# What to do with two trapped mice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 29, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585 "2008-02-29T01:28:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/21 "2008-03-02T13:16:05Z")
Is it really possible to stomp a live mouse to death? This is a rhetorical question. I just couldn’t do it. I have a problem stomping on roaches because of the crunchy sound they make…and I can’t _bleeping_ stand roaches. But a live mouse? I used to keep them as a kid. I can’t imagine stomping them to death, either with a shoe or a hammer or the various other implements suggested in this thread. I don’t even think I could put out a “kill trap.” Apparently I am spoiled enough not to have a mice-related problem. In my head I understand they are pests, and I understand killing pests. Spiders. Roaches. Flies. Fleas. Bees. Hornets. Wasps. But a mouse? I have no moral argument re: killing them–because they are pests and whatever–but I have a huge hangup about actually taking part in it. I realize my own hypocrisy and I have no solution. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/22 "2008-03-02T14:28:50Z")
I never heard of glue traps, so I [googled](http://apartments.about.com/od/micecontrol/a/glue_traps.htm) them. The seem incredible mean and cruel to me, and frankly I think anyone using them is a heartless bastard. > [@](#): > > Why Not Mouse Glue Traps? > > - Mouse glue traps are one of the cruelest ways to catch a mouse, because the trap doesn’t immediately kill the mouse. It could be days before the mouse dies. If you want to kill the mouse, there are traps that kill them instantly and are covered to prevent children and pets from playing with them. > - Many mice eventually die trying to free themselves from the glue trap, breaking their necks, tearing their skin from their bones, or gnawing their leg off. :eek: > - Out of fear, many mice urinate and defecate all over themselves and the glue trap. This is both cruel to the mouse and unsanitary for humans, as a potential source of the hantavirus. > \*Children and pets can get stuck to the glue traps. But now that you have the mice on the glue trap, I think you need to have the guts to follow up on what you started when you laid out the trap. Take a hammer and smash the beasties skull. That’s what I did, with a brick, when I encountered an obviously poisoned and insane mouse who was running in ever slower circles on the sidewalk on broad daylight. Not fun, but the most humane thing to do. Best way to deal with mice? Just don’t leave any food where they can get at it. Put food in plastic airtight containers. Mice will just stop coming to your house. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/23 "2008-03-02T14:57:02Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] They _may_, or _may not_, come loose with rubbing alcohol. [/QUOTE] Probably not. I was trying to do that with Pega Rata “Stick Mouse,” which I"m pretty sure is the same as that sticky stuff and which comes in a tube. You squeeze it onto piece of carton, and in the process I got it on my hand. It was impossible to get off, and I tried rubbing alcohol, which didn’t work, but Vaseline did. But I don’t think you want to use Vaseline on two nearly dead mice. They’d probably bite you. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/24 "2008-03-02T16:01:38Z")
[QUOTE=Von\_Erich] I just realized they are sitting next to a car battery we use for powering security cameras in remote locations. Maybe I will see how much they can take. [/QUOTE] Jesus! I hope you’re joking. You should either take them out to the yard and shoot them, or smash them. If you can’t bring yourself to smash them by hand, you could put them beneath the tire of your car and then drive over them. Giving them electricity seems kind of unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/25 "2008-03-02T17:24:57Z")
I had a terrible experience with glue traps back in the mid-90’s. I rented a little house, basically in a field outside Raleigh, NC. One winter, when it got really really cold, we got mice. My roommate was a tender-hearted vegan and couldn’t bear to kill them with snap traps, so we started out with live traps. Live traps (not glue traps, but kind of a tilty tube that trapped the mouse alive and well) worked great - but then I had no idea what to do with the mouse. I used to take them off to work with me and let them run free in the woods near the school I was student teaching in. My tender hearted roommate refused to have anything to do with the traps or the mice and I got frustrated with having to deal with the mice (and they did NASTY things in the traps which then had to be cleaned) and didn’t see the point of freeing them to go bother other people. So, my roommate said to get glue traps as the next step, since she thought snap traps would be oh, I don’t know MEAN or something. The first night, glue trap worked great, caught a mousie face first and he was smothered when I found him. The next night, I was woken up by the sound of keening. A mouse was caught on his side in the trap, I had no idea what to do with it. I happen to be rather tender hearted myself and I definitely couldn’t stomp it! I ended up putting the entire trap/mouse on the back porch in the freezing cold and the mouse was dead the next morning. I bought snap traps and told my roommate to suck it. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/26 "2008-03-02T17:56:19Z")
[QUOTE=araminty] For a painless death, you could suffocate them. Use a plastic bag to trap car exhaust, then slip the trapped mice in. This method is sometimes recommended to euthanize injured wildlife if out of reach of a vet. [/QUOTE] I think this is probably the most humane method, and that’s what I would do if I had the misfortune of being in this situation. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/27 "2008-03-02T18:03:00Z")
Nuke them from orbit. That’s the only way to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/28 "2008-03-02T19:48:34Z")
Glue traps in my experience are safer with kids and pets, and are much more effective mouse catchers than spring traps. A mouse has a chance with spring trap if they nibble carefully. A glue trap is sure death. Put the glue trap and mouse in a closed jar with a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol. The mouse will expire, Put in a baggie and toss. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/29 "2008-03-02T20:11:13Z")
[QUOTE=Glory] I happen to be rather tender hearted myself and I definitely couldn’t stomp it! I ended up putting the entire trap/mouse on the back porch in the freezing cold and the mouse was dead the next morning. [/QUOTE] “Let 'em slowly freeze to death” = tender-hearted ?? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/30 "2008-03-02T20:13:17Z")
[QUOTE=astro] Put the glue trap and mouse in a closed jar with a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol. The mouse will expire [/QUOTE] Hard to see how this is preferable to a whack on the head (duration of suffering = 0.05 seconds). ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/31 "2008-03-02T20:23:49Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] And then you can use the cat to catch a dog. (Of course I’d use a bird to catch the cat; and I’d catch the bird by using a spider as bait, which I’d catch with a fly.) [/QUOTE] For God’s sake, just stop before you get to the horse. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/32 "2008-03-02T21:29:06Z")
I so hata and am creeped out by mice that when I catch them on glue traps, I scoop them into a plastic bag, trap and all, and throw them out in the trash. That might be heartless but they’re going to die anyway. They do wriggle and jiggle and tiggle so. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/33 "2008-03-02T21:57:25Z")
Poit. Narf. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/34 "2008-03-03T01:03:21Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] “Let 'em slowly freeze to death” = tender-hearted ?? [/QUOTE] It was a tough, horrifying decision to make in the middle of the night - I’m too squeamish for stomping. I never forgot it and still feel badly about that mouse. I’ll never buy a glue trap again. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/35 "2008-03-03T01:29:15Z")
Place the gluetrap mouse-side-down in a bucket of water. Walk away if your squeemish, though I have never experienced any sort of yelps or thrashing from the drowning mouse. Return in a couple of minutes and the mouse will be expired. Pull the trap+mouse from the water and place the whole thing in a plastic grocery bag. Tie the handle straps in a knot. Toss in a municipal trash can. That’s how I do it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/36 "2008-03-03T01:32:57Z")
So… **Von Erich**. What happened to the mice? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/37 "2008-03-03T11:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] I so hata and am creeped out by mice that when I catch them on glue traps, I scoop them into a plastic bag, trap and all, and throw them out in the trash. That might be heartless but they’re going to die anyway. They do wriggle and jiggle and tiggle so. [/QUOTE] While I appreciate you being honest about such a thing on a messageboard, I have to say that is _gruesome_, and makes me sick to my stomach to think about. I can imagine all to well how I, or a creature I love, would feel if stuck to a giant fly paper, with limbs in the crippling position that was the result of stumbling upon the paper, falling down and trashing about in panic to become unstuck? Left to die slowly, for days. A plastic bag knotted close \*will \* leave in just enough air to draw out the slow suffocation process, with some extra panic everytime something gets thrown on top of the garbage. Add having broken or bleeding limbs where I had tried to free myself by gnawing through my own wrist. Hanging upside down, or in whatever position in which the whole thing landed in the thrash can? And the argument “the animal was going to die anyway”. Try that argument in situations like a beloved pet dying or even a person dying, and see how far that will get you. And did I mention how recent [research](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6SYT-4M942BK-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a0935325300b6d34897fd9c540af8c29) from a Dutch university has proven, beyond doubt, that animals (rats and dogs) do feel not only “pain in the moment”, but show the same brain responses that indicate “emotional suffering” in humans? If you are willing to concede that humans suffer as a result of pain, then you have to admit it is proven that rats and dogs do, too. And I’m not willing to bet that mice are fundamentally different. Are you? Have the balls to buy a clap-trap and find a housemate to clean up the little corpses. Or get a cat. Even the cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse is better then what you’re doing. And for those of you living in cold climates who have mice in winter; doesn’t that problem solve itself in summer again, as long as you make sure there is no food accessible to the mice? ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/38 "2008-03-03T12:45:14Z")
I feel bad saying this, but this thread has convinced me to buy these glue traps. There are mice in the walls in my apartment, and I am convinced they sneak into my room at night when I’m at work. They sneak by all the conventional SNAP mouse traps. It’s through a closet so I’m thinking of lining the border of my closet with them. In my defense, I’m in my apartment everyday. And while I don’t have the energy for the car exhaust asphyxiation , I would probably drown them before throwing them away. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/39 "2008-03-03T13:01:52Z")
I live on a farm in a 100 year old house, so yeah I have mice. I use snap traps and occasionally let the cat in. The dogs have issues with the cat though, and think the mice belong there, so usually it’s the traps that get them. No way in hell would I ever use glue strips, those things should be banned. Thats just cruel. If you have mice, get a cat fer fuck sakes! Some of you guys are sick fucks that need your heads checked. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585/40 "2008-03-03T13:29:10Z")
Actually I am a sick fuck. But I tried the traditional traps and those sneaky fuckers get around them. My landlord doesn’t allow pets (I have a fish, sssshhh), and a cat would be miserable in my apartment anyways. I understand it’s not the most humane route, but those fuckers keep pooping in my closet when I’m away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-two-trapped-mice/439585.md?page=3)