The Better Mouse Trap

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

It's the country. They're everywhere. I see 'em running across the yard at times. And of course, they get in the house. No way to stop that. Can't use open poisons because of other critters and the occasional wandering cat or dog.

Tried these super duper round house things. Suppose to let'em in, but not out. Nope. They run in and back out. Maybe the one I watched didn't go in far enough. Six bucks wasted.

Glue traps work, but they don't kil right away. Little guys flop around and panic trying to get off and they end up dragging the glue trap with them sometimes if only their tail gets caught. Ya' gotta pick the whole thing up with tongs so you don't get bit, then drop it in a bucket of water and hold it under. Not ideal, but the quickest I could think of.

So, you end up going back to the old stand by snap trap. One snap and they're done. Usually. I had one somehow trigger the snap and not get caught.


Oh well.

 

[pete6032]

https://tomcatbrand.com/en-us/shop/bait-stations/tomcat-rodent-station/0363410.html?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r

 

[pcgeek11]

https://tomcatbrand.com/en-us/shop/bait-stations/tomcat-rodent-station/0363410.html?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r

Those are fine until a poisoned rat gets into the wall and dies. Won't know about it until they start stinking up your house.

Get a bunch of live traps catch them and release them into the woods away from your house.

I use this as bait in live traps. It works well and is not poison.

 

[pcgeek11]

Glue traps should be outlawed as they are cruel not only to the rodents but other unintended targets get caught.
Slow and gruesome death traps.

 

[WilliamM2]

It's the country. They're everywhere. I see 'em running across the yard at times. And of course, they get in the house. No way to stop that.

What do you mean there is no way to stop them from getting in the house? Find where they are getting in, and seal it up.

I live in the country, they never get in my house, ever. I did get one in the garage wall once. Had to tear off the vinyl siding and find the gap the ^@!%^& contractor left between boards in a corner. Sealed it with sheet metal, after catching the mouse.

He was just storing acorns in there, but the scratching was driving one of the cats nuts. Took a while before we heard it, we thought the cat was just crazy. Good cat. He could only access that one stud bay.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My current solution is 6 snap traps screwed into a piece of wood, and they are wired in groups of 2 to some alarm points on my monitoring server. I just put it up in the attic and when I get an alarm I go check, and reset them. It's a bit of a pain going up there though and after a while the traps get pretty gross so I need to rebuild the whole thing.

Thinking of finding a different solution where I don't need to keep going up there. Some kind of tube/conduit that they go in and then fall into the closet into a bucket. From there I can put snap traps, water, or whatever really. Alarm would get triggered by a limit switch they fall through.

I get under 10 a year... that I know of. No idea how they get up there. Guessing they climb the brick outside then slip under the soffit. They can fit in a pretty small space. This summer I'm going to apply a bead of caulk all around the house at the soffits to see if it does anything. If I see that they chew through it at least I know that's how they're getting in and at that point I'll do something more permanent.

 

[mindless1]

Glue traps should be outlawed as they are cruel not only to the rodents but other unintended targets get caught.
Slow and gruesome death traps.

What other creatures do you have in your house that are small enough to get caught yet it would be a Bad Thing, aka unintended?

Here, there are ants this time of year, otherwise spiders, house flies, and the occasional house centepede or silverfish, crickets that come in through drainage pipes, then in fall the stink bugs try to get in. If sticky traps caught every last one of those, it would be great.

At the same time, I agree that it is cruel to use a sticky trap for mice, and I wouldn't want any chipmonks or squirrels finding their way inside and getting caught either, but neither of those have ever tried. They seem to have too much common sense, or are just too busy gathering up the thousands of acorns that my oaks drop, or the black walnuts.

 

[pcgeek11]

What other creatures do you have in your house that are small enough to get caught yet it would be a Bad Thing, aka unintended?

Here, there are ants this time of year, otherwise spiders, house flies, and the occasional house centepede or silverfish, crickets that come in through drainage pipes, then in fall the stink bugs try to get in. If sticky traps caught every last one of those, it would be great.

At the same time, I agree that it is cruel to use a sticky trap for mice, and I wouldn't want any chipmonks or squirrels finding their way inside and getting caught either, but neither of those have ever tried. They seem to have too much common sense, or are just too busy gathering up the thousands of acorns that my oaks drop, or the black walnuts.

Small kitten, Puppies, Gerbil, Hampster ... They are just a very nasty device in general.

If you are going to kill a rat, mouse at least use a snap trap and make it a quick kill.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Small kitten, Puppies, Gerbil, Hampster ... They are just a very nasty device in general.

If you are going to kill a rat, mouse at least use a snap trap and make it a quick kill.

Agreed I watched a mouse die in a glue trap and it’s cruel. They have legit purposes kind of like water traps do however they should be used extremely sparingly. Plain old snap traps caught all the mice we had in our house and they all appeared to be quick, clean kills.
OP one of the smarter purchases we’ve made was have an exterminator seal our home. The exterminators know exactly where they can get in and know exactly how to remedy it. I strongly recommend having one out. I forgot the cost but having them seal up the house wasn’t that much, what is expensive is having the exterminator lay traps and monitor those traps. Sealing for our home was a few hundred about 8 years ago.

 

[Greenman]

Perhaps it's time to invest in a resident rodent control engineer?

 

[jmagg]

I had a few mice get in over the winter. Just for my info, I called a major pest control service to see what the cost would be for their intrusion system. I'ts a small angle that closes the cap between the foundation and siding. Phone quote was 5-6 grand. I found the spot they are getting in and hammered a small round stone into the hole. Intrusion thwarted, no prob since.

 

[I'dluv2]

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I use an electric trap that electrocutes the critters. Something similar to this:

Amazon.com

It's effective and ridiculously easy to clean.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Got this one right across the bridge of the nose, between the snout and the eyes. Sucker probably died of heart failure.

 

[jmagg]

Got a "Have a Heart" rodent trap for 3 bucks. The daddy chipmunk got a pellet, but the family persists. If they're smart they will get trapped and allow relocation. Three days in no luck, threes days left before pellet measures. Hey I tried

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

And now incinerated.

 

[jmagg]

After realizing a largish chipmunk can escape through a one inch square opening, I wrapped the trap with diamond lath, and got three four six eleven twenty in a week. They apparently love black sunflower seed, and aren't as smart as i thought. Alvin and crew now live down by the interstate. Chipmunk resort is closed.

 

[jmagg]

Three days no return, at least no digging in the spot. The goog says take them at least a mile away, some say five miles to assure no return. These diggers were taken a half mile, we shall see.