The Best Ways to Catch a Mouse
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Christmas came early this year for my roommates and I. True to form, it came down the chimney, all bundled in fur, with beady, black eyes and a tail. Ho, ho, hold on... yes, it was a mouse. With only two days to get rid of the little darling before my parents came for a visit, it was necessary to approach the problem with cat-like tread, and determine the best way to catch a mouse.
The Standard
When it comes to catching rodents, your first thoughts are likely to run to your typical "snap/clap" mousetraps. Next to cats and other predatory animals, this method has been around the longest, and is starting to show its age in a society that tends to lean towards more humane means of pest-control. However, if you choose to use these traps, there are a few key points to consider:
- Location, location, location: This is especially important whenever you are attempting to catch an unwanted houseguest. Regardless of what traps you choose to use, the simple truth is if you don't put it in the right place, you're just wasting your time. So, like any good hunter, you must stalk your prey. This means listening for the little scratching and skittering noises associated with rodents, and forcing yourself to actually watch the creature when it comes out of hiding.
For instance, "Houdini" was an escape artist who seemed to literally vanish into the walls, no matter how we barricaded the kitchen. It was only after I got down on my hands and knees and observed him disappearing into a corner, that I discovered the myriad of holes that were in the bottom of the cabinets, and the boards that ran along the edge of the floor. He was not, as we had long theorized, hiding behind the refrigerator. After we knew precisely where he was hiding, it was then very easy to catch him. Therefore, the first rule of trapping a mouse is observation and subsequently, location.
- Bait- Using the proper bait to attract the mouse is clearly another must. However, mice are talented at grabbing the bait without getting caught, so don't think that a slice of cheese is going to work. If you must use cheese, use soft cheeses (like brie) that really stick to the trap. If you use something like Swiss, the mouse will be able to lift it right off the pad, and get away with little worse that a bloody foot. Ideally, I recommend using peanut butter, which is sticky and has a very strong scent.
The Humane
If clap-traps and D-con or other rodent/rat poisons are not to your taste, try this non-lethal method of pest-control. All you need is some type of tube, a box/bucket, and the edge of a table, countertop, or cardboard ramp.
1.) Get a toilet paper tube and crease two lines to form a flat sided tunnel; make sure it looks like a box, rather than a circle, which can roll around when the mouse is inside.
2.) Put a treat on one end of the tube: A cracker with dab of peanut butter works great.
3.) Get a tall (at least 20 inches) box or bucket. A non-lined trash can is ideal; you don't want to suffocate the mouse.
4.) Balance the tube on the edge of a table or counter (or self-made ramp) with the treat hanging directly over the trashcan or tall box; because they like tunnels, the mouse will scamper to the treat and tip into the trap.
You've Caught It... Now What?
Although using rat poison is the easiest way to get rid of a mouse, having a dead rodent rotting inside your walls, in a crawlspace, or in the back of your cabinets is unpleasant and dangerous to your health. Therefore, I recommend using either the standard traps, or the catch and release method, where you are actually assured that the mouse is gone for good.
Once you've either buried or released the mouse (at least a mile away from your residence), there are a few more tasks that you need to do in order to avoid any future unwanted visitors. If your home has already had mice running through, they have left their scent for other mice to follow. Therefore, it is very important to find their entry point and determine how to block it. Also, be sure to clean and disinfect any surfaces with which the mouse may have had contact. This not only gets rid of the scent, but also any other harmful bacteria or goodies that might have been left behind.
What NOT to Do
Before you go out there and start hunting those rascally rodents, here are a few last-minute reminders about what will not work... and also that which can be dangerous for all involved.
1.) Fill any mouse-holes with spackle... especially if the mouse isn't actually inside the hole. Such action will, of course, result in the rodent making another hole. Moreover, trapping the mouse inside its hole will only serve to starve it to death and result in a rotting mouse with a very unpleasant stench.
2.) Think, in any way, that you can simply corner the mouse, scoop it up, and take it outside. Mice chase each other for fun since they are young. They are much faster and smaller than you, and as such, will easily be able to evade you.
3.) Plaster all areas along the floor with sticky-traps, or tape cupboards shut in case they come up through the pipes. Some people are under the misconception that this is far more humane than the clap-traps. However, imagine that you are a mouse, whose body is entirely covered in fur, with a fragile tail, and not much strength; next, picture super-gluing yourself to a sheet of paper, and then trying to pull free, only to rip off your tail and a mass of hair. If you still think this sounds better than death, I invite you to cover your entire arm in duct tape, and then slowly pull it off. Finally, because mice are small and scotch tape is not very strong, chances are, the poor thing will still attempt to squeeze through, and get caught in a similar sticky situation. It will scream, and you will be forced to rescue it. Have fun.
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Comments
This is just what I was looking for. Thanks. I placed eight clamp style mouse traps in my garage. I tried jack cheese, but no prizes. Now I'll try peanut butter.
The week before I placed a sticky trap in the same spot I placed one of the clamp traps, and I caught a mouse in a few hours. Hopefully getting a better bait will help. I was going to try the sticky pads again, but my wife says they're too cruel. But if the clamps don't work, I'll be back to the pads.
Gawd, the thing looks like my hamster :P Gotta love the platypus journalist :)
Thank you :)
I have been living at my current location for almost 10 years nows, and never had a problem with a mouse. Until last week. I noticed one of those creepy monsters running across my floor. So i went out, bought some traps, and set them up with peanut butter. I have had no response, thinking maybe it died. However, I just checked the trap, and the peanut butter was gone, replaced by a greyish goo, i persume is from the mouse. Anywho, nice read, wish me luck.
I've always had more luck with peanut butter than cheese. Not sure if it's the smell or the fact that the peanut butter sticks to the trap better.
I just discovered that inside my kitchen walls there are lots of rats and mouses and their somehow coming out to my kitchen it is a frighting experiment especially when you are alone we put a mouse trap and got 2 of them but there is still lots more to go especially when you live in a basement and the garbage cans are right near your back door you can hear them squeeking in the walls and behind your stove it makes me very nervous the best thing to do is to have the owner quickly patch up all the holes from the outside of your home.
Watching the Discovery once and there was a show on an exterminator. One of the more interestig things was using beer in a saucer as a trap. He set the beer in the middle of a glue trap. Appearantly the rats loved beer, bit their bodies were not able to process it, so they died. I've never had the chance to check it out myself.
I lsaw a mouse for the first time when I came to New York and I'm disgusted! Now I have a couple in my apartment. I had my husband set the snappy traps with peanut butter and cheese!! Do you know that the rodent cleaned the trap spotless and got away!!!!!! HELP
I had a glue trap and the mouse ate the glue and ate its way out of the glue trap it was one of the big rat glue traps T Rex is next
Thanks for the helpful tips. Just so happens we have one. Now I know what to do.
Sometimes my cat brings a live mouse inside as a little gift! Usually the creature gets cornered, and then I catch it using a dustpan and brush. Then I hold the house down with the brush and run into the garden to realease it. This method does require a/ dexterity and b/ steady nerves.
I know one other thing. Those *sticky traps* have not worked at ALL for mice but they work Excellent for ants!!
Riddex Plug In Pest Repeller Unit - I recommend for everyone who has problems with mice, it works for cockroaches as well. Forget about traps, just plug-in and you will forget about mice forever!!!
Very good post. One simple thing to add. When using the Valtrex or other clamp type trap, make sure to put the peanut butter inside the top part of the trap. The mice use the trigger lever to push against and it gets them every time. Putting the peanut butter on or in front of the trigger doesn't work every time.
I live in the country, and due to my job am gone a lot so while I know for a fact a good mouse cat is the best deterrent, I don't have a pet. Ace Hardware sells Valtrex clamp traps and beginning in mid-september I put out the same 4 traps around my stove, fridge, and dryer vent. By no means would I consider my home infested, but it would get that way quick if I wasn't pro-active.
This is October 11th. I got the first one on Wednesday the 8th, and have gotten 3 more since. While posting this I hear another one, and thats ok because I know his days are numbered.
I've been using the same traps for around 4 years, and once the first real freeze hits, I'll leave them out for another couple of weeks to get stragglers but usually its over until the next september when I have to start over.
I'm with many others. Those sticky traps are just terrible. While I do NOT want mice, I cannot justify using those traps. The one time I did I heard a squeaking and found a mouse that had literally torn its belly open trying to get free, and I felt bad. There's no catch and release plan here, but I don't hit puppies with hammers and I don't use sticky traps when the clamps are so effective.
What a cute little mousey! We seem to be having a rat infestation in our roof lately. They're not in the house (with three cats indoors, I doubt that they would have lasted for long), but they are annoying, making lost of noises during the night. We've already trapped two and sounds like there's at least one more.
I hate hurting animals, especially intelligent mammals like mice and rats. I am sure they can feel fear and pain just like dogs, cats and people. We released the two rats we caught, a few miles away from home, out in the fields, and plan on doing the same with the rest of them.
I am not really a fan of using poison, because I worry about other animals, like cats or dogs, eating the mice or the poison. I like your homemade trap idea. That is a really smart idea.
i have just heard a mouse hate killing traps but need to get rid of this pest heard i in the closet and in the back of refridge help help
Be advised that deer mice (the cute ones with red on top and white bellies) can jump much much higher than a house mouse.
Those plug-in Riddex things DO NOT work. I have one on each floor and the mice are back. Last year I used mice poison, but they died and it smelled horrible for days until I could find their bodies. Luckily, they were easy to find - but if they had died in the wall, I would have sold my house from the dreadful smell. The clamps are working for me now, but next summer I'm going under my house to locate their hole. Little buggers.
insidetheactorsstudio
my boyfriend and i had our unwelcomed guest for practically the whole month of december! this was one early christmas present we did not appreciate. we tried every kind of method imaginable but the little stinker wouldn't leave us alone! finally i took my mother's advice and got some decon (america's #1 mouse killer) and in about a week we're pretty sure it died...we didn't see it come out for a visit after that...our maintenance people put out all the typical traps...but decon was the only thing that worked. our mouse was too smart...and wouldn't fall for the peanut butter trap...since then we've kept the decon out incase any other uninvited guests were to drop in (don't worry we don't have any animals that we'd have to worry about getting into the stuff) :D
I dont like the idea of traps because I have to go into my roof to remove the dying or dead creature.I used a pest exterminator and the poison he sprayed in my ceiling under the roof caused the rats to get thirsty which then forces them to get out of the house and they then die outside.And then my husband went around the yard picking them up and then we did a bonfire.Luckily they never came back.Apparently rats that hear a screeching dying rat then avoid the area like the plague(pardon the pun)
The literature describes the way that Zambian farmers use for more than one hundred years. Add beer in the bowl with milk and leave it in the room. In the morning all rats die.
I use a method of letting my rats out and let them kill the mice.They usually eat the babies,but just kill the adults.As long as your rats can come home and now ires to chew on they will be fine.Only problem is my rats can contrract things so I no longer do it.I have heard of vaccines.
I use a method of letting my rats out and let them kill the mice.They usually eat the babies,but just kill the adults.As long as your rats can come home and now ires to chew on they will be fine.Only problem is my rats can contrract things so I no longer do it.I have heard of vaccines.
I had a mouse living under my kitchen cabinets so I placed a snap trap baited with peanut butter out and waited and waited and waited but no mouse. I got to talking to a friend of mine and he suggested that I place the trap against a wall because mice don't see very well and tend to follow the walls for guidance. Sure enough, as soon as I moved it against the wall, I had my mouse in no time. Good luck to all you happy hunters!
Here's a very humane way to catch a mouse we would choose vs those cruel snap traps or glue traps.. just catch them this way and release them a mile away from your home.. We don't have to kill them, just relocate them.
ooops, forgot the link, here it is, a very humane simple way to catch a mouse... it works quickly according to the post here:
Actually, it is not hard to scoop and catch mice. It just takes practice. People tend to think mice a faster than them. That is not true. Consider the size of there legs. In one step, you move much further than they can with dozens of steps. Usually the way mice evade you is to crawl under things. If there is nothing for them to crawl under, they are easy to catch. I have caught several dozen this way. I usually avoid touching them with my hands but instead try to chase them into tin cans or such. Just remember they can jump three feet in the air, so if you open the can to take a peek, prepare for their escape.
Mouse and rat poison is deadly--it can kill not only your pets but your neighbors pets if it leaves your property. Our beloved dog ingested a mouse that was poisoned with D-con and died suddenly--it only takes trace amounts to kill our pets. PLEASE USE TRAPS!
I had to finally use the glue boards, I hate them, but they worked last year. This year, I have 5 boards in my kitchen, and the mice don't ever get caught. I freek out setting the traps. Any suggestions??? maybe put peanut butter on the boards??
I cannot seem to catch this mouse which has been coming into my bedroom for over 8 months now. I'm also hearing another one in the walls and the sound is so annoying.
I need to get rid of this one before another one actually comes in. I've tried peanut butter and chocolate on snap traps but it seemed to evade it. I saw it again a couple of days ago and i'm not sure if it ran into my shower room or hid under another hole.
I have glue board near my door now, but still no sign of it going near it. I don't know what else to do, i've even tried the ultrosonic mouse repellent, useless doesn't work at all. I need some help, landlords given me posion and they have not touched that either. I've got all these products and none are working. It doesn't eat anything but make holes in the carpet. Any suggestions?
Perhaps it's your placement of the traps, have you actually looked around for the holes the mouse is using to get into these rooms? When we were trying to catch the mouse in our house, that was crucial to our success. By blocking the mouse's main pathways, you increase your chances of catching it...
Your humane way to catch a mouse is a very good idea. http://www.trapgopher.com/
....I just let my ferret loose in the house for a couple of days...
Just wondering if nutella spread would work well?
****GREAT ADVICE****: Use a Silicone Sealant to adhere almonds or popcorn kernals to the clamp trap. Gets them everytime! Before we found the mice were fast enough to get the food without settting off the trap! However, the silicone glues the food down and the mice tug at it just enough to set off the trap. Then goodbye mousies. You also get to reuse the food. We have caught 4 mice on the same almond! RIP Romeo, Juliet, Mickey, and Minney. HOUDINI will meet his Maker tonight. Good Luck Everyone!
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Dumbledore says:
2 years ago
This a a very informative post. I agree that peanut butter is the best bait. Where we live, we encounter mice every year and when we used cheese, they would allways seem to get the bait without springing the trap. Cleaver little rascalls they are. Using peanut butter seems to work because they just can't get enough of it. They spring the traps. By the way, we have caught 15 of the little beggars in the last two weeks. I think a mama had babies.