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a better mouse trap

G

ghtpdm5

Defy Gravity
Joined
Nov 21, 2009
Messages
2,326
Location
wells, mn
looking for ideas here.

long story short, i'm severely allergic to mice, stir up dust, throat closes up, and out comes the epipen.

the question i'm posing to you guys is: what is the best method for catching the little bastards?

i've used the 5 gallon pail (small amount of liquid in the bottom of the pail, suspend a 20oz pop bottle covered in peanut butter over the opening), not a fan of poison because i just find them later on, old mechanical traps, and currently using glue traps. the glue traps are proving to be the easiest for me to dispose of if i have to do it. the mechanical traps would be a nightmare with a curious blind dog, and the poison as well.

so far the bucket trap is the best catching method, but the disposal involves a tyvek suit and respirator for a few hours after disturbing it.

its fall, the little walking packets of death are coming into the house, and i'm getting seriously sick of the constant itching and raspy throat. there has got to be a trap i haven't thought of.
 
the cat takes care of the shed pretty well. if i scream at it, its on the dead list for her. problem is the dog, getting up there in age, she hates change, the blindness only makes that worse. the cat is a damn vicious one (will beg you for lap time when working though), and she doesn't like change either. so i'm kinda screwed with using the best trap in the house.
 
ya a cat is an option, mine brought home and left me huge rat the other night:shock:..first time in 4 years..lol, killed many but never left one for me to enjoy:ror: other than that been varmint free, definatly none voluntarily come inside:) and there are lots of them around.
i think the sticky trap is probably the most effective and least dangerous, at my shop we used to have a mechanical trap that caught them live but then you have to deal with that..edit i see you have a cat
 
that is the advantage of the sticky traps, the movement and therefore death particles are minimized. i can usually use a pliers to get them in a ziploc and out to the dumpster. it still has its risks though, and i think they're learning. it may come down to bait strategy here. and i can peel the dog's foot off of it if she manages to wander into one.
 
Get a cat for the outside, that'll cure anymore getting in...as for the ones outside, you could get ralphy a motorcycle so he can ride away :ror:

I haven't seen a mouse for a long time in the house. I see them outside and in the hay everynow and then, but the cats keep em out of the house and are smart enough not to pester the dogs unless they want to get knawed. Too bad the cats don't eat all the scorpions and other insects that like to get into the house
 
Airgun would make for messy cleanup. Not an option, getting near the aftermath would end badly, likely that I would have to sleep outside for a couple days. The goal here isn't total eradication, just abatement.

Like I said before, a house cat isn't an option with a curious blind dog, she's very dependent on smell, and that would mean a yelping blind whirlwind going through the house. Bringing a different cat in this time of year would be a true pain. Between the existing shed cat and the weather, it would mean raising a house only cat. That wouldn't be a bad thing to me, I happen to like cats as well as dogs, but whether or not that house cat would be cool with constant sniffing from the dog is a gamble at best. Just too late in the year to get some sort of training done with the dog and a new cat. Raising a house cat would mean putting the dog out when things get heated, I live in the middle of a field ready for harvest. Even putting the dog on a leash is iffy, she gets scared shitless around loud noises. So I would gain both a house cat and a dog that hates the fact she lives here.

So that leads me to bait for the sticky traps. Tried bird seed, worked pretty well, done peanut butter, little bastards love it but they seem to learn. Also crackers, candy bars, corn and beans out of the field. The just seem to wise up, even with doing random placement on the traps around the house.
 
It sound odd but canned corn, peanuts and popcorn work for my friend. I have a pack of farrel cats out side so i dont have a mouse problem. I must say the sticky traps sound like your best bet. I will ask around if any one I know has a better idea and i will let you know if i find something that might work better.
 
Thanks for the help "thumbsup" truly do appreciate it. I'll give popcorn a try if can find some, never would have thought about the canned nuts or corn though.
 
I am a redneck so we tend to try odd things. But I am more than happy to get the chance to help you out. I used to have a pet mouse and he loved cat food. That might be a problem though since you have a pet cat and i bet you dont want the cat to get stuck.
 
outdoor cat only, she wouldn't be involved in the sticky trap at all. so there's another thing i never thought about trying, she's been clearing the building site pretty hard, so she doesn't go through much food right now anyway.
 
I would try the cat food first because that works the best for me. But the mice around here are used to cat food I live "in town" so they can find cat food from people feeding the out side cats. Well the 'town" has less than 900 people so its a small town to say the least.
 
How about lining the 5 gallon bucket with a trash bag so when the critter falls to it's death, it's already in a bag for you? Or fill the bucket with enough water for the rat to drown.

At my old job we used the 5 gallon bucket w/ a ramp up to the top and a blob of peanut butter in the middle of a wooden rod that spanned the top of the bucket. the mice would try to walk across the rod, it would rotate and the mouse would fall into the bucket.
 
The Violator said:
Maybe try some spent motor oil, or even cooking oil in the bucket. It would kill the mice the same, and coat them with oil, maybe keep the dander down.
Click to expand...

that's honestly a great idea, the water just collects them nicely, but the stink is horrible. and i have about 55 gallons of waste oil in a barrel in the shed.

BigSki said:
How about lining the 5 gallon bucket with a trash bag so when the critter falls to it's death, it's already in a bag for you? Or fill the bucket with enough water for the rat to drown.

At my old job we used the 5 gallon bucket w/ a ramp up to the top and a blob of peanut butter in the middle of a wooden rod that spanned the top of the bucket. the mice would try to walk across the rod, it would rotate and the mouse would fall into the bucket.
Click to expand...

combine the motor oil with this and i think i may have a solution. the bucket trap i've used is the same principle, the 20oz pop bottle is on a wire, mouse jumps for the peanut butter, pop bottle spins, mouse goes down.
 
I bought a house a while ago that had been abandoned for a few months as the previous owners were put in a retirement home and their kids were fighting over the property. At any rate there were a bunch of mice when we moved in, the best method I found was the rat zapper. You put in dry dog food, a mouse walks in, is electrocuted instantly and you just the flip the zapper over and dump it out. I have a dog, it hasn't been a problem. Now, I have no more mice. It has also killed a few chipmunks by mistake when it was in the garage and the doors were open.

http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Zap-RZCO...TF8&qid=1348835474&sr=8-2&keywords=rat+zapper
 
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