination made by our insurance agent. We are blessed to have the resources to make a transition like this possible much less fairly simple, though not without heavy hearts.

My wife and I pride ourselves on being clean people. Our home was always clean, tidy and in showroom form. I understand that being clean people doesn't make one(s) immune to an infestation, but all of this has left us feeling like grimy and dirty people. How ironic that of all things this is the feeling we are left with given how much time and energy we have put into making sure we never feel this way.

Anyway, progress is a slow process and when you do it right, you do it light. Certainly don't want to do this wrong and in turn make it a long suffering process.
Well, look on the bright side, you could probably find a house and turn a room into a cham/bug room.
 
Sorry you have so much upheaval. Glad your insurance is going to handle this. Thanks for letting us all know how this plays out.
I've never seen a house totaled before. You will now have a story for the ages.
 
I'll try to address everyone's curiosity here in one breath. With the sticky trips, if it caught a mouse I would remove it outside as soon as I noticed, say a little prayer for the mouse (so it doesn't suffer) and hit it in the head with a hammer to quickly dispatch it. I hate killing ANYTHING. I just don't have the heart to kill a living creature whether it's a mouse or even a bee or bug just because. If it's food, that's fine. If it's a pest, that too is fine but I can't feel comfortable unless it's done quickly and efficiently. I hate suffering. We all do.

The magnitude of this problem cannot be solved with extermination. As it was brought out, the dead bodies would just rot in the walls and anywhere else there was felled mice. We have decided to have the house condemned. We are fortunate that our home owners insurance is essentially going to cover the cost of a new home. We are very sad, obviously, but also relieved. The idea of moving back into a house with rotting mice invokes nothing but feelings of dread and doom. The cost of demolition and reconstruction might even exceed the cost of a new home. That was a determination made by our insurance agent. We are blessed to have the resources to make a transition like this possible much less fairly simple, though not without heavy hearts.

My wife and I pride ourselves on being clean people. Our home was always clean, tidy and in showroom form. I understand that being clean people doesn't make one(s) immune to an infestation, but all of this has left us feeling like grimy and dirty people. How ironic that of all things this is the feeling we are left with given how much time and energy we have put into making sure we never feel this way.

Anyway, progress is a slow process and when you do it right, you do it light. Certainly don't want to do this wrong and in turn make it a long suffering process.
I’m so sorry about your home. I understand the feeling of feeling unclean and gross. Thankfully y’all are leaving with your heath. Just make sure you have no stowaways when you move. We did a throw check on the furniture we brought with us to the new home, Including boxes
 
As I said, my comment was a joke that I'm sure most recognized immediately, whether in poor taste or not. I've had pet mice, rats, snakes, and any homeless, neglected, or injured animal that's crossed my path. Did my fair share of volunteer time, too, with an equine and farm animal rescue. The fact that you made an account just for my comment makes me feel you're a member who is afraid to voice your opinion under their own/normal screen name. If that is the case, ya'll can always DM me if you want to have a private / confidential conversation.
Well not for your comment specifically, if you read my first point it was pertaining to the use of glue boards.
 
I'll try to address everyone's curiosity here in one breath. With the sticky trips, if it caught a mouse I would remove it outside as soon as I noticed, say a little prayer for the mouse (so it doesn't suffer) and hit it in the head with a hammer to quickly dispatch it. I hate killing ANYTHING. I just don't have the heart to kill a living creature whether it's a mouse or even a bee or bug just because. If it's food, that's fine. If it's a pest, that too is fine but I can't feel comfortable unless it's done quickly and efficiently. I hate suffering. We all do.

The magnitude of this problem cannot be solved with extermination. As it was brought out, the dead bodies would just rot in the walls and anywhere else there was felled mice. We have decided to have the house condemned. We are fortunate that our home owners insurance is essentially going to cover the cost of a new home. We are very sad, obviously, but also relieved. The idea of moving back into a house with rotting mice invokes nothing but feelings of dread and doom. The cost of demolition and reconstruction might even exceed the cost of a new home. That was a determination made by our insurance agent. We are blessed to have the resources to make a transition like this possible much less fairly simple, though not without heavy hearts.

My wife and I pride ourselves on being clean people. Our home was always clean, tidy and in showroom form. I understand that being clean people doesn't make one(s) immune to an infestation, but all of this has left us feeling like grimy and dirty people. How ironic that of all things this is the feeling we are left with given how much time and energy we have put into making sure we never feel this way.

Anyway, progress is a slow process and when you do it right, you do it light. Certainly don't want to do this wrong and in turn make it a long suffering process.
Thank you for the clarification Sammy. :)

I wish you luck in fixing the issue, as did not mean to step on toes. I just wanted to clarify a couple of things.
 
Sorry not to chime in on this thread earlier. I've been preoccupied by a lot of other stuff over the past couple of months.

OP, where do you live in AK? When you mentioned that your rodent problem was due to an "AK endemic" did you mean red-backed voles (Clethrionomys sp)? AKAIK the exotic house mouse (Mus musculus) isn't all that common the farther north you go. The only native mouse with noticeable ears and longer tail is the deer mouse (Peromyscus sp.) . Voles have much smaller ears and very short tails...and they are ubiquitous. They do have boom and bust years too...like the fabled lemmings. They can really be fearless compared to deer mice. I've even been attacked by one when cornered. Gotta admire that. Every house I've lived in up here has ended up with a few, but an infestation your exterminator described is unusual. They do seek out heated houses in the fall, and if there are ways IN as well as food available there you go. They also seem to be more destructive than deer mice; chewing through structural materials to get what they want. Once it starts to get cold in fall I put out a couple of walk-the-plank/bucket traps. You can catch multiple voles without re-setting them all night. I don't choose to kill them with water in the bucket. Drowning isn't humane either. I prefer to drive to an abandoned building the next morning and release them. Again, because they are natives that's OK. They'll have their chance and feed a predator if they don't make it. The more northern regions of AK have had a pretty cold winter this year compared to the last few. I'm in Homer on the coast and the last 2 months have seemed more like Fairbanks. Maybe because of that your infestation was particularly bad...or they passed the word that YOUR place was the hot spot for fast food.
 
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