Peanut butter is the bomb for catching mice. But place the traps on the floor up against the walls, as that’s where mice tend to run, particularly behind the reefer and stove.
Toss 'em in a plastic bag, gather the top of the bag in one hand, and whack the bag sharply against the floor. Swing it like a flail, get some good speed going, and they’ll never feel a thing.
That’s how lab techs do it.
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Don’t open the bag afterwards. Also, this is one case where using the disposable plastic bags instead of the re-usable ones is probably a good idea.
If you go with glue traps, get the larger rat-sized ones. The mouse is much less likely to free itself from one of those. And do check the traps frequently (a minimum of twice a day).
I’m not sure where you are from but from tha sounds of it, it is not Australia
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=&q=mouse+plague+2011&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_en-GBAU398AU430&ie=UTF-8&aq=2&oq=mouse+plague
Ther may be some mouse catching advice in some of those links because folks are pretty desperate here.
Cat. Get one, even on loan. The mice will no longer be an issue.
I once killed a seagull with a kayak paddle. Does that count?
Putting food “away” isn’t enough; it has to be inside something the little buggers can’t chew through, such as tins, or the refrigerator. Pull out your boxed and bagged foods and look for holes and trails of nibbled bits.
Poison bait is highly effective and can be placed where a 3-year-old can’t reach it. Do you have kitchen drawers, and are they the kind a kid can’t easily pull off its runners? If so, pull the lowest drawer off its runners, and if there are mouse turds on the floor below it, put a bait tray there and replace the drawer. The only downside to poison bait is that the mice like to die inside the walls where they will stink for days, and if you’re really unlucky, nourish a small crop of flies.
Mice need water as well as food. Check for standing water (including drip trays under houseplants and the refrigerator), and keep the sinks as empty as possible.
Besides poison bait, I’ve had the best luck with spring traps baited with Gummi bears. Mice love sweets, and sticky sweets delay their escape.
Lab techs where? I’ve not heard of that technique being used for humane killing of mice in labs (in the UK at least). Granted the humane rat killing technique I’ve seen was similar but it was a bit more in depth than “swing against floor”.
I’m having difficulty seeing how you could be assured that it would be unconscious right away, or that there would be anything usable afterwards. And all of the times I’ve seen a similar technique used on rats it was required that the person check that the spine was properly severed.
Sorry for labouring on the gruesome details guys, but I’d be worried if I saw this happening in a lab. Obviously the rules may vary from place to place.
I second that putting food away – as in, shoving cartons inside your cupboards – will not deter the mice at all.
In fact, they won’t just chew through boxes and bags, the buggers WILL chew through plastic jars if the contents are appealing enough. I know this because I found my jar of peanut butter with a quarter sized hole nibbled through it and a TUNNEL at least two inches deep eaten into the contents. Ugh.
Possibly they could do this due to the much thinner ‘earth friendly’ plastic jars they’re using now. Perhaps tupperware heft plastics would keep them out. Personally I believe in glass and metal containers.
The perfect mouse and rat killing machine has been around about as long as civilization has.
Get a cat.
We have a massive mouse problem in our camper, where a cat just won’t work. The only luck we’ve ever had is with the spring traps and limited luck with the one with the interior ramp and springy door where the mice get trapped alive. Peanut butter or chocolate candy bars are the best bait.
Cats are splendid creatures, but have a couple of shortcomings as mouse removers:
–You have to want a cat as a cat, not as a mousetrap, and be able to keep one; it’s not really decent to get a cat just to solve a mouse problem. It’s not a trap you can stick in the back of the cupboard when the mice are done with.
–Cats vary, and some cats are crap mousers. All cats will hunt instinctively (otherwise you couldn’t get them to chase laser-pointer dots), but hunting effectively, and killing efficiently, have to be learned. A cat that hasn’t learned may think of mice as self-propelled cat toys, and might even turn them loose so they can be played with some more (I’ve seen this happen).
You can overcome these first two problems by borrowing a proven mouser for a while, if you can find one, and get its owner to give it up, and if the cat is comfortable in your house. But then comes the third problem:
–Mice, as a species, have a lot of practice at avoiding predators, and are very good at hiding and dodging. Depending on your furnishings, wall construction, etc., even a skilled mouser may not be able to get at the mice.
**Anyone Know Any Good Ways To Kill Rodents? **
Have a Navy SEAL shoot them in the eye.
I seem to recall a Cecil column from the early 80s that suggested mixing cement into something they like to eat.
Perhaps give them government health care and send them to a death panel. But who wants that much paperwork?