I think this has come up here before. They are house mice, not field mice. If you let them go in a wooded area they will be out of place, likely in some other species of mouse’s territory where they may be attacked by them or even worse, displace them, or they would likely just end up prey to something else. If you let them go near anyone else’s home they’ll just move in there and likely end up dead in their traps. They are pests, killing them quickly is really the best option. Would you relocate cockroaches? That said, I still prefer the most humane method possible for extermination.
I have used the electric traps but lost one when my garage flooded and it was on the floor. The contacts got wet and corroded. I’m on my second one and have caught two mice so far. The biggest problem with this is it is not mess free. They tend to ooze some mouse juice post mortem, either urine or other fluids, and if you don’t clean it up quickly it can gunk up the works of the trap. If you use an electric mouse trap you must check it daily. Be sure to actually look inside because I’ve found that sometimes it doesn’t blink when it has killed a mouse. Also, the batteries may not last long enough for more than one or two kills.
Cat is the best option, by far. Young kittens are the best, because they haven’t had time to get fat and slow yet. Cats are NOT a mouse-neutral proposition because of the cat food. To prove that, just buy some cat food and stick it in a mouse trap, and see if it catches your mouse (it won’t).
Sticky traps are not a good idea. I have had to chase a rat around my garage with one of those things. I have had a lot of success with those interlocking jaw traps that you bait by putting the bait in a cup that you insert through the bottom and set by stepping on a pedal. The bait is deep in there, it kills cleanly. Here is an example: http://www.tomcatbrand.com/product/20-rat-snap-trap
Thankfully, I don’t have rats. I have the tiniest of mice. Because of a small margin of plastic around the trap, the mouse’s leg-to-leg span is not wide enough for them to get stuck on the trap and still touch the ground with another leg.
You mean CO. Carbon MONOxide. That’s quick and painless.
CO2 is Carbon DIoxide. It’s NOT painless. Build-up of Carbon Dioxide is what causes the horrible, panicked suffocation sensation. (Not lack of oxygen… the body doesn’t notice that.)
You could get some nitrogen or argon gas, instead. Private Preserve or other wine blanket gases would work (though I see that PP has some CO2 in it, too).
I did. My uncle did. Yes, you have to dispose of the body, and handle the trap with a body in it. Hey, wear rubber gloves.
Mosier said:
Anecdote: grew up with a couple cats in the house, never had a mouse problem. Did have a problem with occassionally finding dead critters on the doorstop. Birds for the most part, most troubling was half a squirrel. Most annoying was bats. One cat took it as her personal mission to clear the neighborhood of bats. A couple of summers we would go out in the morning and find 2 or 3 a day. There was the one incident when my brother wasn’t paying close enough attention when he let her in the house, and acquired a dead bat in the den floor.
My cats had free access to the food dish, plenty to eat, yet they still hunted. Young kittens are not the best, they don’t know how to hunt yet. Grown cats are fine. Old cats can have health problems that interfere. My sister’s cat had to transition from leaving dead animals to leaving pairs of socks and underpants. Somewhat blind and had trouble smelling, she could still catch the socks from my dad’s drawer and bring them into the living room for us.
A rather remarkable degree of squeamishness in this thread. If you’re gonna kill mice, you should man up and do it. A good hard whack with something like a boot or a chunk of wood is a quick and effective way to kill them - total suffering time is around 0.1 seconds.
Disposing of once-used spring traps seems awfully silly. In my old house (which mice visited more or less regularly) I had traps that had accounted for well over a dozen mice. My usual bait was half a peanut jammed onto the trigger - there’s no way to remove that without springing the trap, and it will often last through several trappings.
I should report that I’ve caught four of the little poopers. I would guess that to be half the population based on what the internet tells me about the breeding habits of the house mouse and amount of droppings. Unbaited sticky traps in their paths of travel have been the only effective method–these city mice seem to be wise to easy food or traps inside boxes. My finishing move has been to place them inside a clear plastic bag and then whack them in the head with a hammer.
Call me squeamish, but I don’t find this a particularly amusing activity upon awaking at 2am to mouse screaming. Sadly, I’m afraid there is no convenient alternative.
mlees, my thought is that drowning would cause more suffering than a quick blow to the head.
Re spring traps the trick is to really mash the food onto the holder so the mouse has to work at it. Jelly Belly jelly beans are very fragrant and would mash onto the holder very nicely. Caught 3 mice in succession over 2 days on the same trap and I didn’t even have to change out the jelly bean.
Little buggers started chewing wires around my engine on my car. Put a sticky trap on the on the air cleaner. Forgot about it. Started car one day and turned on the AC full blast. Narrowly missed throwing up at 65 mph. Found six of the buggers in various states of decomposition.