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Mice!

Started by Jarhead0331, August 15, 2018, 06:11:17 AM

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Jarhead0331

So. I think we have an uninvited house guest and he ain't paying any rent. The little bastard has been coming up through the walls and into our kitchen cabinets. Not really doing much other than leaving a small dropping or two.

I set a couple of traps a few days ago. The kind where the mouse enters through an opening and then is killed and locked inside. I baited them with peanut butter. None of the traps had been activated, but I still saw a dropping, so I tried a more traditional snap trap, again using peanut butter as bait. This morning, I wake up to find that the god damn bait is gone, but the trap wasn't activated! How is that even possible? What kind of mouse am I dealing with here?

Anybody have experience hunting these things? I feel like Arnold in the final scene of Predator.
Grogheads Uber Alles
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besilarius

They're cunning little buggers.  Have had them nibble the peanut butter off a trap, too.
Using mashed up gumdrops worked somewhat better.  Use enough of the gooey material to get some on the top and bottom of the trigger.
Works sometimes.
I have trouble with putting out the rodent poison.  Doesn't really bother me to poison the vermin, but rats will go back to their home to die.  Then you have their decaying bodies in the walls smelling like death for a week or two.
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bbmike

Get a cat. No, really! I live in DC where mice are everywhere. We have two cats in the house and in the 18+ years I've lived here there's been a grand total of two mice that got in and zero that got out.  ^-^
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Jarhead0331

Quote from: bbmike on August 15, 2018, 06:43:50 AM
Get a cat. No, really! I live in DC where mice are everywhere. We have two cats in the house and in the 18+ years I've lived here there's been a grand total of two mice that got in and zero that got out.  ^-^

I have three! Don't ask, long story. Unfortunately, my wife is extremely allergic and we keep them downstairs in one part of the House.

I did some searching and I'm thinking I used too much bait. I scaled it back and only put a little dab. I also put the trap inside of a cup so the sides are blocked and the only way in is from the front over the spring pad. Hopefully, this will lead to a kill!
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Pete Dero

Over here we use cheese as bait.

But that could be because nobody I know eats peanut butter ...  (the Dutch do but they call it peanut cheese because it was illegal to call something butter unless it is butter).

Jarhead0331

Prevailing wisdom is that cheese is not very effective. Peanut butter is the top recommended bait. I've also heard gum drops, as noted by besilarious, are effective.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


jamus34

I've been fighting the little bastards for a while myself.

I heard if you put a little bit of PB and then a small nut or birdseed in it that could help, but haven't tried that myself.
Insert witty comment here.

bbmike

Quote from: jamus34 on August 15, 2018, 07:34:29 AM
I've been fighting the little bastards for a while myself.

I heard if you put a little bit of PB and then a small nut or birdseed in it that could help, but haven't tried that myself.

I've heard that adding a bit of oatmeal also works.
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

Greybriar

I got lucky and spotted a mouse as it was exiting the room. I put a mouse trap


baited with cheese directly in front of the opening and caught a mouse in minutes. In this case the location of the trap was more important than the type of bait used--I could probably have caught the little bugger without any bait at all as it entered or exited the hole.

Most others I know use peanut butter as bait. One acquaintance of mine tied a small piece of bacon to the trap he set to prevent any mice from stealing the bait.

I hope that helped. Good luck!
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bayonetbrant

make sure you rearrange things in the area where you set the trap. Mice are naturally curious and will explore "new" surroundings, even if its just re-arranging existing ones.  We had to do that with a trap we set under the sink in our kitchen where the little bugger was coming up from the crawlspace under the house and wriggling through the dishwasher hose hole in the cabinet wall under the sink.

Caught him the day after we moved htings around under there
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Jarhead0331

^good idea. I took most everything out of the drawer, which was mostly silverware. I'll put some other crap back in there!
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Jarhead0331

Do you guys think there is any difference in whether I use smooth or crunchy PB? Seems like a silly question, but who knows... :crazy2:
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Gusington

As Mike said above, get a cat! Or three!


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jamus34

I'd say crunchy or anything that makes them jostle the trigger.
Insert witty comment here.