Peanut Update and Hitchhiking Turtle

I stopped by Peanut’s house yesterday to see what was going on and it’s all good. His little hideout is still intact – he seems to have added a back door – always a nice addition to any home:) I dropped off some peanuts, bananas and bird food. I think he’ll be fine.

Found this turtle in the middle of the road. At first I was just going to put him in woods by the road, but there wasn’t any water anywhere close by so I figured I’d take him to the river.

He seemed fine in the back of the truck and happy to get to the river.

Not sure if I helped him or interrupted his journey but at least he’s out of the road!

Peanut Sculptures

Peanut in a tube Sculpture

Peanut in a Tube
1.5 x 1.5 inches

Peanut standing Sculpture

Peanut Standing
3.5 x 1 x 3 inches

I had to do two for my littlest boo

Peanut’s New Diggs

I stopped by the spot where I set Peanut free today on the way to the store. We had a big storm last night and I was wondering how he was getting on. So this is what I found, all the food gone – probably stored in the mound – and it looks like he has dug himself a little hole to live in – yea!

Peanut has a lot of friends

So this little guy is the third mouse I’ve trapped. Sorry no release photo he was too fast and he hopped like 6″ a stretch, which was weird, I have never seen a mouse hop. Anyway…. the ultrasonic devices are not working.

So I need some “How to keep a Mouse out of the House” ideas – anyone? Surely someone’s grandmother knows how to do this!

Freedom for Peanut

Peanut goes dark

Peanut spent the last week eating pasta, sunflower seeds, french toast and fresh veggies, all while listening to classical music on NPR. He got fat and healed. I set Peanut free this morning, here are some photos of Peanut and his last week with me.

This is Peanut’s hideout – one of my art supply boxes.

Peanut’s Hideout

He didn’t want to come out of his little paper towel tube so I’m just left him alone and let him rest.

One night while I went to give Peanut some water he attempted an escape.

Peanut’s escape attempt

How he managed to climb out of that drawer into the back of the box I’ll never know, but it was a good sign that he was feeling better. I managed to slide him off the table into a large plastic tub. It was the first time I got to check out how his little arm was doing, it looked better, but not great.

Peanut’s Injured Paw

He was putting weight on it but his little paw still looked a bit mangled. So I went and bought him a new escape proof home so he could continue to recover safely. He has been very active the last two nights and last night he tried to escape again. Clearly Peanut was ready to go. When I checked on him today, I found he had gained quite a bit of weight and his paw looked much better.

Peanut gets fat

Blurry shot, but you can see his little hand looks better

So off we went to the woods, to the same spot where I dropped off his little visitor the other day. I took the bag of mouse food I bought and left it all there for him – maybe it will attract some mouse friends As soon as I put the paper towel holder under the tree root Peanut took off, he climbed under the piece of wood you see at the top of the photo. Godspeed Peanut! Live long and well

Peanut goes free

And there have been no sign of Peanut’s friends since I moved the ultrasonic device to a wall free of obstacles – which the instructions said to do in the first place – so it seems like they’re working. Yea!!! Also made a deal with the owner of the house to do a fish painting for him if he promised to never, ever use glue traps again

Peanut’s friend drops by for a visit

He wouldn’t turn around for this shot. Looks like he spent most of the night in there judging from the mess he made. Makes me wonder how long Peanut suffered.

Apparently the ultrasonic devices are not working. Or maybe he’s deaf? Or he was already in the house? I don’t know. I moved one of the devices to another location to see if it helps.

I took this little guy down the road and set him free.

No sign of Peanut’s friends

This is an empty humane mouse trap made by Havahart Nice company name huh? I got this as a back up for this:

An ultrasonic mouse deterrent! It looks like they work. I accidentally cut the top off the package with the company name but you can see what they look like.

So you see, no need to kill anyone – technology and innovation to the rescue. People in Maine need to get with the times!

We don’t need no critters round here

So I check on Peanut this afternoon to see if he has eaten anything, and as soon as I open the box he scurries inside the paper towel tube. Seems like he’s moving pretty fast so I think he must be feeling better.

Then I see this:

Peanut poop and the beginnings of an escape route. Peanut is eating and Peanut is ready to go. I feel a bit sad but realize that if he wants to go I should let him go. So I decide to take him somewhere nice so he can get on with his life and forget that this ever happened. Having promised the owner of the house that I would take any mice I caught far, far away, I load Peanut into the car and we head down the road. I am not sure where to take him until I remember that I have seen two old abandoned barns down the road. Perfect! I think, I will take him there, he will have shelter and there are bound to be other mice running around, he won’t be alone and hopefully he can make some new friends. So we head toward the abandoned barns.

I find a nice spot by the side of the barn and pull out the paper towel tube and some food to get him by until he gets used to his surroundings.

But Peanut won’t come out. He stays in the paper towel tube. I try to slide him out and he runs the other way. So I pick it up and look inside and this is what I see:

Peanut is still injured. Look at his little hand. Well that’s that, I decide that Peanut has to come back home with me until he fully recovers. So I put Peanut back in the car and start to turn around. I see a group of people walking up the road. I wave. They wave back. I start to pull out and I hear someone command “Hey! Come here!” The tone was not really pleasant – I wonder for a second if I just shouldn’t just keep going. I look back again and it’s a man with a large woman and a child. I figure I’ll back up to them, just in case… So I did. So the woman walks up and in with a very snide tone says: “Whatcha doin?”
Me: “Hi. I found a mouse and I was going to release him back into the wild but he is still injured so I decided to keep him until he recovers.”
Woman: “Well this is our land.”
Me: “Really? It looks abandoned. These are your barns?”
Woman: “Yes and we don’t need no critters round here.”
Me: “Oh, well I thought they were abandoned, sorry.”
Woman: “No we live right there.” She points to a house two lots over.
Me: “Well obviously someone lives there but these barns both look abandoned to me. Do you use them?”
Woman: “Well uh…” she pauses because it’s glaringly obvious that she does not use them. “Out of state plates, huh?” I assume this is meant to be an insult by the way she says it.
Me: “Yeah, I just moved here.”
Woman: “Well we don’t need no critters round here.”
Me: “Well no worries, I’m keeping him until he recovers. So have nice day?” I smile and drive off. There was also some comment about a road but I don’t remember exactly what she said.

Now I don’t know about you, but these barns look abandoned to me.

Photo taken at a distance for safety’s sake.

Peanut Lives!

Woo hooo!!! Peanut is doing excellent this morning – you can see he is using his right arm too. I was so worried that I had injured him trying to get him out of the trap but then I realized it was his right arm that was hurt, and his left side had been stuck to the glue… He must have injured himself trying to get loose. Poor baby.

He is still covered in baby oil but he is very alert and he can move around quite well – much better than yesterday when he kept falling over after two or three steps. I plan on keeping him another day to make sure he can survive and then I will set him free far from here. I think I will leave him with a little stash of food.

I gave him some water last night before I went to bed and I was just so happy and relieved that he seemed like he was going to survive, it made think how there isn’t a drug in the world that can give you the same feeling. Maybe drug addicts should start doing animal rescue

Peanut takes a drink

Yea! I think he’s feeling better. I soaked a q-tip in ice water and he drank from it four times. Look how cute his little tongue is! He is such a tiny little fellow. He tried to clean himself up a bit too. You can see his little arm is still hanging, we’ll have to see how he feels tomorrow. Whew.. what a relief