RODENT PROBLEM

I work in an older but lovely building that has lots of exposed brick and large wooden beams throughout the structure. It’s a character building that houses many business offices and even a few restaurants on the lower floors. I was told during the summer that occasionally the building has a bit of a rodent problem because they are attracted to the food and food waste produced by the restaurants. There was a chance the pests could possibly reach our floor but that was unlikely since the restaurants were more likely targets.

When we returned to work after the holiday, we discovered that perhaps these rodents weren’t so discriminating after all. One of my coworkers had left a sealed plastic bag full of cereal on his desk. We came back to find the bag had been chewed or otherwise torn apart and cereal had been strewn across his desk. Close by to the mess were a few mouse droppings. We believe the rodent was a mouse because the droppings were much too small to be a rat.

In response, the desk was cleaned off and my coworker no longer leaves food on his desk overnight. A pest control dude was called in and he laid some traps under a few desks, along some walls, and in our kitchen area. At least to my knowledge, nothing has been caught yet. Just this week another coworker discovered some more mouse dropping on her desk. It’s unclear if these droppings were fresh or just undiscovered until now.

I’ve taken care not to leave any food on my desk overnight. I did, however, leave a Nestle Crunch on my desk and forgot to take it home or put in my desk drawer. Luckily, nothing happened and I got to it before the mouse did. Now, I just have a hard plastic container of chewing hum on my desk, which I ensure is sealed whenever I’m done with it.

I’ve been also lucky in that I haven’t seen any mouse dropping on my own desk. That’s not to say that a mouse hasn’t walked across my desk or my keyboard though. The thought of that kinda makes me uncomfortable but at least the little dude was kind enough to not poop on my stuff.

I’m not sure if the traps the pest control dude laid out are effective. I’m thinking we should go old school and get the battle-tested ones. I’m tempted to buy one and bait it with some peanut butter and lay it out near my desk. I am afraid though that it might actually work and I’ll come in one morning and find a dead and smushed mouse by my desk.

At this point, I’ll settle for the mouse never pooping on my desk.