Have any of you used humane (live) mouse traps?

[Critters2]

The cats are interested in something behind my stove. I've had it! These critters need to go. The cats are doing their part, but I'd like to augment their efforts with live traps. There are a bunch of different kinds available.

Have anyone ever used any of these? Can you recommend one?

Thanks!!

[madeline_con]

1. Yes, and no...

The critter got the p-nut butter, but we didn't get the critter.

Later, we found evidence the mouse had been living in the trap. It was full of chewed up paper, very cozy, I suppose. :)

[Critters2]

2. Hmmm...some of 'em say you don't even have to use bait.

I'm concerned that anything I put peanut butter in will become less of a mousetrap and more of a beagle snack.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Do you eat sunflower seeds?

That's a major attractant to mice.

The best way to get rid of mice is to remove any possible sources of food.

[Critters2]

7. I don't have any sunflower seeds in the house.

I got pretty good at sealing up food last summer, when I had a nasty bug infestation. Damned old house!! Discovered a mouse had eaten through a plastic container of dog food, and replaced it with a metal container. I try to be careful about these things.

[Xipe Totec]

9. mice are gramnivores (eat seeds)

Rats, on the other hand are omnivores (eat anything).

That's why I asked about the sunflower seeds.

[Critters2]

11. That cats killed one. It wasn't a rat. Thank God! nt

[evlbstrd]

4. You're OK with the cats killing them.

But you want humane traps? Then what do you do with them?
I've used various "humane" traps with varying results. Most of them either don't work (as in the case of the one you tried) or aren't as humane as you'd like to think.
There are no halfway measures where rodents are concerned.

[Critters2]

10. Yeah, I see the inconsistency, I do see cats as nature's way of dealing

with mice. But I'd rather not do the killing myself. After catching them, I'd take them to the country, probably to one of the state parks, where there's lots of vegetation but far from my home.

[evlbstrd]

12. Sounds like a lot of gas and effort.

I didn't mean to come off sounding like a jerk. But mice are serious pests. They're not only health hazards but they'll chew anything. They can start house fires if they get to your wiring. I don't mind killing them. At all.

[celtdem]

19. Great sig file!!! nt

[BarenakedLady]

5. Often

Havahart trap. http://www.havahart.com/nuisance/critters/critters_Mice.asp One year I caught and released 16 deer mice from my garage. The key is to let them go several miles away from your house because they have really good homing instincts.

[flvegan]

6. The Havaharts are excellent.

But you can also use deep buckets. They'll find a way in, but not out.

[Critters2]

8. Interesting. So, you baited the bucket? What worked as a good bait? nt

[flvegan]

14. If it's mice or rats, almost anything.

Peanut butter on crackers is good. Dog food is the best. Beagle won't dig it, though, the sharing and all. Should be a "complete" food.

Make sure the bucket can't be tipped over. Best up on a counter, with an access point like a ramp or a towel taped to the very top of the rim, but not INTO the bucket.

[flvegan]

15. Also, the bucket has to be deep.

Those fuckers have a 10 vertical leap. You want one of those deep ones. Also, behind the stove is bad news. They'll make a home out of the back of it because of the warmth, and chew the wires. You need to act quickly.

[IzaSparrow]

13. I've used the kind with glue/gel with success.

You place them along the walls, behind things, and other areas you suspect the mice are running. I caught 2 mice with these last fall/winter. The real problem is that you have to release them somewhere and you have to use a solvent to get the glue to unstick. What a pain.
I went back to using a snap trap, because I felt that since I live in the city, and if I released it outside, I would just be pushing the problem off on someone else.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. There are so many frakking mice in the world, just kill 'em.

The countryside already has more than enough.

But, on the other hand, if you don't like handling squashed mice, the live traps are a nice way to go - take 'em far away, some place with a bunch of hawks flying overhead, and toss 'em out.

[ironflange]

17. My mom used them once

She had a problem with mice, but didn't want to hurt them. She used one of those angled plastic tube ones, and caught a lot of mice. She took them to the park a block away and set them free. However, this didn't seem to get rid of them, so she got a cat. Problem solved.

As for my cats, one of them catches mice in the yard, plays with them forever it seems, and finally devours them. The other will catch a mouse and play with it very gently, sometimes all afternoon, then will finally lose interest and leave the poor mouse to stumble away.

[celtdem]

18. I can actually help with this!!

Get one of those electronic rodent repellers. The ones for insects don't work, but the ones for rodents do. I once lived in a huge, drafty farmhouse that was full of mice when we moved in. Our cat couldn't keep up! We were hearing 'em in the walls, in the ceilings, everywhere every night!! We'd find droppings in the closets, in cupboards, ewww!! There were three of us, grad students, renting the place. None of us wanted to kill 'em--or deal with dead mice.

So, on a whim, we got one of those electronic things and put it in the kitchen. We stopped seeing evidence of mice in the kitchen, so we also put some in the basement and attic. That solved the problem.

There are a few things to be careful of with these. Cats can hear them, and don't really like 'em. That's why we didn't put one in every room. On the positive side, though, it kept the cat off the kitchen counter, which had been a losing fight until then.

Also, they don't actually get at the mice in the walls or ceilings. It's just that the mice don't want to come out of those spaces to wherever they were getting food and water. So, it doesn't work instantly. It was about three days before we stopped hearing them.

But we really did stop hearing them or seeing evidence of them altogether. I don't live in that house anymore, but I do have a couple of the electronic rodent repellents in the house as a precaution. And so far, no mice.

I just checked the brand that I have, and it's "Victor". That's the brand we used in the mouse infested house, too. I got this one after checking the brand on those.

Good luck!!