I think the humane live catch traps probably cause a lot of stress to the animal, and where the hell do you release rodents? Not even sure what the purpose of these are unless you’re trying to recover a loose pet.
Poison is hard to quantify, but death due to internal bleeding over days doesn’t sound comfy.
Glue traps are downright torturous I’d say, even if you make sure to check them daily and brain any catches still highly stressful on the animal.
Why are they getting in? How about making the area un-attractive to rodents? Remove all foodstuffs, stop feeding the birds, etc. Make it someone else’s problem.
As a known rat lover, I’d go with snap traps. You are correct that they are the most likely to cause instant or nearly instant death.
Glue traps are your least humane option. They don’t kill, they just trap the animal in a painful and frightening way. (My personal opinion is that they ought to be banned.)
And Stealth_bragg is correct that none of your options will help long-term if you don’t figure out why the animals have decided your home is so attractive. Keep food in metal or glass containers or in the refrigerator or freezer. Don’t let water sit around. Look for any holes where they might get in (they can get in VERY tiny holes!) and block them up. Remember that rats in particular can and do swim up pipes as well, so don’t ignore those as a possible entrance point. Rats are also good chewers and can chew through wood, plaster, and even metal without much problem, but they are also opportunists (and a little bit lazy) and won’t bother if there’s another source of food that’s easier to get to.
Odd situation in that rodent proofing isn’t really possible, and while they aren’t getting food from inside they basically have unlimited food outside(mango season just started, whole yard is full of fruit trees all producing at different times) and the weather is the same temp all the time. In at least one case I’ve seen on taking the electrical line into the house or at least roof.
I keep finding decapitated ones outside, some animal really likes taking their heads off.
The MOST humane way would probably be to ask them nicely, give them 30-90 days, and pay for their relocation costs. But they might not cooperate. Ungrateful bastards.
I once spent over an hour removing a mouse from a glue trap, then removing all the bits of glue from the mouse. My ex had set a glue trap under the sofa, without telling me about it. You can only imagine the hell I raised when he got home from work that night.
I have also released live mice from the snap traps.
All pests are looking for 4 things, you need to figure out how you are providing them take appropriate denial measures
Safety - Pests are always prey to other creatures, so that’s why they need a safe place to hide, and that’s why most are nocturnal - their hunters find it harder to catch them. This means finding any signs of where they may be living and removing them, it may also be necessary to use measures that cause discomfort - such as ultra sound transducers.
Food - this goes without saying, except its not as obvious as you think, because some pests eat wood, drywall etc - or the leavings of other creatures, and some pests will drag food back to their nest or burrow. You certainly should not leave anything edible around, such as waste food and you must secure your food storage. If there is lots of food around for them, then they may well not take poisoned bait
A breeding site - most pests are extremely vulnerable in the early life stages, they may be vulnerable to cold, dryness, heat - it depends upon the pest. Few pests will persist if they are regularly disturbed in their nest - so this means gaining access to difficult areas, cleaning - removing nest material, and removing potential nest material. With some pests, just having the correct pet can be extremely effective - terriers will make short work of rodents.
Warmth - Obviously this depends upon you’re locale, and it can also be seasonal - too hot or too cold and insects will find the going tough. Small mammals will probably try find a better place.
These all depend upon the specific pest and the level of infestation, bear in mind that rat urine carries Weils disease so you must wear protective gloves when cleaning - keep all your eating and cooking utensils secure and rat proof, use anti bacterial cleaners on work surfaces just prior to food preparation.
Poisons and rats can be problematic, you really do not want them to die after taking poison in an inaccessible area, or else you will end up with a heaving horrible smell and a swarm of bluebottles to add to your problems.
The sort of fast acting and very effective poisons that you need are likely to be heavily controlled, and only available to licensed practitioners.
If you have seen one rat, then you have not seen them all - you only saw a scout.
Try back breaker traps first if you think that your problem is just a few animals, don’t go for cheese, they prefer fatty high calorie density food - nuts, peanut butter and things that are common to your area - if you catch one rat, you’ll need to rinse it thoroughly and leave no scented material on it - freshwater rinse, and you may then need to resite it - rats are intelligent, they will not take a chance unless they are desperate - thats why you must restrict their other food options
IME cats aren’t exactly humane about it. Especially the indoor ones who are killing for fun not food.
Grude - you might check around the foundation for points of ingress. I once lived in a 100 old duplex that had some foundational issues the landlord wouldn’t fix. Fortunately I had a cat… only two mice were stupid enough to try my living space in several years. One was stupid enough to go after the cat dish before he ended his life as a chew toy.
My guess would be owl. You could encourage them to stick around and help reduce your rodent population by placing an owl nesting box nearby. There’s a great deal of information to help you determine the ideal placement and design of nesting boxes, but it can be pretty species and location specific, e.g., here’s lots of info about placing barn owl boxes in California.
Yesbut- two things- the cats are part of the circle of life. How they kill the mouse is 100% natural and to me guilt-free*. And just having a cat will deter rodents from coming in. (They’ll just go to the next house, the one without a cat, sure)
I hate those sticky traps, they are mouse torture devices IMHO.
The cage trap, it catches them alive and you inhumanely drop the cage into a bucket of water. It’s indeed not fun, but not dangerous to other creatures like the poison is. I stuff a fresh bun in the back of it so at least they’ve got a last meal.
Thankfully the neighbours now have a cat so my dead-of-night rodent drowning sessions are a thing of the past for now. Mango trees - oh dear - you’re doomed.
I’d stay away from the poisons just because you’d have to make sure other animals (or tiny humans) don’t get around to where you store them. You also don’t want other animals, such as bypassing cats or dogs, to ingest the poison and then die (rodenticide is toxic to them too).
Check for the point of entries, as mentioned before.
So, you take a big book and give the mouse a good whack, done in two seconds or less. Instead you let the mouse go to piss and shit in your dishes and cutlery instead… Smart!