Survivors of the great mouse disaster!

[laughlinfan]

Back in 1979, I bought a bunch of the Smooth-N-Juicy gum cello packs at the end of the year, and threw them in a dresser drawer in my bedroom. Fast forward about 25 years, and I was back at my parents' house looking through some things and opened said drawer, only to find out that mice apparrently can't resist "juicy" gum, even if it is 25 years old! Ended up catching the mouse and took him for a long drive (he looked pretty pleased with himself running away into the woods!) but he had literally chewed up every pack. I thought the packs were just a sad memory, but was recently happy to find two stowaways in a small drawer in an old tool drawer box my uncle made a good 50 or 60 years ago that I threw some miscellaneous stuff in. Mets on the top of both packs, so I am sure my long and tortured history of Mets fandom helped save them! Clearly these packs were made to be opened and not saved, but these two survivors make me smile when I see them!

Happy collecting!

[CW]

Great story! Those are cool packs. Not sure I've seen one like that before.

Let us know the results if you open them, but you might want to check and see if they are more rare and valuable than a standard cello from that year. You'd be surprised how much unopened packs go for these days.

[71buc]

Ozzie is calling, you gotta open them:)

[pokerplyr80]

I have no idea what those are worth unopened but I doubt I could resist the temptation to open them myself for long.

[Volod]

I'm sorry to say that I have no interest in gum cello packs, but I wonder if your local animal control agency might be disapproving of the inhumane treatment of your house pet. Not that it bothers me - when I lived in a remote rural area, not a day went by that I didn't see some urbanite dropping off one or more unwanted animals and speeding away.:D

[steve B]

Those packs are pretty interesting. And they're probably tougher than the regular cellos.

Somehow I don't recall mine having the same gum pack. I'll have to look.


Some of our mice get the same treatment.

When I first went to buy traps, my daughter wondered "why do we have to dead the mice" No explanation really worked... So we made a deal the ones that go in the live catch traps (which mostly don't work) Or get trapped in the trash barrel get taken to a park a few miles away.

The rest..... Snap!

[laughlinfan]

I picked them up late in the year in 79 because I thought the packaging was cool. Didn't imagine that would lead to their demise 25 years later! Guessing they were trying to use their cards to promote their rival to Bubble Yum - never really heard of Smooth n Juicy after that, so I am guessing it wasn't too successful.

And as far as me being an urbanite, I grew up with cow pastures across the road from me, next to me, and behind our house! Just moved the mouse a few miles down the country road. Guessing with his belly full, he was too full to hitchhike back, and should have had plenty of time to set up a new home in his new digs! We kept the cats that would get dropped off, but when a mouse moves in, he has to hit the road!

And we have always had great luck with live traps - every country bumpkin knows that the one thing mice love more than Smooth-n-Juicy gum is a nice aromatic helping of Jif peanut butter! "Choosy mice choose Jif!"

[Kurri17]

That's an amazing find. Whether or not it affects your choice, I would throw it out there that I haven't seen many '79 Super Cello baseball packs before. Have seen some of the football from that year, but not baseball.

I'm no expert, but I do follow and collect unopened stuff from the '70s. You might want to do your own research if you care about potential value. If not, have a blast opening up that time capsule.

[tschock]

And we have always had great luck with live traps - every country bumpkin knows that the one thing mice love more than Smooth-n-Juicy gum is a nice aromatic helping of Jif peanut butter! "Choosy mice choose Jif!"

Along with chipmunks and squirrels.

Hopefully you moved him far enough away so he doesn't come back. I found out from an animal expert who came to trap/evict a possum/raccoon from our attic and walls, that my chipmunk relocation project of releasing the critters into the woods even 3-4 miles away might not help. He told me you need to go out 15-20 or they can find their way back. Now if I could only convince the hawks to focus on them instead of the other birds...

Very cool re-discovery, BTW!

[steve B]

And we have always had great luck with live traps - every country bumpkin knows that the one thing mice love more than Smooth-n-Juicy gum is a nice aromatic helping of Jif peanut butter! "Choosy mice choose Jif!"


Yep, Peanut butter is great.


Two different types of live catch traps did almost nothing. The first was the gray ones that tip, But with too much peanut butter they just tip the second they're touched, or when you walk across the floor.

The second kind was a plastic box with a swinging door hinged at the top. They simply wouldn't go in there.


Leaving the bag out of the kitchen trash though..... That worked great without any bait, and they were contained for the trip to the park. I keep wondering when I'm going to get questioned for dumping though.....


We're in an urban area now, but I also grew up in relatively rural areas.

[laughlinfan]

The struggle is real! I have had luck with both of the traps! The clear swinging hinged door type did not work well until I drilled several small holes in it, serving both the double purpose of air flow for the little guy, but also to let the nutty aroma make it's way to any passers by.

Here is the back of one of the packs. I don't remember if there is anything printed on the other side - not sure I ever opened one of these back in the day, and I have blocked out all memories of the post disaster cleanup! Would have been cool if they would have thrown a nice player picture on one side of that oversized card!

[steve B]

I probably have that insert card somewhere. The key word being "somewhere" :o