Poor little mouse. He (she?) seems to have itchy skin. Really itchy. Pete and Aidan picked up some holistic spray that is supposed to help (how?). I've spritzed him a couple of times (you are supposed to avoid the eyes and "flush" if it gets in the eyes - excuse me - on a mouse?? have you seen how tiny their eyes are?). I started off this morning attempting internet suggested remedy - duct tape on the back foot. Hah. So I ended up plopping the tape over the raw patch. Poor mouse. Before dousing him this afternoon I ripped off the tape - it came with a heck of a lot of hair attached. Poor mouse. This eve we had him out in his run around ball. Paying NO attention to him. When suddenly Pete saw him run under the stove - sans ball... Oops! The lid had fallen off before so we knew better than to ignore him in the ball. Thankfully he popped out a couple times and when he was fully out I scooped him up and returned him to his cage. I would have hated to have had to get out the mousetraps we used last year... We are actually quite fond of the little guy! He has gotten used to us and seems fairly happy to be handled etc. I think Pete and i enjoy him more than the kids. He was living on Aidan's desk until Ellie slept over after the Disney on Ice Show on Wednesday - when his squeaky wheel running was keeping her from sleeping. Now he resides in the middle of the hallway for our amusement.