Summary: Here is the scoop on how to catch a mouse with a snap trap or glue board. Learn the proper method of setting a mouse trap and save yourself hundreds of dollars in professional pest control service fees.
You have discovered some half-eaten food in the pantry and have determined that your teenaged son is not the culprit. You know for sure because you have also found little black droppings nearby and you can hardly blame those on your kid. You need to jump into action so you drive to the hardware store and purchase two packs of Victor Mouse Traps, a well-known brand.
Armed with your mini arsenal you set your traps near the scene of the crime and wait in anticipation for the next morning to arrival to claim victory over the unwanted intruders. However, upon rising at daybreak, throwing open the cabinet where you placed your traps, you are whole-heartedly disappointed to find the traps empty and apparently unvisited. What went wrong?
Here is what I advise do-it-yourself pest controllers regarding catching mice.
Quick Kill
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With snap traps you need to pre-bait, pre-bait, pre-bait. You need to let rodents get use to something you put in their territory before loading the trap. Mice are naturally curious and show less caution then do rats. Even so, they will not jump onto a trap until they have achieved some level of comfort. So, put the traps out in the exact location you think there is mouse activity. Leave the traps sit without setting the spring bar. Put some morsel of food on the trap trigger just to help you determine if the trap has been visited by the mouse. Try to use the same food they have been eating from your cabinets. If the bait has been taken, repeat the process one more day. If the bait has not been taken, move the trap to another location and repeat the process.
Once the trap bait has been taken two consecutive days, set the spring bar and re-bait the trap with the same morsel of food as the previous two days. The third day will bring you positive results. Glue boards don't require pre-baiting, as a rule.
Now, placement of the trap is critical to success. Mice are wall runners, using their body fur and whiskers to guide them along walls. When you set your snap trap you must place it so that the trigger is directly against the wall. Place the trap perpendicular to the wall (like a T), not parallel (=) to the wall. If you place it parallel the trap will not catch mice coming from the rear of the trap. If you place it perpendicular, a mouse can approach from the left or right side of the trap and still be exposed to setting off the trigger. Get it? Glue boards are placed parallel to walls. Just make sure there is no space between the glue board and the base of the wall.
T-Rex
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Let's also talk about the number of traps to set. Mice have a “home” range of fifteen to twenty-five feet. You might know which room the mouse activity is in, but you might not know exactly where they are coming from. Place a dozen traps out inside cabinets, drawers, along baseboards, behind refrigerators and ranges and any other possible hiding place. Traps are cheap when compared to all the food contamination a mouse can do in a day or two.
There are no big differences in trap quality. I mentioned the Victor Mouse Trap because it has been around for such a long time. There is also the T-Rex trap that can be set without fear of snapping off a finger or two. There is the Victor Quick Kill trap that is also finger-safe and is supposed to kill more humanely, what ever that means. Of course, there are also numerous brands of glue boards that work well with mice. If using glue boards be sure to euthanize the mouse once captured. Or, you can release outside by applying vegetable oil to the trap. This will dilute the glue and allow the rodent to go free.
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If killing the mouse makes you a bit queasy there are also ways to catch and release the little fellas. (This goes totally against my instincts as a pest control professional. I see mice as disease carriers that urinate and defecate on food and food preparation surfaces.) Set up a toilet paper tube on a table. Flatten one side so it sits flat on a table. Put a dab of peanut butter at one end. Then, hand the tube perilously close to the edge hanging directly over a tall kitchen waste basket. When the mouse goes into the tunnel of the tube (which they love to do) the tube falls into the trash bin and you can release the vermin at your leisure.
So there! I'm not totally heartless. I wouldn't do it for a mouse in my house, but you can follow your own inclinations.
Comments
Adam
26 Jun 2009, 06:01
I've found that putting those waxy anticoagulant blocks INSIDE box-type
glue traps works well. Not only do they attract and catch those grey
greaseballs, but the block prevents the trap from being inadvertently
crushed. I just reuse the blocks, when a mouse gets caught in the trap...I
actually caught TWO at once in my garden shed, this way. Oh, and I HATE
those open glue trays--they're a Murphy's Law accident waiting to happen
(they usually catch one's ill-placed foot, instead of a mouse). A product
called Green Bin Deodorizer REALLY works for the pee & poo odour, but I
have yet to find something that really gets rid of that musk of theirs.
teresa
15 Jul 2009, 18:11
I have mice in my garage. I was given some blue and red blocks of poison.
They did eat it and actually moved it somewhere. Then after a few weeks, I
found a dead one under my son's toy jeep. I was getting fed up of going
into the garage and screaming every time I saw one. Gross!!!So I went to
Home Depot and bought 3 packages of mouse traps. I set 3 traps and caught 2
on the same night. The next day, I set another 3 and caught another 2 that
evening. It was going great now I have another 3 set up in the garage with
cheese and peanut butter because I had a feeling I still had more of them.
Now they have been set up since Monday evening and last night I went to
look and one scurried right over the trap but did not release it. I
screamed and freaked out my kids and ran inside. Now I wondered is it
possible they have noticed the other mice caught in the trap and are smart
enough not to go to the trap. My kids say the mice know their other family
members are dead.
Hopefully you can give me some advice to get rid of these disgusting,
disease carrying creatures once and for all.
Please help.
Mike
16 Jul 2009, 08:47
I was hopeful that we had just one mouse, but we have an infestation, I
fear - caught one last week behind the kitchen stove, another tonight at
the basement door and have seen another in the living room - droppings have
been found this week in kitchen, hall, on steps, etc... So, we called the
local pest control places, but know we cannot afford the $800+/- for
trapping and possible mouse-proofing at the moment. From your site, I know
we have to check that all debris and grass is away from our foundation. I
also know we have to lean our very cluttered basement and garage, which are
full of nesting material, no doubt. I also know we have to find and close
up all the holes in the foundation. What about roof, gutters, etc? Any
suggestions for economical ways to do this? That copper stuff? Other ideas?
Also, what would you suggest as the most economical DYI trapping method?
And how many traps? A doxen? More? We have two children under four years
old, so chemicals are out... Thanks for any help you can give us.
Infested!
29 Jul 2009, 11:52
We have an infestation of mice! In a corner of the kitchen, I found a
bundle of shredded J-cloths with a lot of droppings mixed in, but I noticed
that there was a trail of the shredded J-cloths going from the corner of
the kitchen to the adjoining dining room fire place (This is about 30ft or
more from the corner of the shredded J-cloths and droppings.) I cleaned up
the whole area in the kitchen and threw out all the shredded stuff. On the
same day, we set up 12 glue boards and a few snap traps along with several
bait stations in the area of activity. Within 30 mins of doing this, we had
our 1st 'catch' on a glueboard in the fireplace. But guess what? - the darn
thing went and freed itself, even tho it left it's tail on the gluetrap!
This has now happened twice - a mouse has freed itself from the
gluetrap!!!! We have had 2 'kills' with the snap trap, so obviously we'll
be getting some more. But my query is, in all my years of living in various
houses/apmts, glue traps have always done the job - how/why are these mice
able to get free?? My personal theory is that if they are in the fireplace,
perhaps they’ve got soot on their fur and this stops them sticking to the
glue trap; what do you suggest we do to get this in hand (btw, I have read
all your articles and are following the tips.)
Lisa
11 Aug 2009, 16:36
I woke up this morning and found a mouse in my bathtub!? Not sure how it
got there. So I am trying to figure out if there are more or if it is just
a fluke. I noticed no droppings prior to finding this mouse. I have been
inspecting the house all day and have found a few of what may or may not be
droppings in the kitchen under the sink. This is down the hall from the
bathroom that the mouse was found in. I found no droppings in the bathroom
other than the ones in the tub with the mouse. Is it possible that you can
only have one mouse. I think I found were it could have come in (a enlarged
weep hole) and filled it in with steel wool. Is it possible to only have
one mouse or am I just wishfull thinking?
anthony
18 Aug 2009, 08:31
peanut butter has been eaten off of traps but no mouse..what gives???have
caught a few with this method before
Deb
28 Aug 2009, 05:49
I live in the country- I know about a tight house, clean, etc, but it seems
it is impossible to stop the mise. I have an earthberm house, and there
are mice in the walls- I hear them gnawing/scratching/whatever in my
bedroom walls- Gross- plus I am a very, very light sleeper and can't get
any sleep!!
I have a small dog. If I use poison, I am afraid of a smelly dead mouse in
the walls. What can I do??
HELP, PLEASE!!
Cheryl Marston
07 Oct 2009, 14:05
i have never seen any mice, but i have seen the droppings in my coat closet
in the living room, in my kitchen pantry, along the back splash in my
kitchen and under my kitchen sink; so there is NO doubt i have mice. i
read your suggestions but so far they are all in cases where mice have been
seen. it is fall & starting to get colder so i want to get ahead of them
before it gets even worse. please help. no pets & my kids are teenagers...
what to you suggest?
Stacy
12 Nov 2009, 13:54
I heard loud scratching under my dining room floor in crawl space. Found
bags of tortilla chips, noodles/sauce bags and pretzels were torn open and
eaten. Set glue and snap traps. A tail was attached to the one glue trap
the next day - its about 3-4 inches long, thicker than I would think for a
mouse but shorter than i would think for a rat, unless it chewed it off
halfway. Called health dept they inspected and found no droppings at all,
found food hoarded in different spots so they think this is a squirrel. The
tail is not bushy looks like a rat tail. I have traps with peanut butter
and bacon for over a week. No catch. Glue trap has some grayish hair on it
and mark from when the tail was caught. How can I find out what I have and
catch it. I have left my house with my 2 small children and staying at
parents on sofa till this is caught. Please help!!!
Tom Cummings
13 Dec 2009, 11:16
I have mice in my house. Of course I do! In the past when I first bought my
house, that was empty for over a yr, there was an infestation. We hired an
experminator to eradicate the little "buggers". This worked for the first
season with a unforseen drawback. The smell from them dying in my walls was
overwhelming, to say it mildly. I have taken all the precaustions of
filling entrance wholes, and elimination of possible nesting sites, an
impossible tast apparently. I've come to the conclusion, a new ploy to
eradicate the "devils". First using bait is more preventitive. Get them
before you see or hear them. Second what I actually came here for is to use
the "mouse hotel" that traps them and I can get rid of them before the
"stink gets rid of me". MY problem is what to use as bait. Do I use the
bait from the "death traps" or some Magical posion. My wife and grandson
would appreciate any advise, seeing they see the vermon as "Mickey Mouse".
Tom C
