# Mice! (Too weak for the BBQ Pit) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 27, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231 "2012-11-27T02:23:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/1 "2012-11-27T02:23:45Z")
Blasted mice! First time in my life I \*\*ever \*\*had mice where I lived! Found a dropping near the stove. At first, I asked myself “When was I cooking with caraway seeds?” Then, I realized it was no caraway seed! More under the stove, & an opening. I called the handyman, & he put an aluminum plate over the hole. 1 glue trap, 4 bait stations out, soon to be replaced with a live trap, when it arrives by mail. Damn the mice! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/2 "2012-11-27T02:28:26Z")
I prefer snap traps. I know this sounds terrible, but I hate mice so much I want them to suffer. Having cats keeps them down though. Hope you get it taken care of! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/3 "2012-11-27T02:31:24Z")
Agent 24 reporting mission failure. Security compromised. Broken arrow. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/4 "2012-11-27T03:02:38Z")
My cat left me a big fat dead rat on the floor yesterday morning. Costs more than a trap, but more versatile. If I could only train the cat to leave it outside. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/5 "2012-11-27T03:57:15Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I prefer snap traps. I know this sounds terrible, but I hate mice so much I want them to suffer. they don’t suffer. their neck is broken with the snap. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/6 "2012-11-27T03:59:18Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > My cat left me a big fat dead rat on the floor yesterday morning. Costs more than a trap, but more versatile. If I could only train the cat to leave it outside. How would you know that the cat is doing its job, if it doesn’t present you with evidence? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/7 "2012-11-27T05:15:12Z")
I think mice are cute. And so does one of my cats. He plays with them until they die of exhaustion. Cute, however, does not make up for the damage they cause. I put poison down in the garage and rely on the cats in the house. I haven’t seen one in the house for quite a while but all the cats are lining up at the garage door as they usually do that this time of year. Sigh. I’ve got mice out there again. Must go refill the poison traps. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/8 "2012-11-27T05:16:47Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > they don’t suffer. their neck is broken with the snap. Indeed. Glue traps are much crueler. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/9 "2012-11-27T09:41:53Z")
For 3 years (2000-2003) I lived in a trailer in a forest. There were always mouses running around. I always had a number of snap-traps set in strategic places (including several underneath the trailer), and they caught mouses all the time. One of my weekly Saturday rituals was to check them all and replace all the traps that had done their jobs. This kept the mouse population down to a tolerable level. I was satisfied with that. As long as the mouse population was finite and fairly small, that was okay with me. There was one mouse once who seemed to be snap-trap wise. For several weeks he was running around and never took the bait. For him, I finally caved and bought a glue trap. In just a few days, that got him. I agree with some of the posts above: From what I can guess, snap-traps seem to be fast and relatively merciful. The glue trap looked like a horrible slow torture device straight out of an Edgar Allan Poe horror story. That trailer was also infested (when I first moved in) with little green tree frogs. You would not _belieeeeeeve_ how loud they are!!! I spent months catching them (just one at a time now and then) and either tossing them out into the forest, or angrily stomping them because of the noise they made. Eventually, they all were gone and no more came back again. The area surrounding the trailer was massively infested with ants (mostly Argentine ants, but there was also a carpenter ant colony somewhere nearby). For some reason, they hardly ever came inside – I think maybe twice in three years I had indoor ant visitors. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/10 "2012-11-27T13:34:27Z")
Almost every fall we get mice in our house. I think they just want in from the cold. We’ve always had cats who would catch them or at least let us know there’s one trapped under a radiator however this year we have a spry little one year old cat who I think is eating them. I assume so because she had a good dose of tape worms last week and she’s strictly an indoor cat. I use the black plastic snap traps in the garage. I much prefer them to the old wood and wire traps. The plastic traps are much easier to set and release any unfortunate victims. I also had to explain some cruel facts about vermin extermination to my 6 year old son. He gave me heck for “wasting nature” but when I explained that the mice wanted to nest in our camper trailer he was quite fine with daddy taking care of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/11 "2012-11-27T13:46:07Z")
you need to check traps frequently. a sprung trap is a nonfunctioning trap. live mice will eat the bait in the sprung trap and eat on the dead mouse. check every day or two. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/12 "2012-11-27T14:17:40Z")
I usually have one or two in the fall. This year I had some critters in the attic, which is hard for me to get to. I _think_ that they are finally all gone, I no longer hear them scurrying around. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/13 "2012-11-27T14:25:31Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > you need to check traps frequently. a sprung trap is a nonfunctioning trap. live mice will eat the bait in the sprung trap and eat on the dead mouse. check every day or two. Seriously. I also prefer the snare traps. Also because both of us have fairly good hearing and we’ll hear the noise even in another room…SNAP! We live in front of about an acre or two of trees and open ground before we get to other houses, so they love our house. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/14 "2012-11-27T17:38:02Z")
So, my brother and his imported wife have visited a few times since they married three years ago. In between life is pretty darn uneventful. Coincidental with one of their visits came those tiny ants that teem everywhere, prompting me to rise up and violently discard food that had been near them. Two visits later, I see mouse poop in the utensil and gadget drawers, prompting me to rise up and violently dump the contents into the sink and scrub them all. These people must think I’m nuts and/or a crappy housekeeper. They might be right. Anyhoo, we’ve only ever seen one mouse and he avoids the humane trap laden with peanut butter. One doesn’t bother me as long as he stays out of the drawers. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/15 "2012-11-27T18:00:32Z")
Mice can squeeze through really small openings, so if that plate your handyman put down it not completely flush with the floor, poke steel wool in wherever you can. I had some kind of critter in my attic this year. When I brought down my winter clothes, one of the bags had a bunch of pokeberry seeds in it. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/16 "2012-11-27T19:29:36Z")
A spring trap is still the best style of mousetrap. If it wasn’t, the world would have beaten a path \*somewhere \*by now. But better still is a cat. And they’re much more interesting to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/17 "2012-11-27T23:24:06Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > A spring trap is still the best style of mousetrap. If it wasn’t, the world would have beaten a path \*somewhere \*by now. > > But better still is a cat. And they’re much more interesting to watch. No pets allowed in the condo complex. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/18 "2012-11-28T00:16:10Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Blasted mice! > First time in my life I \*\*ever \*\*had mice where I lived! > > Found a dropping near the stove. > At first, I asked myself “When was I cooking with caraway seeds?” > > Then, I realized it was no caraway seed! > > More under the stove, & an opening. > > I called the handyman, & he put an aluminum plate over the hole. > > 1 glue trap, 4 bait stations out, soon to be replaced with a live trap, when it arrives by mail. > > Damn the mice! You should send them all to MeanOldLady; she’d love them!!! ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/19 "2012-11-28T03:04:03Z")
I was rooting through a drawer, to find a mousetrap. I FOUND A MOUSE! ---
**Author:** ![Jules27](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@Jules27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules27)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231/20 "2012-11-28T03:20:21Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I prefer snap traps. I know this sounds terrible, but I hate mice so much I want them to suffer. Having cats keeps them down though. > > Hope you get it taken care of! What an outstanding human being you are. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mice-too-weak-for-the-bbq-pit/642231.md?page=2)