# How to deal with mice behind a gas stove? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568 "2014-03-12T22:47:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/41 "2014-03-15T16:37:33Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > Honestly didn’t know that. Thanks for the info, if I get mice again I’ll look into something else. Welcome 🙂 Hooray! I made a difference! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/42 "2014-03-15T17:16:43Z")
In January, my mother noticed mice in the house. So my brother set out live traps so he could release them unharmed outside. It occurred to me that releasing mice outside in the middle of a bitterly cold New England winter was probably not a kindness and that it was probably more humane just to use poisons. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/43 "2014-03-15T20:09:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It occurred to me that releasing mice outside in the middle of a bitterly cold New England winter was probably not a kindness and that it was probably more humane just to use poisons. Humane to the mice? What about the predators that eat the poisoned mice? I will mention again that many[rodenticides are bioaccumulative](http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/conservation/poisons-used-kill-rodents-have-safer-alternatives) (same link as in earlier post) and can have devastating consequences up the food chain. Snap traps, people. Seal up your house and set snap traps. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/44 "2014-03-15T20:25:49Z")
I was talking about poisoning the mice in the house, or using snap traps, or whatever method would mean they’d die, rather than freeze to death outside. (To which she replied, “Stop making me feel guilty.”) ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/45 "2014-03-16T06:27:48Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Welcome 🙂 Hooray! I made a difference! Hey now, I’ve been a Doper for nearly as long as you. 😉 Good info though, I hadn’t thought about how rodent poisons build up in predator populations. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/46 "2014-03-16T15:56:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In January, my mother noticed mice in the house. So my brother set out live traps so he could release them unharmed outside. It occurred to me that releasing mice outside in the middle of a bitterly cold New England winter was probably not a kindness and that it was probably more humane just to use poisons. Where do you think the mice spent the winter before there were cozy houses in New England? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/47 "2014-03-16T16:00:06Z")
Buried in nests that they made _before_ the ground was covered in two-three feet of snow? My point was and is that the newly released mice will probably freeze before they’re able to make themselves a nest. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/48 "2014-03-16T19:47:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Buried in nests that they made _before_ the ground was covered in two-three feet of snow? My point was and is that the newly released mice will probably freeze before they’re able to make themselves a nest. They are better equipped than you might think to deal with the forces of nature. Letting them out literally in the freezing snow with no preparations whatsoever probably won’t go well for them, granted, but at that point it is between them and nature. Killing them outright is purely between you and them. And if one wanted to be extra humane they could even leave some food and dig a few burrows in the snow filled with leaves or rags. All that aside, freezing to death is one of the least painful ways to go out of any mentioned so far in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/49 "2014-03-16T20:36:13Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > Hey now, I’ve been a Doper for nearly as long as you. I meant YOU’RE welcome 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/50 "2014-03-17T00:19:52Z")
You can’t just live-trap a mouse and let it loose in your yard. It knows how to get back in, it’s done it before. You need to release it sufficiently far away from your residence or you’re just banging your head against the wall. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/51 "2014-03-17T04:26:21Z")
if you look outside in the melting snow you will see tunnels that mice have made along the ground. they will damage the base of young trees and shrubs. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/52 "2014-03-19T05:56:49Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > I meant YOU’RE welcome 🙂 Very well then. Carry on. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kristlkrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@kristlkrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kristlkrost)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/53 "2017-12-18T05:48:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Here’s another tip. Buy some paper lunch bags and set the traps up inside of them. That way when you catch a mouse, you can just pick up the bag and throw it all out rather than have to handle the trap and the dead mouse. I realize this is a very old post but THAT is such a great idea!! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/54 "2017-12-18T16:08:55Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Do the mice come out at night and bully you ? Never in my life have I understood how people can be frightened of, or worried by the presence of, mice. They are tiny, charming creatures. > > I would live with them. Mice are wild animals. They can carry disease. They can bite you, your pets, and your children. They are enormously destructive due to their instinct to chew everything. If they chew electrical wiring they can cause fires, which potentially can destroy everything you own. But hey, your choice. There are traps that (attempt) to catch the mice live, after which you can release them outside. My brother-in-law’s experience with this is that about half the time the mice expire before release (stress? Illness? Something else?) and the rest - who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/55 "2017-12-20T00:17:59Z")
I don’t worry much about using a spring trap for mice, but I want to know if **Anise** ever got behind the stove. Also, were there any braaaains there? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568/56 "2017-12-20T03:26:13Z")
I just started refighting our mouse problem after getting rid of them last year. They’re too smart (or fat) to get into the enclosed traps so we’re setting snap traps and glue traps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-mice-behind-a-gas-stove/683568.md?page=2)