number six

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I was cleaning Number Six's cage (a terrarium with a screen top), and he was freaking out because his bedding was being shifted around and being taken out. He especially freaked when I stuck in the vacuum hose to remove all the little mousy droppings. I got it into my head to stir things up by trying to catch him. I managed this the last time I cleaned his cage (over a month ago - wild mice are pretty low-maintenance and low-odor as rodents go). He doesn't jump most of the time, but he can jump the full height of his cage when agitated, and so he did. He jumped up to the partly-open lid, pulled himself up top, and scampered away. Now he's (hopefully) hunkered down under the baseboard radiator. We set the cage on its side, with his nest, his wheel, his favorite food, and the lid ready to slam shut. Now we wait.

When I was a kid, we had hamsters. They got out all the time, because Habitrails are (or at least were) crap. We were usually able to catch them again, because they were a) domesticated and b) dumb as toast. Number Six was born in the ceiling of the basement, and I really don't want him returning to his wild ways. Besides, he's my mouse now, dammit.

many happy returns

The only episode of The Prisoner I ever saw was "Many Happy Returns." Number Six escapes from the Village somehow, gets back to England, and contacts the military or Intelligence or something. They fly him around the coastline for hours; when he finally spots the Village, the pilot turns out to be one of Them, and the Prisoner is ejected from the plane, and parachutes right back into the Village.

I put the trap inside the closet, where the heating pipes come through the wall, and baited it with oatmeal ('cause mice can't resist oatmeal). Sure enough, the little bugger shimmied through the wall, couldn't resiste the oatmeal, and was waiting for me when I got back from riding. When he got back into his cage, he ran and ran and ran on his wheel.