We tried the classic mousetrap, but our little critters are too clever for those. I doubt live-traps would work with these mice, even if there were somewhere I could put live mice in the middle of the city. So we’ve resorted to sticky traps. I’m not crazy about the sticky traps because we have to figure out how to kill the mouse and I’m not just gonna throw them in the trash to let them slowly die. So I’m pondering more humane ways to end their lives. I haven’t come up with anything much better than a quick blow to the head. Ideas?
Electric traps. Like a tunnel, except you don’t come out.
In my experience, they worked pretty well, we caught like 4-5 mice in a month (very good by our standards), except the machine crapped out on us not long after.
Also, remember to use extra sweet things for bait. Chocolate, peanut butter, and the like. Cheese is not that great.
That’s exactly what I was gonna suggest. Oh well.
BB gun to the head is the way I did it. I really don’t like sticky traps.
I found these work much better than normal mouse traps: http://www.amazon.com/d-CON-00027-Ultra-Covered-Mouse/dp/B000P9URDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1241643586&sr=8-1 They’re covered so the mouse can only approach the mechanism from one direction. I’ve caught 2 mice in quick succession several times; they seem to come in pairs.
I don’t think glue traps are a good idea - but, if you are intending to use them, there’s a few things you can do.
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Check the traps OFTEN. Nothing is more miserable to behold than a gnawed off mousey leg or tail, left behind while Stumpy tries to make it home.
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CO2 is quick and painless. Use a bag to trap some car exhaust.
Good luck.
The couple times I had to deal with mice, regular traps with putting the bait on the trap itself didn’t work. I was using peanut butter, and somehow they got the peanut butter off without triggering the trap.
I modified it by covering the peanut butter with saran wrap. Exposed on edges to give good scent, but just enough of an obstacle to require extra force to get all the bait. At that point, they worked pretty well.
You might also try cats. Not fat, well-fed cats, but hungry young kitties. If they have to hunt for their dinners, they’ll work on that mice problem for you.
My most successful bait ever was chunks of Milky Way bar.
My fiance and I live in a studio, so its a safe bet we’ll know immediately when a mouse gets stuck. So hopefully we won’t find any gnawed off limbs. Eck. I’ve set some old-fashioned traps, so maybe if I find the bait taken and the trap still set, I’ll give your suggestion a shot Irishman.
I’ve heard that cats are a net neutral on rodents because, while they eat them, leaving food exposed for the cat attracts them more too. But that might just be Big Pest Control™ propaganda.
I like the CO2 idea, but I’m afraid I’m not sure how to implement it practically. And I really don’t feel like spending an extra $5 per trap just to avoid having to kill them myself. I’d rather give the money to some needy humans.
Having never bludgeoned a mouse skull before, how much force are we talking to ensure instant death?
In college, we once used a Q-tip dipped in a bottle of Rush (poppers) and held near the nose of the critter for a few seconds. He inhaled a few times deeply and expired, presumably as peacefully as possible considering he was stuck to a piece of cardboard and my roommate’s shoe. (She’d stepped on the trap several days before the mouse got there but we left it because we thought it was funny.)
Seriously, try electric traps. They will kill a mouse on the spot, no miss, no mess.
I guess glue traps aren’t the most humane way to catch a mouse but they have been the most effective method for me to catch the little pests. Plus I just can’t get too worked up about the potential for a little suffering. When I find one stuck I do quickly kill it with a hammer blow to the head however.
We’ve found that a tiny dab of Nutella folded into a tiny taco using a fingernail-sized round of flour tortilla is a great bait. It smells temptingly chocolately, but the leathery tortilla covering necessitates tugging on it a bit. It worked very well - we caught a whole litter of rat adolescents plus their mama who had moved into our backyard to eat all my carrots right out of the ground.
Those are an excellent trap. Mouse dies instantly, and you can reset and reuse them without too much ick factor*.
Peanut butter worked fine as bait.
*The old fashioned snap traps can be reused, but no one does.
I suspect not much force needed to bop them on the head, but moderate ick factor.
No one’s answered the CO2 question, so I’ll throw out an idea: some way to rig it up with a tiny bit of dry ice? Maybe not to freeze the critter, but to get a simple, more or less safe source of CO2.
I do. Its just a dead mouse. Take the trap outside, open the trap, go back inside, rebait, reset, replace.
Concerning euthanasia… Blunt force to the head(kinda messy), or the bag with car exhaust trick sounds like it would work well.
Is a live trap out of the question? If you go dump them in the woods will they just find their way back into the house?
vinegar and baking soda. All the CO2 you need. makes good volcanoes as well.
I have used live traps with much success. Saying that you can’t find a place to put the mice just because you live in a city is a weak excuse.
Really? Where would you put them without violating NYC law?
Get a Maine Coon. Even the “fat, well-fed” ones will hunt for mice.