'AITA for keeping a jar of peanut butter specifically for setting mouse traps?'

"AITA for keeping a jar of peanut butter specifically for setting mouse traps?"

I live in an old house and it’s filled with mice in the winter. Every winter I have an intricate set up of mouse traps stashed throughout the house that I maintain. I check them at least twice daily and empty and reload them as needed. I use peanut butter as bait. The mice LOVE it. I have 6 traps hidden in the mouse hot spots.

When I catch a mouse, I throw away the de*d mouse and reload the trap with peanut butter. We used to have just one jar of peanut butter that my husband used for sandwiches. So if I had to fill 3 traps, I would use three different butter knives to fill them. I would take a clean knife, put peanut butter on it, put it on the trap, toss the knife in the sink. Then repeat with a new clean butter knife.

But one day I found a jar of PB in the pantry that he hasn’t used much of. I accidentally bought him one he didn’t like, then I got him the one he did like, now we have an extra jar he doesn’t use. I said ok, this will be my mouse trap peanut butter! I asked him if I could use this for only mouse traps and if it was okay it would be contaminated and not suitable for human use.

I specifically said I would double or triple dip a butter knife used for a trap in it. He said it was fine. So that’s what I’ve been doing. I labeled the lid and all sides of the jar saying “MOUSE ONLY!” And I’ve been dipping used butter knives in it when I load traps. It’s much easier and less dishes!

Recently he was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and made a comment saying he didn’t really like creamy peanut butter that much and preferred crunchy. I asked him if he used the creamy peanut butter, he said he did. I told him that was what I used for mouse traps and I have double dipped mouse trap knives in there.

I asked why he used it. Now he is mad because he ate peanut butter that’s been contaminated with mice. He says I should’ve moved it into a different container. I asked him if I could commandeer that jar for mice purposes only. He agreed. I also labeled it saying it was for mice traps only.

And he still ate it! It was stored with some food, but in my defense that cabinet that isn’t only food. It contains medications for the cats, cat food, baggies, pan liners, etc. it’s mainly used for emergency overflow of shelf stable food because we don’t have much space. So AITA for keeping a jar of peanut butter that’s been contaminated with mouse traps?

ETA: Again, we have a dirt crawlspace under our house. Mice can and will dig to get into it because it’s warm. That’s how they get in and we cannot afford to make it a concrete crawlspace or something. Mice dig into dirt! I plugged as many holes as I can. I’d rather catch some in select spots in my house. But if I plugged up all the holes in the house, they still get into the walls from the crawlspace.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

No1PoundPup wrote:

NTA, Your husband is the AH here. The jar was clearly labeled. When we get a new jar of PB, I scoop some out into another small jar and keep it in the garage.

OP responded:

We don’t have a garage or anything like that. Our house is very small and space is limited. So the jar was in our “extras” cabinet where I tend to keep good, but usually food for just me.

e-pancake wrote:

NTA at alllll, I wonder what he’d do if he saw a paper bag in the fridge that said "dead dove do not eat."

OP responded:

Is this an arrested development reference? He would maybe relate to that and see he might be the AH.

SweetT333 wrote:

After having several conversations and labeling and moving the jar HE'S STILL eating the mouse peanut butter??!! Does he smoke and get the munchies so bad that he don't care what he eats?? I just don't understand how or why he's still going after this jar. This is so dumb.

Grrrrr_Arghh wrote:

NTA. I'm sorry, but this is SO FUNNY. I hope you can be reassured by these comments that you're NTA so you can move on to enjoying how truly hilarious this was. You did everything right. You asked him and got his approval.

You labeled the jar. Literally the only other thing I could think of for you to do is store the jar under the sink instead of in the pantry, but since your issue is Fiefel and friends running around, it's probably best you didn't do that. You're absolutely in the clear on this. Your husband is just a doof and has only himself to blame for this very amusing anecdote that I hope you will share at many family gatherings to come.

Spare-Shirt24 wrote:

NTA You clearly labeled the jar on ALL SIDES of the jar and on the lid. It's not your fault he chose to ignore the labels on ALL SIDES and on the lid. I used to live in a house with a dog.

We had a regular jar of PB for the humans, and my dog had her own special dog peanut butter that was labeled for her. We did that for the same reasons as you - double dipping the butter knife onto the dog lickpad and we didn't want cross contamination.

sootfire wrote:

NTA. If you eat peanut butter and then you realize that the jar says "MICE ONLY" in big letters you simply need to gracefully accept that you have made an extremely silly mistake. It is not the fault of the person who took every reasonable step to make sure the peanut butter was clearly designated as being for mice.