Technobabble

Mouse Traps

Posted by on Sep 13, 2006 | 15 Comments

I was staring at the computer with glazed eyes late one night last week when I noticed a pair of eyes staring back at me from behind the monitor. It was at that point I realized that we had a mouse problem. There’s nothing quite like locking eyes with an uninvited rodent. As I drew back instinctively in my chair, the mouse scurried across my desk and disappeared. I didn’t have another siting until a few days later, but that one really freaked me out.

It was mid-morning. I had just finished my second cup of coffee. As I placed the coffee cup down, something caught my eye. I glanced down at the tangle of wires next to my desk and witnessed a fantastic four-footed acrobatic feat.

A mouse was in the midst of climbing an Ethernet cable from the floor up to my desk at a 45 degree angle. I immediately grabbed my keys and headed out to the store to pick up a bunch of glue mouse traps.

I didn’t want to mess with d-Con poison mouse bait or anything of the like. The thought of poisoning mice only to have them die somewhere in the house didn’t hold much appeal.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much luck with the first batch of glue traps. After discovering that our mice didn’t care for blue cheese, I switched to monterey jack. While the new bait seemed to interest the mice, the crafty critters were able to escape from the Victor glue trap.

Yesterday, I decided to abandon the Victor brand traps in favor of Tomcat traps. I switched bait, as well, settling on a dab of peanut butter, as recommended in the instructions. I placed a trap on the the floor along the wall next to my desk. It proved to be a deadly combination.

Within hours, I heard a tiny, yet blood-curdling screech. The peanut butter and Tomcat glue trap combo had snared its first unwitting victim. I felt a strange remorse as I bagged the poor little visitor. Knowing that where there’s one, others will follow, I baited another trap and dropped in in the same place, noting that the Tomcat glue traps were extremely sticky.

I bagged the second mouse this morning. It was a rather gruesome sight.

When I told my wife that I was looking at humane mouse traps, she just looked at me funny and laughed.

  • http://www.majordad1984.com MajorDad1984

    Try a piece of celery stuck to the trap with a dab of peanut butter. Years ago when faced with the same problem, the exterminator told me that was the magic “bait.”

    Save the cheese for a “Tom and Jerry” marathon!

    MajorDad1984

    • Blackwolf

      Dan – I have experience with glue traps and have used them off an on as needed over the years. One key point to setting up a glue trap, is to put it in a place where the mice are likely to scurry by.

      The way mice move, they tend to hug the base boards of the wall of a house, and they like to move under protected overhangs, such as the one created by cabinets at floor level. Another thing they like to do is run under or behind appliances. Keeping that in mind, if you place a glue trap behind your fridge, along the baseboard, you probably won’t even need to bait it. Just wait a few days and you’ll have the mouse.

      If you don’t like the thought of killing the mice (I’m an animal lover, so I prefer not to kill them if I can avoid it), buy some mineral spirits, and the next time you catch a mouse, put it in a paper bag (making sure the glue doesn’t come in contact with the paper bag) and drive it out to the country side (at least five or six miles away from your house). Use the mineral spirits to gently free the mouse from the glue and set it free. MAKE SURE you were heavy gloves, and definitely wash your hands afterwards.

      Mice do bite when cornered, and they carry diseases – and while most “indoor” rodents are generally not going to make you sick, breathing the dust generated by sweeping up their feces can give you Hantavirus. Check these links out for more info:

      http://ehso.com/ehshome/hantavirus_mousesigns.htm
      http://ehso.com/ehshome/hantavirusprevent.htm

      Take Care and God Bless!

      .

      Blackwolf

  • http://www.thesquidget.com Dale Summers

    I consider myself an animal lover too, but that goes only so far. For me, mice just don’t seem to fall into the category of animals I wish to “save”. Mice that are disposed of live in a glue trap will die a slow death by starvation or worse (crushed or suffocated in a landfill), whereas the old fashioned, reusable spring trap kills them quickly, cheaply and painlessly. As for driving several miles to release them, at $3 per gallon, I’m not taking mice on a field trip. I find that peanut butter is by far the best bait for any type of traps.

  • Ray

    I had a problem and find a truly humane and Effective solution (and, no, I do not have any connection with anyone that sells the product.) It is called the RatZapper 2000 and is available on the web and on E-bay. It should run about $30. I have used it and lent it to my friends and it worked consistently everywhere.

  • http://dougoffen.com Doug Offen

    I tried peanut butter and cheese on spring traps. The mouse ate the bait clean and the traps didn’t snap. I then found they had been in a bag of rolled oats. I rebaited the traps with a bit of cheese and rolled oats and a secret ingredient – white glue! The thick mixture was spread in, over and under the bait area with a toothpick and allowed to dry. After drying they were reset and produced results right away. The count is 4 so far. The success theory – the bait must be sufficiently tough to remove so the mechanism will snap. The white glue is an edible milk product too. It adds to the flavour – just ask any grade one kid at craft time.

  • Caroline Lemus

    We have a mouse problem in our furnace room where our dog food is kept. We tried the spring mouse traps and found that the mice were being caught by the leg and were not dead, didn’t think this was too humane! My daughter suggested the glue mouse traps and we bought the “tom cat” glue traps, so far we have caught 6 mice this way, we think the product is great! Only one PROBLEM my dogs decided they would like to eat the dead mouse on the trap and chewed up the trap putting the glue all over my linoleum kitchen floor!!! HELP!!! How do I get this off!! It is SOOO sticky. Any comments would be welcome.

  • http://www.geekbooks.com/ Dan Gray

    Caroline – My first guess might be to try mineral spirits, but be very wary of the fumes. Make sure that the room is well ventilated and that there are no open flames.

  • Elle

    I have been using the glue traps and have caught 8 mice so far. However, I am now finding that some of the mice are deliberately avoiding the glue traps even through I baited them with peanut butter. I actually have witnessed this with my own eyes several times. I’m so frustrated. I wonder if anyone has a solution as to how to get smart mice to run over the glue traps.

  • Ceasar

    I’ve had a problem with mice every since our cat died. Strangely they are getting into our kitchen drawers and I’m baffeled as to how? I know they can restrict and get through very small spaces and figure they are crawling in through the small gabs of the drawers. I’ve caught one using glue traps and figured I was on a roll. After the first catch they seem to be avoiding the glue traps baited with peanut butter. To note I also have placed snap traps where they ate the peanut butter clean. I moved to oatmeal and the same thing occurred. From what I am reading, a change to different type of glue trap and more sensitive snap trap may be in order.

  • Cynthia

    This winter I experience my first “mouse in the house” and did not want to deal with the mess of glue traps or the trauma of the spring trap. Forget the mouse’s suffering – I am just squeamish and wanted as little mess as possible. So when I came upon the trap mentioned on this page (http://glass.typepad.com/journal/2005/09/how_to_catch_a_.html), I was intrigued. I modified the trap to include water in the bucket and caught my first mouse last night. I’m pretty sure it does not live in my basement with me, it only visits in the evenings when I am trying to sleep, so I reloaded the trap and will see what else is caught.

  • Stephanie

    After 8 years in our house, we now have evidence of a mouse. we haven’t seen it but it’s droppings in the closet under our stairs. i pulled everything out (i should note this evidence showed up after Thanksgiving as that’s when i pulled all the Christmas decorations out of that same closet and there was no evidence at that time) and found three boxes of girlscout cookies that have had the sides scratched at a bit, but no holes. How do i know it’s a mouse and not a rat? the droppings are very small and black. plus it left some kind of seeds behind that it had “drilled” a hole into to get the “meat” out of. i also came across the link mentioned above and will try that tonight. i don’t want to kill anything, but i don’t want a host of rodents running around the walls in my house either.

  • tom

    well myself and my wife deal with city mice, and these punks are smart. i have seen them simply skirt around glue traps, even baited with large chunks of peanut butter, and as for the traps were they are supposed to run inside the trap – no deal. old school traps baited with chocolate are best, no mouse i have dealt with so far (marcel, marcel # 2, #3 etc up to the recently deceased marcel 7) have attempted to eat anything other that chocolate as bait. if you have mice on your counters absolutely use the bucket and toilet roll method, make sure you balance it just right (not RIGHT about to fall, as the mouse may disturb it and knock it off before getting “on board” but ALMOST right about to fall) and a tiny piece of chocolate (milk is best) on the end. then its the waiting game…or buy a cat….or move….

  • Raina D.

    We have had visits from these lil things off and on most of my life in ourkitchen shed. Usually we have found droppings and nibbled pasta bags and such. We used the poison pellets for awhile and the mice stopped but no bodies found as of yet. Well last night as I sat at my computer desk with 2 lights on, tv on, computer on, I was chatting on the phone and noticed something move out of teh corner of my eye. As i turned my head to the left there was a small mouse talking a leasurly stroll from behind my desk into plain sight (bold lil bugger i’d say). It scared the heck outta me that I screamed and it took off. I tore that desk apart looking for it but couldnt find it so I settled back into what i was doing,
    Not even 15 min later I see a brownish blur bolt across my indoor porch. Well I took off running (mind you my nerves are shot right now) towards where it was and it got away from me twice. I havent seen it since so I am in need of help as to what to use? I do have 2 cats but they are both old and one is handicapped ( only 3 legs). My worry in using the glue traps is the cats and I also have a 3 yr old who is very very curious?? HELP!!!!!!!!!!

  • KrazyKat

    I’m freaked too..just saw a FAT mouse run into my kitchen! Saw evidence of mice 10 days ago…laid traps…saw nothing until just now. About mice jumping over the glue traps – I have witnessed that myself. Only solution is to put down more traps than you think you need, I’ll put down at least three in a row, and find a mouse in the second trap. Judging from the droppings, there’s some baby mice in here too! I just read that mice eat sporadcally….nest for a while, then come hunting again. I want them out!

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