Mouse in the house

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Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,313
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Saw something scamper across the kitchen near door some weeks ago. Or did I? I wasn't sure after I put up a couple mouse traps and caught nothing.

But now, I see the little turds in my kitchen, so no mistake. This week I put out 4 mouse traps baited with Costco's organic peanut butter but nothing tripped much less caught a mouse. I think my mouse traps are inferior: Southernhomewares.com is their website (see picture below). They have a yellow plastic bait plate which pivots and stands up at almost a 45 degree angle when the trap is set. I have some rat traps (rats in the yard and garage is a problem) that are just big brothers of these and those haven't been very effective at all either compared to the Victor traps I've used in the past, which are all metal except for the wood base. But the hardware store I went to didn't have those either. There's other hardware stores around here, and, of course, I could order off the internet.

Well, maybe it's my bait, maybe the traps. No, I don't have a cat and don't want to get one just to control rodents. The house is ~115 years old and may be kind of rat proof at this point (used to be a big rat problem in the attic, but I don't think so now) and keeping mice out is probably not really possible. In the past I've caught mice and problem went away. Anyway, that only works if my traps get hit. There could be a family of mice in the house at this point! Looking for suggestions!

This is what I put out this week, described above:
Mouse traps - Southernhomewares.jpg
 
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bba-tcg

bba-tcg

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Apr 8, 2010
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thecomputerguylbb.com

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Paperdoc

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
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The key thing to check is the bait. If it is almost undisturbed, the mice don't find it appealing. On that case, I have used with success either peanut butter (or fake from roasted soy beans) covered with birdseed, or a small bit of cheddar cheese.


If the bait is mostly disappearing, then the trap is not releasing properly. On my traps of that design I found you can adjust that by bending slightly the small wire staple that holds the stationary end of the trip wire. Bend towards the bait holder end to get the end of that wire to slip further under the holder edge. But bend away from the holder to pull the trip wire end out to just under the edge, and the trap will snap shut more easily. Bend, set the trap, and use a small stick to push the bait holder to trip the trap. Repeat until you feel it trips very easily but not all by itself.
 
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Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,313
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Paperdoc said:
The key thing to check is the bait. If it is almost undisturbed, the mice don't find it appealing. On that case, I have used with success either peanut butter (or fake from roasted soy beans) covered with birdseed, or a small bit of cheddar cheese.


If the bait is mostly disappearing, then the trap is not releasing properly. On my traps of that design I found you can adjust that by bending slightly the small wire staple that holds the stationary end of the trip wire. Bend towards the bait holder end to get the end of that wire to slip further under the holder edge. But bend away from the holder to pull the trip wire end out to just under the edge, and the trap will snap shut more easily. Bend, set the trap, and use a small stick to push the bait holder to trip the trap. Repeat until you feel it trips very easily but not all by itself.
Click to expand...
Yeah, not touching the peanut butter. Til I get other traps will try cheddar.
 
bba-tcg

bba-tcg

Golden Member
Apr 8, 2010
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Paperdoc said:
The key thing to check is the bait. If it is almost undisturbed, the mice don't find it appealing. On that case, I have used with success either peanut butter (or fake from roasted soy beans) covered with birdseed, or a small bit of cheddar cheese.


If the bait is mostly disappearing, then the trap is not releasing properly. On my traps of that design I found you can adjust that by bending slightly the small wire staple that holds the stationary end of the trip wire. Bend towards the bait holder end to get the end of that wire to slip further under the holder edge. But bend away from the holder to pull the trip wire end out to just under the edge, and the trap will snap shut more easily. Bend, set the trap, and use a small stick to push the bait holder to trip the trap. Repeat until you feel it trips very easily but not all by itself.
Click to expand...
Peanut butter works well for the mice here.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
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I tie bits of apple coated in peanut butter to the trigger. Tying it prevents the sneaky little bastards from stealing the bait.
 
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WelshBloke

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
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M

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
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Had a small rat back in August, and was lucky enough to trap it in the bathroom. At that point, I called an exterminator and they said they wouldn't even try to catch it in a confined room. They'd lay some traps and come back a week later. For about $300. Screw that.

I did use one of the plastic jaws-style traps, but it did not snap the critter dead. From what I read, this trap is effective but the bait is the key component. When you set the trap, you can tell the mechanism works. But the rodent still has to stick its head into the kill zone for success.
Whatever you do, don't go with a glue trap. Those sound gross and horrific, and I am not a card-carrying member of PETA.
 
G

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,477
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manly said:
Had a small rat back in August, and was lucky enough to trap it in the bathroom. At that point, I called an exterminator and they said they wouldn't even try to catch it in a confined room. They'd lay some traps and come back a week later. For about $300. Screw that.

I did use one of the plastic jaws-style traps, but it did not snap the critter dead. From what I read, this trap is effective but the bait is the key component. When you set the trap, you can tell the mechanism works. But the rodent still has to stick its head into the kill zone for success.
Whatever you do, don't go with a glue trap. Those sound gross and horrific, and I am not a card-carrying member of PETA.
Click to expand...
Glue traps are as cruel as a trap can be . They guarantee a lot of struggling, torn flesh, and suffering. Death is very slow. I had a client use one and when I arrived she came out crying and asked me to end the mousses suffering. Fucking things should be illgeal.
 
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lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,855
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Ages ago when I lived with mom, a rat started visiting the birdfeeder. I trapped it in a live trap, and shot it with a pelletgun. Holy shit can a rat scream! I kinda felt bad killing it, but what else you gonna do?
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,313
10,449
136
bba-tcg said:
Peanut butter works well for the mice here.
Click to expand...
My current mouse/mice (likely several) evidently have ZERO interest in Kirkland organic peanut butter.

In the past I've caught a lot of mice with PNB bait. Maybe this one's allergic to peanuts?

I baited the one Victor MT I have found with Coastal Cheddar Cheese last night and this morning the trap was upside down with no mouse, the cheese 1/2 eaten. I reset it, there's still a good chunk of cheese on it. Meantime I figure to order some traps today, likely off Amazon?
 
bba-tcg

bba-tcg

Golden Member
Apr 8, 2010
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Muse said:
My current mouse/mice (likely several) evidently have ZERO interest in Kirkland organic peanut butter.

In the past I've caught a lot of mice with PNB bait. Maybe this one's allergic to peanuts?

I baited the one Victor MT I have found with Coastal Cheddar Cheese last night and this morning the trap was upside down with no mouse, the cheese 1/2 eaten. I reset it, there's still a good chunk of cheese on it. Meantime I figure to order some traps today, likely off Amazon?
Click to expand...
Maybe the mouse (mice) just isn't into organic food.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,313
10,449
136
BoomerD said:
I tie bits of apple coated in peanut butter to the trigger. Tying it prevents the sneaky little bastards from stealing the bait.
Click to expand...
I have a few traps with string tied around the bait plate to hold on whatever. Used with bits of bacon in the past. I've had a lot of traps' bait cleaned out without tripping, rat and mouse.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,313
10,449
136
lxskllr said:
Ages ago when I lived with mom, a rat started visiting the birdfeeder. I trapped it in a live trap, and shot it with a pelletgun. Holy shit can a rat scream! I kinda felt bad killing it, but what else you gonna do?
Click to expand...
I have planned that a few times but IIRC have not done it - shoot trapped rat (or squirrel) with pellet gun. I have a Have-a-Heart trap and have taken trapped squirrels into the hills and turned them loose in the wild. Last summer I set that trap and got nothing. I did set a rat trap in the back yard and got IIRC 2 rats over the summer, which I buried in the back yard. I noticed tons of rat turds in garage but got nothing when I set HAH trap and snap rat traps in the garage.

I have a big compost pile in the back and throw my vegetable etc. waste in it and lots and lots of leaves. There's no keeping critters away completely. I've never used poison or glue traps. There used to be a big rat problem in my attic. Since the roof job, I think that's 100% gone. Before the total roof tearoff/replacement (20 years ago) I'd set snap traps in the attic and figure I caught upwards of 15 rats over a few years.
 
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M

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,580
4,236
136
If you don't need a lot of traps, Home Depot sells a pair of Tomcat traps for about $13. (Why does this seem way more expensive than back in August? 🤔 )

Rodents are smarter than they seem. You'll want to handle the traps with latex gloves; the theory is if you touch the traps with your bare hands, they can smell that and will avoid.
 
mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
21,558
16,810
136
IMO chances are that there's something far tastier in the area you saw the mice in, and that's why they're not going for what's in the traps.
 
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