Best bait for mouse traps?

[vi edit]

I've got a terrible mouse infestation in my garage. There isn't a shelf, cabinet or free standing object that hasn't been defiled by a mouse turd on it.

I grabbed a couple packs of old fashioned mouse traps with the trigger plate and spring. First round was with peanut butter. Most of the traps got licked clean with only 2/8 landing a hit.

Second time I put nutella on there. Got 3/8 hits. Oddly enough 2 of those 3 kills came on what I thought was a clean trigger plate. So they either walked across it or they were really curious about what yummy hazelnut smell was still lingering on there.

I'm trying to figure out something that's even harder to work at. I'm thinking maybe taking jelly beans with that really gooey middle and smearing some on there to see if it takes more of an effort and a greater pressure on the trigger to lick it clean.

 

[darkxshade]

You don't need bait, just place the traps in your AC and you'll get em.

 

[Zeze]

You don't need bait, just place the traps in your AC and you'll get em.

Oh here we go.

 

[MustISO]

Get those hockey puck looking mouse traps. Used a few to catch a family that decided to move into our garage. They can't get out once it's triggered. Put PB in the access slot and arm it, ready to rock.

 

[vi edit]

Get those hockey puck looking mouse traps. Used a few to catch a family that decided to move into our garage. They can't get out once it's triggered. Put PB in the access slot and arm it, ready to rock.

Are those use once and toss traps? Or does it actually kill the rodent, you ditch the body in the nearest landfill and then redeploy the killing device back into service?

 

[Chapbass]

I used simple mouse traps with peanut butter...trapped all the mice in my house in like 3 days, easy peasy.

edit: Scratch that, my memory is coming back now... I used these: http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0321110...F8&qid=1346163697&sr=8-12&keywords=mouse+trap


With peanut butter

 

[Sluggo]

We could never buy enough traps to get rid of our mouse problems living near a lot of empty fields, we eventually had to get a cat.

The cat is a whole new level of retard and issues, but still better than a rodent infestation.

 

[MustISO]

Are those use once and toss traps? Or does it actually kill the rodent, you ditch the body in the nearest landfill and then redeploy the killing device back into service?

It snaps their neck as far as I understand the process. You use it once and toss it.

 

[mmntech]

I used simple mouse traps with peanut butter...trapped all the mice in my house in like 3 days, easy peasy.

edit: Scratch that, my memory is coming back now... I used these: http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0321110-...rds=mouse+trap


With peanut butter

I second peanut butter. Mice are crazy for it. I recommend the plastic traps too. They work well and are very easy to set and the mouse has to get right inside the jaws of death to get at it, so there's no easy escape.

The second step is to find where the mice are coming from. They could be running in thought the garage door but most likely there's a hole in the wall somewhere. If you have a finished garage, this can compound things. They love to nest in insulation. That's what happened in my basement. There was a mouse city inside the wall and a huge hole in the foundation. Plugged it up, no more mice.

 

[vi edit]

It snaps their neck as far as I understand the process. You use it once and toss it.

I'm too cheap...environmentally conscious to deploy single use instruments of rodent extermination. The level of infestation I have would require a daily refill subscription from Amazon Prime.

I need something that has multi-use utility. I'll check into those ones linked from Amazon. A review says that Home Depot is cheaper. Good to know they work, I'm always hesitant from some of those over complicated things that look like they were a joint venture design between Fisher Price and the US Defense Department.

 

[bignateyk]

Natural Peanut Butter works the best I've found.

I use these: http://www.amazon.com/Victor-M2524-E.../dp/B000E1RIUU

The work great and are reusable. I've been using them for about a year now and haven't had to replace any of the batteries yet. I have 5 of them positioned in various spots around my garage.

 

[vi edit]

The second step is to find where the mice are coming from. They could be running in thought the garage door but most likely there's a hole in the wall somewhere. If you have a finished garage, this can compound things. They love to nest in insulation. That's what happened in my basement. There was a mouse city inside the wall and a huge hole in the foundation. Plugged it up, no more mice.

They are coming in through a small piece of weather stripping that seals up the edges of the garage door. It's a soft rubber material and they chewed off the bottom corners. I'm not sure how to repair/reinforce that.

 

[lothar]

Get a cat and keep it in your garage.

 

[EagleKeeper]

You built your house on their territory.

Now you pay the penalty.

Get a ferret. Problem solved in 2 days.
No mess; no environmental impact

Cat has to catch them;
Smell of a ferret will deter them

 

[shortylickens]

Peanut butter.

 

[shortylickens]

You built your house on their territory.

Now you pay the penalty.

Get a ferret. Problem solved in 2 days.
No mess; no environmental impact

Shens, I had a ferret. He was a giant fluffy ball of useless.

 

[darkewaffle]

Just don't get those stupid 'sticky' traps that catch the mouse but don't kill it.

 

[bignateyk]

You built your house on their territory.

Now you pay the penalty.

Get a ferret. Problem solved in 2 days.
No mess; no environmental impact

Cat has to catch them;
Smell of a ferret will deter them

Do ferrets run away if they get outside or are they like cats where you can let them outside and they come back?

 

[NetWareHead]

We could never buy enough traps to get rid of our mouse problems living near a lot of empty fields, we eventually had to get a cat.

The cat is a whole new level of retard and issues, but still better than a rodent infestation.

if you have abundant mice nearby, just dont feed the cat so often. Dont starve it I mean, but give it an incentive to hunt. Eventually the instincts will take over and it will go hunting, as a cat should.

One funny thing I always hear from my friends born in foreign countries (mostly from India and Europe) and even family (from Italy) is that the cats in the USA are all fat and lazy. Back home, all of the cats are lean mean and are true hunters that kill everyday.

 

[Jeff7]

Get the Victor traps that have the metal trigger.
Get some dried cherries.
Place a cherry under the toothed part of the trigger, and use a pliers to close the teeth into the cherry.

I've been able to kill several mice this way using a single cherry. They latch their teeth into the skin and give it a tug, which snaps the trap right away. Most of them die with their teeth still latched into the cherry.

I've had it happen a bit too often where they'll manage to delicately lick the peanut butter off the trigger without the trap going off.

Also recommended: Tie a string to the trap somehow, possibly by drilling a hole in the wooden base, and tie the other end to something. Sometimes they'll accidentally trigger it by walking into it, and then drag themselves and the trap into a wall and die. Ripping up drywall to find a rotting mouse corpse isn't much fun.



I've also had luck with these traps from D-Con, with cheap peanut butter as the bait.

 

[SunnyD]

Peanut butter.

 

[crunkzilla]

Just don't get those stupid 'sticky' traps that catch the mouse but don't kill it.

I work on a farm and we found the sticky traps to work the best at catching mice. Just place them in a corner of a room, check them everyday and toss them away when a mouse is caught.

Before using the sticky traps, we used the traps that fed them poison. Those where the absolute worst as you had to look for the dead mouse, and they would always end up in near unreachable areas stinking up the whole place.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

did anyone say peanut butter yet?

 

[darkewaffle]

Oh the sticky traps definitely work for catching them. But if you use them I think you should at least be willing to finish the job yourself.

 

[Chapbass]

I'm too cheap...environmentally conscious to deploy single use instruments of rodent extermination. The level of infestation I have would require a daily refill subscription from Amazon Prime.

I need something that has multi-use utility. I'll check into those ones linked from Amazon. A review says that Home Depot is cheaper. Good to know they work, I'm always hesitant from some of those over complicated things that look like they were a joint venture design between Fisher Price and the US Defense Department.

One thing about the ones I linked: Theres the hideaway ones like these: http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0320110-...rds=mouse+trap

Those don't work nearly as well. I tried out both, the one I linked a few posts up did a great job, these didn't do crap. Make sure you get the right one