Your choice---fleas or mice?

[MMof5]

In this hypothetical, you have only one choice to make.

There are mice in your house. You can co-exist with said mice, or you can bring in the cat, which has fleas. No, you cannot use flea shampoo or Frontline (no cheating by suggesting a generic, either). You have to keep the fleas.

So which would you choose, fleas or mice?

[Solare]

ummm...that's a tough one. I can send you some frontline...LOL

[MMof5]

LOL! Actually we can get that here. It's a real life saver. Our house is now both flea and mouse free (as far as we know). I just thought it would be a fun one to ask.

If it were me, I'd take the mice. I keep all important things in plastic totes anyway. But dh is afraid of mice (so bad that he can't sleep), so we keep the cat indoors for him. If it were fleas, they would eat me alive and I wouldn't sleep.

Yes, thank God for Frontline!

[Solare]

yes! I agree. We've just dealt with a flea infestation recently ourselves and one frontline treatment has almost taken care of it. I'm still going to keep treating the cat. She's due for another one next week, but that stuff is miraculous.

[still_me]

Mice all the way. I can use bleach to clean with. I hate, hate, hate, fleas. Just the thought of them makes my skin crawl.

[ColleenF30]

I think I would prefer the fleas over mice.....Damn make it hard why don't ya?

[Meredith]

Hmmm.

My first instinct said mice, but I don't really care for either. Still, I'm thinking mice would be the lesser of the two evils. I would probably set out little box traps and then set them free. Then the cat can play with them. LOL.

[crystal555rose]

Ugh to both! Fleas are bloodsuckers so I would probably choose mice but go to great lengths to keep them out of my living area. Like providing food and a mouse house outside.

[Sputterduck]

Mice for sure!

[ChristmasTree]

some of your remember the Von Rattinhousen resident i had for 1 year... so i would say mice.

[Givebac]

Mice, easier to kill or turn into pets. Just think of them as gerbils.

[Amy_G_]

eh, mice carry worse diseases than fleas. I would choose the fleas but would pick them off the cat, squish them with my fingernails and then do that obsessively until there were no more fleas. :)

[Justicedog]

mice -- I'd call them mickey and minnie

[HammBugga]

Definitely not mice. Definitely not fleas.

[3girls2luv]

I would move out. I don't think I could live with either. When I was married to my first husband we lived in the country and there was a field across the road and they started to clear it to build a rail road. Well that sent all the little critters our way.

It was awful, we killed at least 10 a day and our cat could not be bothered she would just stare at them while they ate out of her bowl.

We had a flea infestation in our yard this summer and that was a nightmare. They never fully made it into the house but we had to spray our ankles before we went outside especially when we would go out in the back yard.

Our poor dogs had to be dipped and it took us several days to get the fleas off of them.
I thought they were going to carry my chihuahua away.

So no thank you I would not want to live with either.

[tata]

Considering that I hate rodents passionately, I'll pick fleas (but only cause you are making me).

[StillSingingMom]

eh, mice carry worse diseases than fleas. I would choose the fleas but would pick them off the cat, squish them with my fingernails and then do that obsessively until there were no more fleas. :)


Mice do carry worse diseased than fleas. Also, there is no law saying that mice can't carry fleas- bubonic plague, anyone? I'd keep the cat, and if I couldn't get Frontline (yes, it IS wonderful stuff) I'd consider all the other strategies for flea control.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Mice. I entertained myself as a kid by watching the mice play. :p

[MMof5]

It would be horrible to have both!

Now, what if I had asked y'all to choose between an indoor snake and mice?

I would still pick the mice.

[KatieLou]

Mice.

[KerryS]

Mice, definitely.

But luckily, those aren't the only two choices. I'd go for option C, an indoor cat who doesn't have fleas.

And I've had indoor snakes voluntarily. But they wouldn't fix the mice problem, as it's not wise to let your snakes roam free in the house.

[HammBugga]

Don't you people realize how fast mice procreate? You may start off with two but in a few months time you'll have 20, a few months more, you'll have 80. No freaking way!

[Sputterduck]

Fleas procreate fast, too. And they're not cute.

[KatieLou]

Somehow, when DD was little,we got fleas in our house. We have never had any indoor animals at all. So we have no idea how they got it. But they were horrible to get rid of. My uncle is a exterminator, and thankfully he came ever time we needed him, for free. Poor DD would wake up every moring with flea bites.

We have had mice, one or two here or there, in the past at the other house. At least they were easier to get rid of. I prefer neither, but if I had to choose, I would take the mice!

[3girls2luv]

You could always feed the mice to the snake ;) Snakes can't have fleas so problem solved! No mice. No fleas ;) Oh damn I forgot I hate snakes. eeeeek!

[HammBugga]

Mice are so not cute. They chew everything up and shit all over the place. They carry disgusting diseases and ruin food.

[still_me]

Mice are so not cute. They chew everything up and shit all over the place. They carry disgusting diseases and ruin food.


I'm well aware of what mice do. I can set up poison and traps though, and wipe out entire nests. Plus, I have an indoor cat. ;) He loves catching mice. Fleas on the other hand are horrible. DS1 and 2 both react really badly to flea bites. Fleas also can hibernate in floor board cracks. Fleas in carpet...*gag*. There is a lot of cleaning you can do with mice, with fleas you are basically screwed.

[JudyJudyJudy]

It would be horrible to have both!

Now, what if I had asked y'all to choose between an indoor snake and mice?

I would still pick the mice.
fleas + mice = bubonic plague ;)

FWIW, I wasn't joking earlier when I said that when I was a kid, I used to entertain myself by watching the mice play. Now, the little guy who lived in our bathtub drain was a whole other story, though; he freaked me out.

[HammBugga]

I'm well aware of what mice do. I can set up poison and traps though, and wipe out entire nests. Plus, I have an indoor cat. ;) He loves catching mice. Fleas on the other hand are horrible. DS1 and 2 both react really badly to flea bites. Fleas also can hibernate in floor board cracks. Fleas in carpet...*gag*. There is a lot of cleaning you can do with mice, with fleas you are basically screwed.
The OP meant that the only deterrent for mice that you could use for mice was a cat with fleas.

[KerryS]

Don't you people realize how fast mice procreate? You may start off with two but in a few months time you'll have 20, a few months more, you'll have 80. No freaking way!

Fleas procreate at an exponentially faster rate than mice. When I was a preteen, we had a flea infestation at our house, and my ankles and calves were COVERED in flea bites. You'd walk through the living room and you could see fleas jumping out of the carpet. The cats liked to sleep with me at night, and I'd wake up in the morning and find fleas in my hair. It was absolutely DISGUSTING and I have had a rabid hatred of fleas ever since.

[Meredith]

Fleas procreate at an exponentially faster rate than mice. When I was a preteen, we had a flea infestation at our house, and my ankles and calves were COVERED in flea bites. You'd walk through the living room and you could see fleas jumping out of the carpet. The cats liked to sleep with me at night, and I'd wake up in the morning and find fleas in my hair. It was absolutely DISGUSTING and I have had a rabid hatred of fleas ever since.

We had the same issue when I was a kid, and we had shag carpeting - really old shag. The fleas freakin' loved that carpet. It was horrible. We had to move out and bomb the place a few times to get rid of them. I really wish my parents would have just torn up the carpet. It's still actually still there. It's pretty nasty.

[3girls2luv]

Fleas procreate at an exponentially faster rate than mice. When I was a preteen, we had a flea infestation at our house, and my ankles and calves were COVERED in flea bites. You'd walk through the living room and you could see fleas jumping out of the carpet. The cats liked to sleep with me at night, and I'd wake up in the morning and find fleas in my hair. It was absolutely DISGUSTING and I have had a rabid hatred of fleas ever since.


Yuck that must have been horrible. When we had fleas in our yard my girls could not even play outside because they would be covered in them. We had to run to our car and literally jump in or we would have them all over our legs. Dh treated the yard and you could here this popping sound after he would spray the yard.

[JudyJudyJudy]

It's very hard to get rid of fleas, too. I moved into an apartment that was infested. When I was getting everything straightened out, I got eaten up by them. I had not even brought my cats to the apartment yet. Then I brought my cats, and it got worse until we were finally able to get the fleas under control (which wasn't easy).

[jessiehannan]

Fleas. I hate mice. I remember spending the night at my aunt and uncles house and waking up to go to the bathroom and seeing my aunt passed out on the couch with rats crawling on her and chewing on her toes. I ran back across the street to my grandmas and slept there.

[Sputterduck]

Fleas. I hate mice. I remember spending the night at my aunt and uncles house and waking up to go to the bathroom and seeing my aunt passed out on the couch with rats crawling on her and chewing on her toes. I ran back across the street to my grandmas and slept there.


OMG

[jessiehannan]

OMG

I still come unglued when I see a mouse or a rat. I hate rodents of any sort.

[RaisingThemLeft]

I'd bring in the cat. Mice cause a lot of damage and are harder to get rid of. With fleas, you can just bug bomb afterwards. Besides, mice and fleas go hand in hand. Mice have fleas too, so chances are, if you have a mice problem, you will also end up with fleas! Nice, huh? Unfortunatly I speak from experience.

[Babyhellfire]

I'd bring in the cat. Mice cause a lot of damage and are harder to get rid of. With fleas, you can just bug bomb afterwards. Besides, mice and fleas go hand in hand. Mice have fleas too, so chances are, if you have a mice problem, you will also end up with fleas! Nice, huh? Unfortunatly I speak from experience.

I agree. Mice can carry fleas too.
I can't imagine dealing with mice.

[still_me]

The OP meant that the only deterrent for mice that you could use for mice was a cat with fleas.


I know that. I was talking about more RL than a hypothetical situation for that exact post.

[HammBugga]

well I was referring to the OP. If I had a choice I would still choose fleas. They are fairly easy to get rid of and I hate mice. I have had major infestations like Kerry described too. A few bombs got rid of them. I would rather be awakened by a flea bite than a mouse in my bed! One time when I was a kid I put my foot down from the bed in the morning and felt something get on my foot so I kicked it really hard and heard a thump, turned on the light and it was a HUGE mouse! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[dalurker]

If the population of each is supposed to be comparable, I say fleas, but I reject the notion of not being able to get rid of them, even for a hypothetical exercise. I'm killin' 'em if by nothing but borax and salt. I'd whole bunch rather battle fleas than the same number of mice.

Many years ago, we were living in a neighborhood that was destroyed in a flood and ended up having to move into an apartment that was absolutely overrun with mice. It was awful. The housing authority maintenance guys put out all these glue traps and that did make me squeamish, so they put out a bunch of snap traps. Good grief, at night it sounded like someone was clapping in there. I'd get up to to check traps and step on scrambling mice on the way. And roaches. I have never seen such an infestation. I had small children at the time and it was a nightmare.

[Camille]

Mice. I am allergic to fleas.... but don't mice also carry fleas?

[HammBugga]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh that is disgusting dalurker.

[dalurker]

Yes. And fleas also carry tapeworms.

[Camille]

Yes. And fleas also carry tapeworms.

Ick. I feel lucky. When I lived with my stepbrother, he had fleas so bad that I still have scars on my legs. Glad I didn't get tapeworms (or the kids).

[dalurker]

You'd have to ingest one. If there is a bad enough infestation, though, it probably wouldn't be that hard. How's that for creepy?

[Camille]

Ick, ick, ick.... Yeah. Yuck!

[JudyJudyJudy]

You'd have to ingest one. If there is a bad enough infestation, though, it probably wouldn't be that hard. How's that for creepy?
I had a stray cat that died from that. I took the cat in, and it got skinny very quickly. I was planning to take it to the vet on a Tuesday (my day off), but it was dead when I woke up on Monday. I freaked out and called the vet, and I ended up taking it in to get an autopsy because I had other cats and was scared. The vet said that it had huge tapeworms—that it probably had gotten hold of an infested rodent.

[kasumisniper]

I thought the worms were actually flea larva.

[dalurker]

Aw, Judy, I'm sorry.

[MMof5]

EW! This thread is so gross. Who started such a thing anyway?! LOL!

I'm SOOOO glad things aren't as cut and dry as the hypothetical in my OP. I'm glad we have other options than to just live with one or the other.

And, yes, I do thank God for Frontline. I'm not kidding.

Dh is afraid of mice. Last year we were staying in our friends' home while they were on furlough. Well, their place had a bad mouse problem with winter coming on and we had to do everything we could to get rid of them. One night one climbed into our bed. Dh grabbed a blanket and sat in a rocking chair all night. He didn't sleep well the rest of the time we were there.

And that was WITH their cat inside and poison in the basement and locked rooms.

Many nights a mouse would fall into dh's bedside trash can (the kind with the lid that swings open and shut). They would jump to try to get out and make loud thumping noises. dh wouldn't even carry the trash can out of the room because of his fear. I hated to see him like that and also hated the many sleepless nights as a result.

We got the mouse situation under control just in time for our friends to come back.

Now this year the mice are beginning to come in for winter----so dh is trying to catch it before it becomes a problem. Our indoor/outdoor cat is perfect. Her Frontline had worn off, so she did have a few fleas. I fixed that, though, and we're all set for the time being.

[MMof5]

And now you want to hear about the two large snakes (non poisonous) we found living in our mission apartment?

Even after they were gone I remember quoting a certain verse to myself over and over----I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou o Lord only makest me dwell in safety.

[Crabbie]

eh, mice carry worse diseases than fleas. I would choose the fleas but would pick them off the cat, squish them with my fingernails and then do that obsessively until there were no more fleas. :)

My hubs would do the SAME EXACT thing . . he already does it to our kitteh's.

Don't you people realize how fast mice procreate? You may start off with two but in a few months time you'll have 20, a few months more, you'll have 80. No freaking way!

They are like roaches.

[Carolina]

That's a tough one. I'm super scared of mice and fleas are the worst thing ever as well.