144 Seedlings, 2 mice, and a whole lot of heartache.

This week’s blog is a cautionary tale. A story of $80 worth of seed, four hours of work, all to feed two mice.
My Sunday started with the realization that I really needed to get my pepper seeds in soil and start the germination process. After about forty minutes of sorting through seed packages, preparing my planting area with peat pots, potting soil and labels to keep track of my efforts, I started a somewhat arduous session of planting.
I have a rule of thumb I use when planting seeds; any packet that has a germination below 70% I double plant. Considering the relatively lengthy germination time for Peppers, I think it a safer bet to use more seed to ensure I have something to plant. It’s this approach that makes my cautionary tale a sad one as well.
Four hours after I had begun the seeding session, I had 144 neatly planted peat pots in plastic trays ready to go out in the sun to warm up and start the process. Currently, every spare inch of space I have is occupied by plants that I've been starting since February. It’s April in Colorado and that means that we still might have a significant freeze and Lord only knows how much snow might fall between now a when the real planting season starts.

So I got this brilliant idea to use a 6 foot folding table and place the Pepper seedling in the driveway during the day and in the garage at night. Seemed like a great idea, slide the table in the sun in the morning and back into the garage at night to avoid a potential frost. Mind you I've never done this before, but I've never planted 144 Pepper plants before.
The following morning I dutifully set out to transfer my seedlings outside when I noticed that a great many of the peat pots had the soil disturbed.A mouse must be in the house. Upon closer inspection, almost two-thirds of the pots had holes dug in the soil and the others were potential vandalized by the little culprit. You can imagine my displeasure. I set the seedlings outside and proceed to calculate my losses. A trip to the store to replace the seeds and to replant everything was on my agenda. There was no way to know really if the seed had been eaten, so my only recourse was to start over. Here is where the story turns tragic. 
That night, after replanting my seed, I set out to have it out with my nemesis. I loaded up a brand new wooden mouse trap with a large slather of peanut butter, laid some burlap over the seedling trays and set the trap on top. If he visited again, I was positive that the trap would draw the first attention, and I’d have my revenge. When my wife, Sally, returned that evening, I explained the damage and showed her my plan. 45 minutes later I needed to go to the garage for something and when I opened the door I half expected to see a mouse in the trap. To my surprise and dismay, I found the trap still loaded but missing the peanut butter. It was all gone; sneaky mouse for sure.
I had the mouse’s attention, he liked the peanut butter and it was just a matter of reloading the bait and waiting for the inevitable. Two hours later and the anticipation of the “kill” was too much for me; I checked the trap. Anyone want to guess what I found? If you said “an empty trap missing the peanut butter,” you’d be correct. I laid some wood on the trays and went on to plan my strategy for the next morning.
Apparently I had purchased a defective trap. Made in China and sold through Ace Hardware, my decision to buy the cheap trap had cost me a pretty penny. I set off the next day to get the “Best” mouse trap money could buy. Anyone want to guess how many mouse traps are available at the Home Depot? Suffice it to say a bunch. I ended up purchasing a trap that reminded me of a cartoon bear trap. Sporting gnarly, albeit, plastic teeth. Armed with my new secret weapon, I was determined to send my little mouse friend to meet his maker.
That evening when I brought the seedlings into the garage, I set my new trap and decided to wait until the next morning to see if I had been triumphant. 5:30 am the next morning, I entered the garage hoping my luck had gotten better and the mouse’s had run out. VICTORY was mine! The mouse who had stolen my seeds and eaten a great deal of my peanut butter laid before me having passed on to the big garden in the sky. His death was quick and clean; he never knew what hit him.
Seems like a happy ending to the story, but unfortunately I had never considered a second mouse. Without boring you with a similar story (almost identical). I set the newly planted tray in the garage without a cover or trap only to awake and find the second mouse had done more damage than the first.
Long story short, all the pots have been replanted (twice) and each night they are covered and a trap is set.
Oh and the second mouse, he too has joined his brother in the next life.
Mice can ruin your day when it comes to seedlings, make sure you have considered their stealth and ability to get into and on top of almost anything especially if they are motivated by fresh Pepper seeds.

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Sincerely,

Brad and Sally Wicks