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Any recommendations for catching the critters? I think they're in the loft.
Just the standard Little Nippers work well for me.
We have them under the stairs, seem to be really enjoying my granola...Any tips for catching but not killing? I actually quite like mice.
big cheese ultra rat trap screwed to a plank that doesn't fit down between the trusses.
that way you ensure immediate death of mice ... and don't have to play the ... annoyed rat caught up in a mouse trap game.
+1 on the Little Nippers or get a cat.
You need a man in a bath tub.
Trapman humane trap. With peanut butter.
Just move them outside and block up where ever they get in.
Critters in general are in enough trouble.
I have had great success with the humane ones you get on amazon (can't get link to work sorry). Use peanut butter. Drop them off somewhere quite far away. But you need to find the source and block it up otherwise its a never ending task.
Trapman humane trap. With peanut butter.
They do love peanut butter. But do check those traps regularly as the mouse will dehydrate pretty quickly and die in a non-humane way. i.e. not suitable for a loft.
Just move them outside
Allegedly they can return if you drop them off closer than a mile. That may have been limited research on American homing mice though. 'return' = not eaten en-route I suppose.
block up where ever they get in
Good luck with that - 10mm holes are easily big enough for them.
Any tips for catching but not killing? I actually quite like mice.
No. I quite like mice too. But they are doubly incontinent, disease-ridden and breed at an insane rate. Murder them with extreme prejudice or accept that you're going to have mice.
Trapman humane trap.
Congratulations, you now have a live mouse. What next?
The only humane trap is a snap trap. I favour the Rentokil ones. The ones with plastic 'teeth' look like they mean business but are crap.
Search the forum, there have been many threads on this.
I've used the humane type v ones with some peanut butter in the end with some success. You will need to check them regularly as they aren't very humane if it starves to death trapped inside. I have read that you need to be taking quite a distance before releasing them. At least a mile?.
Congratulations, you now have a live mouse. What next?
Drop it off outside your local church
I've found these ones from Amazon to be very effective. Load them with peanut butter and tuck them away in the corners of the garage. The only thing missing is a way for the little mousey bastards to send a message to their friends to stay away in the first place...
I’ve used the humane type v ones with some peanut butter in the end with some success.
yeah. I bought the "original" Motel Mouse which worked well. I see there are slightly cheaper generic versions too, possibly just as good but haven't used them!
Congratulations, you now have a live mouse. What next?
release it at the end of the garden? I appreciate if you have a very small garden, it's probably just going to immediately go back into your house so this might not work for everyone!!
I have read that you need to be taking quite a distance before releasing them. At least a mile?
conversely I have read that if you do this, the mouse will become disoriented and will not survive long!
Just move them outside and block up where ever they get in.
and
Good luck with that – 10mm holes are easily big enough for them.
I read that if you can get a Bic pen through a hole, a mouse can get through.
When we had mice we released them in the garden, they didn't come back once we blocked the cat flap.
I can't see why there is such a blood lust for animals that are just in the wrong place.
so then you have to ask whats the point in humane trapping them then.
Mousey will be back in the house before you are in majority of cases.
I guess it depends if we are talking townie occasional mouse - or Field mouse infestation from fields/livestock/Stables near by.... those against snap traps might be a little less liberal once they have had 10 in a night ....
+1 on the Little Nippers or get a cat.
Except we have the occasional mouse issue becuase the fricken cat bring them in and loses them while 'playing' with them. So I'm more than happy just to throw them back outside
This humane one looked pretty good: Metal mouse trap
so then you have to ask whats the point in humane trapping them then.
because this is what MrsZilog wants to do, and this is not a hill I am going to die on 🙂
we've had one in the 3 years we've been here - released it at the bottom of the garden. It did not return. It may have gotten eaten by a cat tho 🙂
No-one has said Goodnature. Gas powered, can be left in the loft without checking (particularly if you have the bluetooth top), humane (as in instant kill).
Instructions (for outside use) talks about the bodies being safe for scavenging as there are no poisons involved.
Yea, if you're going to "trap" them, just get a trap that does it quickly and humanely.
You will forget to check it every few hours, and take them out the house. At which point you've just got either a dehydrated dying mouse, or a mouse that dies outside anyway.
How are you going to deal with the "humane" traps if you go out for the night? In theory they can survive for a 1-2 days without water, in reality they could get stressed, defecate and be dead in 3. Are you going to be getting up every hour to check and empty the traps?
Do not get a cat!
The only reason that I have mice, is because the stupid cat brings them in! I did wonder If I should get another cat to take them out?
the mouse may end up being the least worrysome issue there for the majority of users.
lol!
The only reason that I have mice, is because the stupid cat brings them in!
you can get (although it is really spendy!) an AI-powered catflap that won't unlock if the cat is carrying prey.
I don't want an AI catflap because the cat is currently going through a custody battle which I am hoping I will lose! 🙂
I had excellent results with these..
It was only one mouse I think and I caught it early.. Had no bother since.
Of course you then have the issue of what to do with a live mouse.
I chose to yeet my mouse as far as I could fling it. It might have lived or might have been injured or eaten by the local cat and fox population.
May the odds be in its favor.
I've had no issues since, despite refreshing the traps with bait so I think it was just one random one.
Edit.. Bait wise I used a a three pronged approach.. In each trap I placed about 3 pieces of dog food kibble, a bit of peanut butter and a bit of cooked chicken...
Caught the bugger in under 24hrs.
The ones with plastic ‘teeth’ look like they mean business but are crap.
We bought some cheap ones to address a rat issue when we had the bird feeders too close to the house, they were very effective. Bird feeders now down the garden and no rats seen - see the odd mouse in the garden but as long as they stay out there, that's fine. 🙂
We use the standard plastic traps, solely as it means you can thoroughly wash off human odour or the smell of dead mouse
We had a massive infestation, major electrical damage, destroyed insulation resulting in a burst pipe and mouse piss soaked plasterboard.
24 mice caught over the first day, all fed to the red kites that come by
Only one mouse since in 12 months.
Peanut butter and a raisin stuck on top.
Strategically placed bucket of wallpaper paste (OK it wasn't deliberate) but drowned mice quite effectively.
And when we had some in our old house my wife dealt with them using either the Concise OED or Delia Smith's complete cookery course.
Also had some baby ones (several of them) fall off the coffee table into a kids toy box overnight. A sort of humane trap but they were very wriggly and smelly so I removed them to the wheelie bin.
"Humane" traps are a fallacy.
If you take the critters away from your house & dump them in a nice little wood then what do think is going to happen?
Mice live in burrows or nests with a family group and near to a source of food. If you dump one in a strange place it'll starve, freeze or get eaten within a few hours or a few days. Nothing humane about that.
Kill them with traps or get a cat. Or both.
I can’t see why there is such a blood lust for animals that are just in the wrong place.
Because they're bastards, they're the animal equivalent of Japanese Knotweed. Come back to us with your "they just need a cuddle" approach when your house needs a full floor-to-ceiling rewire because they've eaten through half the existing cabling. It's a problem I ultimately solved by moving house.
I'm as big a woke leftie snowflake as they come, I love animals and I've been vegetarian now for as long as I can remember. I cry watching Strictly for gods' sake. Wild house mice need murdering with extreme prejudice. It's awful and I hate it to the core of my being but it has to be done.
Do or do not, there is no try.
You will forget to check it every few hours, and take them out the house. At which point you’ve just got either a dehydrated dying mouse, or a mouse that dies outside anyway.
They last a night easily. I've lived in a place where we used humane traps and I'd often hear the traps spring at night. I'd take them down the road in the morning and drop them off in the verge and they'd scarper. After three or four mice that was it. Then the same thing would happen the next year. Hardly problematic.
As for whether they survive long. Well they lived outside until they found our house so I think they have a fighting chance. And at least part of the food chain that way.
Yeah just check the traps in 12hr intervals.
The cold, hard, fact is they are a massive problem if they are in your house. And I say this as someone who used to keep mice and rats as pets as a teenager...
They breed so fast I used to trade mice with my local pet shop in exchange for bags of mouse food, lol!
Then I bought a Cali king snake, and my mouse problem was over.