Dude...I just built a BETTER BETTER mouse trap! And it's completely humane.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/pets/...er-better.html
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OK, had a visitor show him/herself a couple weeks ago...house mouse. Came in from under the sink, at least I saw her scurry to the opening around the plumbing and found droppings there...
Not good.
But I like critters, all kinds.
We live back against the woodlands and it's been freezing hard lately, so I figured sooner or later something would want to find its way in...and this house has plenty of access.
Husband mumbled about glue traps and I said I'd try other methods first. Just not digging the idea of killing something if I don't have to.
So I looked online, found all kinds of suggestions. Husband went out and bought the ONLY humane trap he could find locally - not the neat green house-looking thing but another more squat trap that slides open...I looked at that and immediately thought, "Hmmn, Mama's going to get bit..."
Put the trap out where we saw Ms. Mouse travel against the wall. Peanut butter. Nothing.
Next week, tried another location where we saw her frequent. Nothing.
Finally, this weekend, husband is getting a bit perturbed and again threatens glue traps - not that he really wants to but we CAN'T keep a mouse in the house...
I'm frustrated, reading all this silliness online about how folks used cardboard and garbage cans...GREAT, but my mouse stays low and behind things. She's not on the counter. She does not climb.
I follow her around the living room with a box...knowing full well I can't actually catch her with it, but it makes me feel better for a few minutes.
She goes behind a cocktail table that's been turned on its side against the wall (about to go in the attic) and I talk to her...husband mocks me - am I going to soothe her out?
Grrr.
He goes to bed.
I stare at everything I have at my disposal. Then it hits me - I know what to do...AND IT JUST WORKED!
Old milk jugs that I'd set next to the garbage to go out for recycling...one large (gallon) and one small (half-gallon)...not knowing what size would be better...
lids off, containers rinsed out.
I dropped some crunchy peanut butter down to the bottom (so it was inside at the opposite end) but didn't do anything special to make it stick...sprinkled some birdseed inside (I have the fancy nut/berry blend) and then smeared just a touch on the inner lip of the opening with more peanut butter and stuck a few morsels right there, too.
Then I took the milk jugs and laid them down against the wall on either side of the room with the mouse in between - I knew where she was...and waited.
She came out almost immediately (no fear, this one!) and sniffed, started nibbling...cleaned off almost all of the food that was on the rim. That's when I wondered if she'd venture in.
YES.
She scampered in, grabbed a seed then ran back out...did this a few times to feel for safety.
At that point I realized I needed to improve my design and cut a looong string of yarn, tied it to the top of the jug handle and draped it tautly over a backless chair (that's what I'd put the trap under).
Did the same with the smaller trap.
I sat next to the trap at the dining room table and waited. She came back, darted in and out and then in again and stayed...so without too much commotion I quickly pulled the string - not so much that I tossed the rodent inside but fast enough that the jug was immediately upright.
IT WORKED.
She was in there, could not get out and I had caught her without harm.
Looked inside...she was eating a seed. OK, not terribly traumatised...maybe she speaks human after all...
Then I had to wake husband with the jug in my hand, do a female version of the Tim Allen Ape grunt...and walk Ms. Mouse out to the woods, far from the house.
I took a small piece of cardboard, smeared that with some peanut butter, some more seed and placed that next to a log at the back of my property (1/2 acre, too late to find some place a mile away...next time, if there is, I will travel further.) and then gently turned the jug over so she poked her head out of the opening...had to be patient - plenty of room for her to move but the little thing was confused and held on for a minute...that's where the log helped out - I let her grab the wood with her front claws and she came out and just sat there...started cleaning herself. Mouse mentally intact.
Cute little thing, too bad about disease and all that.
Showed her the food with my flashlight, bid good evening and told her I'd rather not have to do this again.
There you have it, folks.
If you have half an hour, try it. It actually worked and, c'mon, does not get much easier (and cleaner) than this.
Good luck!
Trish
You need:
1) Patience.
2) Empty milk jug.
3) Something to keep milk jug from toppling forward when mouse climbs in...anything that fits under the rim. I used one of those 'push' night lights...it was just sitting there and it worked.
4) Peanut butter. Mine preferred crunchy.
5) (Bird seed)
6) Length of yarn.
7) More patience.
8) Some place to immediately release the mouse - they can, given time, chew through a milk jug.
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