The Shrew: Most disgusting rodent (not actually a rodent) in existence

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Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I've had good luck with the traps lately. I had a problem last year with the mouse not dying and then running off and hiding with a trap stuck on his head. Then I'd have to hunt around the garage searching for some sad ass mouse and have to bash it with a shovel. This did not rate highly on my list most fun household chores. You try to kill them very fast, but my experience has been that it is not as easy to do as it sounds. So this year I've tethered the traps to blocks of wood with pieces of string, and I place blocks next to the trap to try and funnel the rodents head first into the killing end of it. So far I only saw one mouse that I needed the tether for and he died before I got their anyway.

A guy at work was talking about his rodent problems and he mentioned he'd started doing the same tether thing for the same reason.

LOL, that made me picture Monty from Chip 'N Dales Rescue Rangers.
 
Dec 10, 2005
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I've always been a fan of sticky traps. I know they're brutal but sometimes it's the only thing that works. Then we got a cat.

I've never seen a sticky trap work. They always seem to run be able to run off and tear themselves free from the trap. I would hate to see them die in the wall - they stink as they decay, followed by a horde of flies.

I've found that the classic snap traps are the best for killing mice.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
31,385
12,868
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One of my cats would occasionally come across the things while wandering around the yard. I don't know the mode of envenomation (isn't venom harmless when eaten?), but he'd end up with a fever, and just rest in one place he'd always go whenever he was worried or scared. After a few hours, he was fine.

I think it took 3 shrews before he finally figured out that they weren't good playmates.
My cat had the run of the field behind our house. She would catch just about anything. She would bring those things home and eat them. She also brought birds, squirrels and rabbits. She was quite the little hunter.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,851
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My kittiots are virtually useless. They catch mice, but they don't have the killer instinct. They catch them, and let them go over and over. I get tired of hearing the mouse scream, and take it from them. I take the mouse for a long walk, and release it. Me and the girl cat make a decent mouse catching team. She'll help corral the mouse, and I'll catch it :^)
 

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
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When I've had a hard time catching a mouse with a trap, I made a ring of death by setting four traps in a cross shape with the bait toward the center. It's always worked for me.
 

OBLAMA2009

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2008
6,574
3
0
weve had a really serious mouse problem in my condo building for the last 8 months or so. ive trapped at least 20 mice in glue traps but they just keep coming in through the heaters from someone elses condo, which really pisses me off. they crap and piss all over everything to the point i dont even want the things theyve touched. the mice here are really smart though. i put 20 traps near one of the heaters and ive watched them walk around the traps from across the room. i use peanut butter but the damn things are so well fed they arent even hungry. the young ones are the easiest to catch. as soon as they get caught they start squeeling so you know as soon as you get them. at night i can sometimes hear them rustling around in the cabinets and walls. our building has the exterminator here every week and yet some idiot here isnt letting them in because we can never get rid of them

glue traps are totally cruel but they are much more reliable than snap traps and they are the only traps that can catch more than one at a time. i was googling "how to catch mice" and there are a ton of funny videos on youtube of mice getting caught in traps. one particularly funny one has a mouse safely eating bait in a snap trap and his friend comes up and springs the trap, which kills them both. there is also a whole group of videos of a homemade trap using a rotating beer can suspended over a bucket of water
 
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CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
I've never seen a sticky trap work. They always seem to run be able to run off and tear themselves free from the trap. I would hate to see them die in the wall - they stink as they decay, followed by a horde of flies.

I've found that the classic snap traps are the best for killing mice.

I have. It's horrible.