A mouse in my classroom

Tweet

I keep all sorts of snacks in my classroom both for me and for students. Some are things like yogurt, cheese sticks, fruit cups, drinks, etc. and they go in the fridge. Others (protein bars, microwave popcorn, oatmeal, pretzels, nuts) are stored in a cabinet in the lab bench. Well I knew that a mouse had been in there over the Thanksgiving weekend because a bunch of stuff had been chewed into and eaten. I didn't actually see the mouse until today. I opened the cabinet to put my Chromebook in there and don't ya know it was sitting on the top shelf just chilling. I jumped back not because I was scared but because I was startled. I said "holy crap!" and the students asked me what was wrong. I told them there was a mouse. The mouse then ran down to the bottom and under the bottom shelf. A student came around the bench to look and couldn't see it so he announced to the class that I was "tripping". I told him that there really was a mouse. I pulled the bottom shelf all of the way out and sure enough there was the mouse. He yelled "OMG NJChicaa isn't tripping!" That attracted like half of the class to see it. Some were freaking out while others were taking a video. I was cracking up. Eventually the mouse ran out of the cabinet and went between the 2 parts of the lab bench. Girls were screaming when it went out of the cabinet. I swear it was like the squirrel scene in Christmas Vacation. I called the office and asked for a custodian to bring up several glue traps. (yes I know they are cruel but they are all that we are allowed to use) That was 6th period. By the beginning of 8th I called again to ask the secretary to remind them to bring the traps since I was leaving in 20 minutes. Nope. Nothing. As much as I don't like the idea of the thing having free run of the room for almost 2 weeks I'm not really mad that the custodians blew me off. I've walked into a room with dead mice after a 4 day weekend. I can't imagine how awful it would smell after almost 2 weeks. I will launch my war against the mouse when I get back to work.