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Super-Insulation for Mice
Since the last synthetic insulation factory operated by creatures other than humans (Dolphins) closed shop eons ago, it's easy to understand why one might think that superinsulated living spaces are an idea stictly for humans. But not so... according to me. In the winter of 2005, I caught a mouse that was living under our metal roof. I didn't want the mouse to be burrowing through our three inches of urethane foam. But neither did I want to do my usual act of walking the mouse far our into the woods and dropping it as to prevent it from finding it's way back. The weather had turned too cold and the mouse would not have time to collect the necessary grasses and seeds to last the winter. So I decided (with some reservations) to play host to the mouse for the winter (i.e. keep it in a cage inside the house).
Now, I know what you're thinking, great idea. Right?... Right? Well, I had a 10 gallon glass fish tank that was half-filled with pond water - left over from trying to raise tadpoles... and then trying to raise goldfish - both of which had passed on from unknown causes. So the tank was inhabitted solely by a couple Golden Pothos plants I'd thrown in at some point, and whatever micro-organisms may have been in the water. I pulled out the 2 smallest plants and popped them into a couple glass jars I'd saved to use for the purpose of giving away home-made pickles for Christmas (Click Here for the wonderful pickle recipe!). Now I had the 10 gallon tank free for the mouse. I popped the mouse in with a little bread, water and some paper towels and carboard for bedding and threw a sheet of corrugated cardboard over the top (weigted down of course) and called the job done.
Now, I know what you're thinking - corrugated cardboard as a lid - for a mouse?! You're crazy - it'll chew through! Well, Einstein, what you're not considering is, "How on earth can the mouse get up to the top to chew through? It has nothing to hold onto!" So I left the mouse for the night and went to bed. The next morning I noticed that one of the blossoms from my passion flower plant had been chewed a bit... perhaps by a mouse? Well, despite all my best logic, the mouse DID in fact chew through and escaped. I noticed the small hole it had made which probably took all of two minutes to create. So now the mouse was loose in the house - AND drugged up on passion flower buds (which are mildly sedative when consumed).
The plan became to leave the trap out with some peanut butter the next night and to recatch the mouse, yet then there occured a ironic twist that would be perfectly at home in a sitcom. While verbally lementing the difficulty the mouse was causing me by requiring me to secure every bag of bulk oats, rice, barley etc in the house, the small creature walked right into my line of sight on the floor. I hopped up, grabbed a container lid in an effort to catch him (or "her" as we found out later) and made for the mouse, which quickly scurried behind a cupboard. AH HA! Now HERE is the real power in building your own house. You know where everything is - even behind walls, with a quick confirmation run to the basement, I was able to determine that the mouse was trapped (albeit out of my reach) behind that single cabinet and had nowhere else to exit but for one side. We had him. So we set up camp and waited for him (her) to exit. The mouse did. Slowly, walking right into our trap. Carefully it stepped out. Vulnerable and exposed in the middle of the floor... Then it disappeared - poof. No real explaination - just gone.
Fast forward an hour later (after a silent stalking - listening for it's foot steps in our silent house) it's up in the loft - how did it get there? Who knows, but there it is staring down at me. Poof - gone again! Whooosh - another hour! It's under the dresser - cornered! Now here it pays to take in the situation. Now, human brains are so much bigger than the mouse's entire body, that if you dropped a human brain on a mouse, it would easily immobilize the creature under our brain's weight. So we decided to stop trying to outspeed the creature and out smart it. I stared at the mouse as my wife closed up every escape route and then we spooked the mouse out and - bang! Captured it under that old container lid.
Now you're surely wondering what the entire escapade with the mouse has to do with super-insulation? Not much, but the point is, this mouse and I now had HISTORY - a deep bond created through the hunt. Than night, I put a lexan cover on the cage. No bigdeal for the mouse, it just started chewing INCREDIBLY NOISILY on the plastic trim. At 1:30am, I got up and walked over to the cage. The mouse's lower half, tail and underbelly are dangling from the top as it chewed eagerly on the trim. It was at this point, it became obvious that this was a girl mouse. A pile of black plastic debris is accumulating below. It's so noisy - and I'm SO tired. I spook the mouse (she doesn't spook easily), it runs into it's nest of cardboard and paper. I slide the lid back carefully and start pulling the trim off. Actually, "tearing" is a more accurate word. It's glued on with silacone glue, but the glue bond is no match for my sleep-deprived agression! SNAP - One piece off! SNAP - another! SNAP - this is going to work out fine! SNAP-CRACK! What? I cracked the tank glass! Why me?! I quickly tape the cracks up to keep the pieces in place and decide that this mouse has to go. Aside from all the aggrivation, I have nothing left to keep her in! She has to go, but it's so cold out - and she'll have no food. What to do? How can this problem be solved? The mouse was here before I built my house, I have no right to kill it - MUST FIND SOLUTION???
SUPER-INSULATION!!! I can build a house for the mouse that will keep it warm - OUTSIDE. And give it a supply of food! Wow, who would have thought that sustainable technologies would ever save the day?... Well, probably anyone who knows about UN-sustainability - but that's aside from the point! Behold the Super-Insulated Mouse House:
Created with 2 inch urethane foam (left over from the house), the house has a 2 inch floor and then the labyrinth walls - acting as air baffles - then another 2 inch roof that covers the entire piece as seen above. Duct tape seals the cracks, and a plastic bag gives it an extra barrier from water.
The central room held grain and cereal stores - plus some bedding and this mouse has a warm and dry place to live with ample food for the cold winter. The last step was to bury it with some snow to even further insulate and that's it. Super-insulation saves the day!
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