# Do mice have an aversion to spring loaded mouse traps **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445 "2016-12-11T17:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/21 "2016-12-13T23:38:07Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > If you load those traps with gooey brownies you will always get a mouse. > > I got a cat. She took care of it. Forever. Hey, PM me if you’ve got a surplus of gooey brownies and nobody to share them. I had excellent results with the clamshell snap traps. I must admit I went a little overboard in my preparations, though: I dabbed some sticky rice on the release, then stuck the thing into an empty Triscuit box that was laid on its narrow side so there was only one way to approach the trap that was deep inside. Then I dabbed some more cooked rice on the flap of the box and trailed a bit more rice out away from it. Sure enough, the mouse followed the trail to the box, munched on the bigger pile of rice, then headed inside for the big payload. I heard the trap snap during the night so in the morning I just closed up the box and threw it away (though I was just slightly tempted to toss it in the paper & cardboard recycle bin) without looking inside. –G! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/22 "2016-12-14T01:33:10Z")
> [@Magicicada](#): > > but if the mouse had been there for more than a brief time, there would be a smell of decay which would cause any other mice to avoid that particular trap. Doesn’t match my experience, at least with rats. I have some traps in my attic that I check infrequently due to the hassle. I set up a bunch of traps in a small area. The last time I cleaned them out, I found three dead rats within a few inches of each other. > [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Did you know mice scream? Neither did I. Christ, yes. The most recent one screamed for about 15 minutes until it died. It was a snap trap but had somehow just caught the hind legs. Didn’t really have the means of putting it out of its misery, so I had to leave it. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/23 "2016-12-14T09:35:33Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > The most recent one screamed for about 15 minutes until it died. It was a snap trap but had somehow just caught the hind legs. Didn’t really have the means of putting it out of its misery, so I had to leave it. Ugh. The means to kill a mouse are not particularly difficult to achieve. You didn’t have access to a Heavy Thing? A bucket + water? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/24 "2016-12-14T13:31:00Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > My son and I rigged up a mousetrap many years ago, and sent it to Ranger Rick, which published it. Start with a dinner plate and a Danish cookie tin (or the like), and prop up the edge of the inverted tin with a long enough vertical breadstick, that will leave about a two inch opening. The mouse goes in and enjoys the breadstick, until the tin falls, trapping the mouse inside, where he eats his fill for the rest of the night. Sounds like a kinder, gentler version of [the Paiute deadfall trap.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89GNUnn-8KQ) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/25 "2016-12-14T13:46:21Z")
Traps may have been around for 500 years, but how many sub-populations of mice have had traps be a significant cause of death for even part of that period? Even today we only trap a tiny portion of the habitats of _mus musculus_, so I highly doubt it’s ever been a significant factor in mouse evolution anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/26 "2016-12-14T13:53:49Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Traps may have been around for 500 years, but how many sub-populations of mice have had traps be a significant cause of death for even part of that period? > > Even today we only trap a tiny portion of the habitats of _mus musculus_, so I highly doubt it’s ever been a significant factor in mouse evolution anywhere. 500 generations!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/27 "2016-12-14T21:28:50Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > The means to kill a mouse are not particularly difficult to achieve. > You didn’t have access to a Heavy Thing? > A bucket + water? The trap was on bare drywall in the attic. A heavy thing would have smashed a hole into my bedroom. To get into the attic at all requires standing on top of a tippy ladder and then doing a bar dip to pull myself into the space. Lifting a bucket of water up there is… not easy. I probably could have worked something out if it had gone on for much longer. But I think I plugged the hole, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with it again… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/28 "2016-12-14T23:51:12Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > This - if your traps aren’t working, you’re not using peanut butter. And you should know! 😉 But yeah, peabo all the way, worked into the crevices in the trigger. I will repeat what I learned about glue traps: vegetable oil dissolves the glue instantly. Carry the still-living mouse and trap to your neighbor’s yard and pour on some oil. Mickey will fall free and spend some time licking off the yummy oil before scampering into neighbor’s house. And if you need to perform a mercy killing, like if your horrid dogs left you a present of a mouse licked naked, pick it up with a plastic grocery bag and sling it against the wall. Or teach your only daughter without an “Oh, ick!” reflex that important life skill. But the Little Girls no longer suffer a rodent to live; their last squirrel took too long to catch so Thisbe killed it for an extra five minutes; I don’t know how much was left. New dog betrayed his sheepherding roots with his own “Oh, ick!” reaction. Too small to scare coyotes, but foxes may recognize the low woof of someone bred to kill them. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/29 "2016-12-21T01:00:27Z")
Traps are “cruel” by definition, we’re trying to kill them, after all. I don’t like critters to suffer needlessly, but they need to stay outside. Poison has problems too, as pets can get into it. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445/30 "2016-12-21T17:00:46Z")
A paper plate works good for a mercy killing device. Fold the plate in half. (plate taco) Scoop up the mouse (and glue or spring trap if necessary) Turn plate so the contents slide to the bottom of the plate taco. Take outside and lay plate taco on its side. Step on it quickly. Repeat this step a few times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mice-have-an-aversion-to-spring-loaded-mouse-traps/774445.md?page=1)