# best mousetrap bait **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133 "2005-04-13T15:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/21 "2005-04-14T01:21:09Z")
> [@Joe Mahma](#): > > I’ve found evidence of a mouse (or mice) in the garage. What’s the best bait for a trap? I’ve heard it’s peanut butter - is this true? Apple butter works very well. As I entered the machine shop one morning to clock in a man was sitting on a parts cart with a huge jar of apple butter and a couple of boxes of soda crackers. Thin wisps of white smoke curled up out of the top of the jar. He was calmly spreading the apple butter, smoking that is, on the crackers and covering the cart with them. He allowed as how the smoke was from phosphorus and it did the rats and mice in, in short order. A couple of years later the rats had take over the high bay areas. A big fat tabby moved in, had a litter of kittens, and the rats soon dissappeared and didn’t return. Either phosporus or cats get rid of rats. It’s your choice. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/22 "2005-04-14T03:34:41Z")
Yes, cheese as mousebait is a total myth, they won’t eat it unless starving. I can only imagine it got started as a whimsical explanation for the holes in swiss cheese. For me raisins work best. Can’t be licked off like peanut butter can, and can be firmly attached to the trap trigger easily. Replace daily to keep them moist and fresh (the raisins I mean, not the mice). ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/23 "2005-04-14T06:08:10Z")
Wonder how Circus Peanuts would work? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/24 "2005-04-14T06:49:07Z")
My Dad’s a woodturner and had been sealing some pieces with vegetable oil. His brush vanished overnight and when he finally located it, all the bristles had been gnawed off. Speculating that the mouse obviously liked the vegetable oil, he baited a trap with a piece of bread that had been dipped in vegetable oil. Exit mouse. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/25 "2005-04-14T08:33:27Z")
Wedge a chocolate chip on the trigger plate, then smear a bit of peanut butter. They come for the peanut smell and tug on the chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/26 "2005-04-14T16:01:47Z")
I used to live out in the boonties and we would get field mice in our garage every year when the weather got cold. I tried just about every different type of trap, and what worked best are the old fashioned traps with peanut butter, placed in the corners of the garage. If you find mouse poop, that’s a good place to stick a trap. Mice apparently follow paths, and once they have established a path they will stick to it, so if your trap is two inches off their path they may just walk on by it. Place it directly in their path and they have a good chance of getting trapped. Mice like corners and going right along the outside walls, which is where I’ve caught most of the ones I’ve caught. Civilization has expanded to the point where my house is no longer in the boonties and the field behind me is now a housing development, so hopefully I won’t see so many of the little buggers from here on out. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/27 "2005-04-14T16:30:55Z")
From what I’ve heard, there is no mammal in the world who won’t go nuts (heh) over peanut butter. It’s supposed to be about the best bait possible for snares. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/28 "2005-04-14T16:36:15Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Civilization has expanded to the point where my house is no longer in the boonties and the field behind me is now a housing development, so hopefully I won’t see so many of the little buggers from here on out. Hmm…vermin or suburbanites? _ponders_ Vermin or suburbanites? That’s a tough decision! ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/29 "2005-04-14T16:39:38Z")
Minnie. In a thong. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/30 "2005-04-14T18:13:17Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Yes, cheese as mousebait is a total myth, they won’t eat it unless starving. I can only imagine it got started as a whimsical explanation for the holes in swiss cheese. The Feta cheese that I used worked extremely well…about 10-12 mice in a couple of weeks when we had a lot nearby being graded and built on. Take the cheese (or peanut butter) and smeared it in the little troughs of [these traps.](http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/ratsnap3.gif) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/31 "2005-04-15T01:30:54Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Hmm…vermin or suburbanites? _ponders_ Vermin or suburbanites? > > That’s a tough decision! Personally, I preferred the vermin. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/32 "2005-04-15T01:32:15Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Personally, I preferred the vermin. Vermin are generally quieter and less annoying, yes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/33 "2005-04-15T01:38:22Z")
A local radio show talked about this last weekend. A guy from the Agriculture Extension said peanut butter works the best.and that if you have problems with them licking off the pb, tie a short piece of twine to the trap and impregnate it with the pb. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/34 "2005-04-15T01:46:56Z")
Peanut butter is what I was thinking when I opened the thread, but obviously you know that one already. How about ready-made cookie dough? Hey, you could do peanut butter cookie dough! ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133/35 "2005-04-16T22:23:41Z")
> [@unclviny](#): > > Yes, peanut butter works best in my experience. > > Unclviny > [@Gaius.Cornelius](#): > > I have also heard that a small piece of chocolate works well. I kid you not… our traps have never failed when baited with Reese’s Peanut Butter CupsTM There’s a joke in here somewhere about getting peanut butter in my chocolate mousetrap or something, but Iiiiii got nothing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-mousetrap-bait/299133.md?page=1)