Rodent Control

 I stopped at Lowe's today and invested in a supply of mousetraps.  We have had no signs of mice for 10 years, when our new 4-month old kitten, Maybe, caught a mouse as it emerged from beneath the oven door.  I keep our fall decor Indian corn in a mesh bag in the basement.  During the few years when we were catless, some of the corn would be nibbled off the ears.  But for the last decade, we've been able to use the same corn.  Until this year.  One ear was completely stripped of its kernels.  Well, down in the cellar, who cares?  But the mice moved upstairs, a whole litter of them apparently.  Oddly enough, they haven't gnawed into any of the sealed cartons or boxes of food. Everything else is in the refrigerator so the only thing they've nibbled on is the tomatoes I've left to ripen on the kitchen counter.  It appears that Maybe has retired from catching mice; she only stares in the direction where she senses they are, quite accurately too.  I suspect the mice are eating her catfood at night.  Her dish is cleaned out in the morning, unusual for her.
    In the past few weeks I've collected all the unused traps from the basement, the cabinet and even in the outdoor shed.  I've challenged myself to bait and set them and even remove the little coffins from the counters after they snap, but there is no way that I can bring myself to remove the carcass from the traps, so mouse and trap goes into the garbage.  So I ran out of traps.
   Today I bought different versions of the mousetrap.  They are by TOMCAT, and one set of traps is billed as disposable and the other as reusable.  They are guaranteed to kill mice, have a one-touch set, and offer clean disposal.  They are plastic and almost attractive.  The disposable traps contain the trapped mouse after it triggers the spring, and you can throw it away without ever laying eyes on the body.  The reusable model is black plastic, and after the mouse springs the setting, you can release its body by pressing the lever on the closed, opposite end, or else throw the whole thing away.
     Right now, I have 3 traps set, baited with peanut butter.  I have a minor panic attack whenever I hear the loud snap.  I'm hoping the mice have all been eradicated, or have moved away.
      I have the thought that when Pope Francis said that there was a place in heaven for all God's creatures if that would  include mice, and if so, how will they react meeting those who killed them.  And what about termites and cockroaches?