One night a few weeks back, as I was setting up the mouse food, I couldn't help but wonder why everything was so quiet in the cages. Usually Solly comes out & runs around waiting for his cheese treat, followed by Stew a minute or so later. Since it was quiet, I refilled their hanging water bottle quickly and replaced it. Still nothing. This always bothers me because at this time of year they've started to fluff all their bedding and I can't tell where they are. I also don't know if they're alive or not. Or....... have escaped.
After a few more minutes I knew something was up, and decided to check the cages for chew areas. It didn't take me long to discover that one of the tubes had come off the main cage. Crap! I'd broken a part of the connecting piece the last time I cleaned the cage, but it had clicked into place at the time & I figured as long as nobody bumped things, all would be fine. Well, it got bumped, and now both mice were gone, somewhere in the basement. Either that or they'd made it upstairs & we hadn't found the bodies yet. I called Betty. After examining things, we decided the best we could do was block the main door to upstairs with towels, and leave the cage doors open so that they had access to food and water.
In the morning I bought some live mouse traps & set them up around the basement. During the next 24 hours we diligently checked the traps - nothing. I decided to leave some cheese on the counter near one of the traps in hopes of enticing one or both to go into it. The next morning, the cheese was gone. Encouraging news!!! So I left some seeds out, which went untouched til evening. So at least one of them was still alive.
Meanwhile things around the house had come to a stand still. Doors could only be kept open briefly. Groceries were transported to the back door of the carport then hastily turfed inside in case a mouse saw freedom and ran for it. Winter wood was brought into the house in small amounts, and the storage area couldn't be tidied until we knew what happened to the critters. We were scared to touch anything in case it crushed a mouse hidng behind it. Going to and coming from the basement always entailed making sure one of the towels on either side of the door was stuffed up to and if possible under the door itself. The towel on the other side of the basement door got peed on, but we left it hoping the odour acted as a deterrent.
After two days of setting the live traps with peanut butter, cheese, and seed, we still had nothing. The seeds I'd left out were being eaten though, and the level of water in the bottle I'd hooked up to the outside of the cage was dropping, so at least one was getting some sustinence. I was resetting one of the traps in the room when I heard the familiar sound of scampering through the tunnels. I looked up to see movement inside the cage, and as quickly as I could, slammed all the doors shut! I had one! I figured it had to be Stew because he was the one less likely to explore the basement. However, it soon became clear that I had Solly, Alpha mouse. So where was Stew?
That evening I came downstairs to check the traps at about 10pm. The seeds I'd left out were gone, which meant Stew was still around. After I fed Solly, I stayed to watch for a minute, and saw movement around the back of one of the cages - Stew! I stood stock still, and he came out, took a seed, had a drink, and ran behind the cage. I got a piece of dried banana treat and slowly held it out for him. He came over and tugged it, but when I didn't let go, he ran off. I lost track of where he went, but if he was still on the counter, things were looking up!
I didn't see him again, so I figured I'd come back later for another try. Grabbing him would be difficult because of all the tubing. I'd need a clear area because I'd only have one chance. If I missed he might not trust me again. So around midnight I set up the seeds and stayed stock still with my hand over top of the pile, and waited. Sure enough, Stew came out. He ran around the outside of the cages and touched noses with his brother. This is the first time they've been separated for any length of time since birth, and it was obvious they missed each other's company. My heart tore in two - I had to get Stewie back! However, he wasn't ready.
As I stood still, I watched Stew run around the cages, over the tubing, stopping every once in awhile to stare at me. He was within inches of me, but I couldn't move. He ran around the other side of the cage and took the seeds from under the trap, but wouldn't come out to the free area where I was lying in wait. Every once in awhile he'd leave the area and vanish. After 15 minutes or so of this I discovered he was actually going under the counter & hiding in some of our stored items. At one point I made the mistake of shifting my weight, and heard him scatter off the jigsaw puzzle boxes. He didn't make any further appearances that night.
Our live traps were obviously not working. I had to figure something else out. Stew was beginning to tug stuffing out of one of the cages which meant he was probably building a new nest. This wasn't good. He seemed to trust my presence, and I knew he was familiar with the tubing, so I came up with a plan. The next day I put together some of the extra tunnels and blocked one end. I put some seeds in the blocked end, and a few leading to it. I then set it down on the existing tunnels, leaving the open end in an area I could easily cover. My theory was to let him run into the tunnel, then quickly cover the other end with my palm, not my fingers. But first I had to get him to trust the trap.
When I came back around midnight, the seeds were gone - success!!! So I reset the trap, and waited. I was beginning to give up hope when a little face appeared around the side of a cage. He ran around all the cages & took a leftover seed from one area after touching noses with Solly. I waited. He ran around for what seemed an eternity, then came to the entrance of my trap. He stopped and stared at me. I couldn't breathe, and was sure he could hear my heart trying to pound through my chest. My palms started to drip. He just sat there staring at me..... then ran inside & to the seed! I clamped my palm over the other end and Presto! Trapped mouse! But now what?
I yelled for Betty, who barely heard my muffled cry. She came down the stairs and to my rescue. I told her to distract Solly in one cage and open the door to the other. I'd drop Stew in. It worked! I removed the tunnel from the cage and slammed the door shut as Solly came charging back through. But where was Stew? I looked in my trap - Dear God! He was still inside!!!! I clamped my palm over the end quickly. He nibbled on it. We tried again, but Stew refused to drop out of the tunnel, and Betty couldn't distract Solly for more than a few seconds. Then she got a really big banana chip. Solly grabbed one end, and she held onto the other. As the two played tug of war, I shook the tubing with everything I could, to dump poor little Stew out. Finally, I saw him drop into the cage. Betty let go of the chip, and Solly ran to greet his brother.
It was wonderful to see the two together again. Solly was very happy. He bounced all over his brother and then proceeded to run very happily on his wheel. Stew found the stored food in the upper compartment and proceeded to eat like there was no tomorrow. After checking all parts of the cages and connectors, we finally relaxed.
Our boys were back, safe & sound. It took us another day or so to remove the towels (just in case). Things returned to nomal, and I gave the boys a few different tasty treats. I don't know what kind of memories they have, but hopefully they learned that freedom may have been fun, but their home is inside the cage.
