I caught a mouse

Impressed? I KILLED the mouse!

So I'm tossing and turning on a cheap Ikea mattress, which I think I'm going to have to upgrade asap, because even before rugby it was difficult to sleep on. It's not firm, which means when Izzy jumps into bed, she slides into me. I think it bothers her, too, and the last three nights she's cycled between bed, rug at the foot of the bed, and her crate.

I think I'm hearing things - little noises of mice running all over my bedroom. This is ironic because I just waited 4 days, didn't see anything, and left the management company a message around 9pm saying I think the mice are gone. Well, at 10pm one ran right by me and I almost stomped it and Izzy chased it around the kitchen for a while. So I am trying to sleep, on an ice pack, and hearing imaginary and possibly real mice and keep waking up and am super stressing.

Around 3:30 am I get up and decide to move to the futon in the front room, which is much more comfortable. I also haven't seen mice (yet) in that room. Izzy's a step ahead of me and immediately goes to the sticky paper I left in the middle of the kitchen. It's been out for 24 hrs, but I have my first victim!

Izzy is really good and immediately listens and goes to her crate. It's me and the mouse. His long tail- maybe 3 inches - is on the glue sheet as well as back feet. The front feet are on it, but moving, not stuck. He's working incredibly hard to move. Without tail, he's maybe 1.25" and sorta cute, if not for the fact that HE IS IN MY HOUSE AND IT IS 3 AM.

He seems mostly stuck so I google it to see how long this will take. One site mentions peanut butter, which I had put a little in the middle to lure the mouse, can void the stickiness.

I go back and check and his frantic motions are working - now he's got a back leg free! The tail is starting to slide! He's moving towards the corner of the 5x10" card!

I grab another sticky trap (thank you management for leaving me a couple extra), pull off the paper, and stick it square on top of the mouse, who still has a leg or so on the original paper. I seal it into the baseboard of the cabinets. But I can still hear him moving! There's a tiny space, and mice can fit almost anywhere. I was worried if I went back to sleep he might get out.

My first idea was to pick up the two sheets, place them in a bag, and deliver a death shot. So I got my hammer and a bag. This sorta seems more humane instead of making it starve to death or have a heart attack on sticky paper, right?

But I'm worried that if I lift the second sheet he might not be attached, and it's also stuck to the cabinet and floor and might be hard to get off. So, plan b - hammer the sheet into the mouse. It wasn't a single death shot, more of a volley of shots until I found the head, but that mouse is dead!

I really hope it's been this one mouse that I've seen so much of since I moved in. But even if it's not, I now have one success under my belt. And now I can go back to sleep for an hour of peace.