One of the stories that used to really stir our imaginations during my childhood was that of the Pied Piper of Hamelyn. I used to really think about myself as the Pied Piper who would lead all sorts of animals with different tunes from my imaginary flute.
Well, of late, I really wish I had the powers of the Pied Piper. Because, we have been facing a real challenge with a sudden spurt in the population of rats and mice in the hospital as well as in our residences. Dealing with rats is not that difficult – they are quite large and eat poisoned baits as well as are easily trapped.
The problem is with the small mice. I never thought we had a major problem till last week, when our maid told me that a lot of clothes were being damaged. I was quite busy with work, till she kept 3 killed mice for me to see.
The next day, my fur-phobic better half was after me to clean up couple of old boxes in which we had kept a water hose and some footwear. Well, it was a revelation. In fact, we realized that we were a breeding station for mice.
After that we had a major discussion about how to control these pests. Nobody had much of a clue. I tried to put powdered poison – but these mice did not eat any of those. Suggestions are invited from our well-wishers on how to control these little pests.
