safest mouse traps?

[SilverSage]

Ok, we have been in our home for several weeks now, and we keep it clean. I just saw a mouse. A MOUSE! It wasn't in my bird room and I doubt it could get to any of my cages anyway, bt STILL!!! EW! So I need mouse traps. Sticky-traps are out, I hate those things even if they werent a death trap for birds. I am afraid of using the traditional traps JUST IN CASE one of my birds were to somehow get to it - any suggestions? Poison is also out because of the birds and dog.

 

[Ducatimom]

I've heard of one where it's like a little hut and I think they get stuck in it and die. No View, No Touch Mouse Trap - Covered Sticky Rat Trap - d-CON

My friend just experienced mice in her home. Luckily it was in her garage so we were able to do the traditional traps with peanut butter. I don't know how well these d-con traps work. I was told to look for their poop and put the trap there. Clean the poop up as well so you can tell if there are more that go to that area. Also get a few traps because where there's one there's bound to be more.

 

[Betrisher]

I've used the ones which are like little square tunnels with a bend in the middle. You put bait (peanut butter) up one end and when mousie walks in, the trap see-saws over the bend and the door shuts, trapping mousie very effectively until you come to let him go (preferably somewhere a good way away).

From the mouse's point of view, it's not all that humane. You're removing him from his colony where he finds his security and home and you're probably putting him directly in harm's way from predators. But at least you're not subjecting him to a horrible end!

If you are a patient person (I am), you can make a very effective humane mousetrap from a large plastic bottle. Australian 2 litre milk bottles are perfect for this. All you do is put something tasty and smelly inside it, with a smear of the smell inside the neck of the bottle. Then, you tie a string to the handle, run that up through a cuphook you have artfully affixed directly above and from there across the room to your comfortable chair. You hold onto the end of the string and wait. And watch. When mousie goes inside the bottle to gobble up the treaties you've left for him, you pull on the string (very quickly and sharply, mind - mousies are quick!) and you have him!

I've caught literally hundreds of mice this way during a couple of plague years when nothing else seemed to work. Having bred fancy mice for many years, I simply can't bring myself to kill their tiny wild cousins cruelly. I know they're vermin etc etc etc, but they're just as adorable and vulnerable as my pretty pets were. LOL! So yeah: I'm a crazy mouse lady and PROUD of it. Good luck in catching your mousie!

 

[SilverSage]

Exactly. For rats they say for every one you see there are 400, not sure what the numbers are with mice *shudder* And the weird thing is that I have not seen a single dropping, and I keep an eye out for that kind of thing! EW EW EW EW! This is my first time as an adult having mice. My grandma had them and I remember my mom waging all out war on the little beasts, but she is at work (yes, the first thing I did was call my mommy - I am such an adult ) and I am here. WITH A MOUSE!

Don't get me wrong, I am not afraid of mice. What I am afraid of is disease! And it just makes me feel dirty and nasty like a person who never cleans. ugh.

 

[SilverSage]

Betrisher, that is a nice plan I was once in the middle of trying to catch a mouse with a frappachino bottle when i was trampled by a crazed herd of children who had just been told a mountain lion was chasing them. That is what your bottle trap reminded me of, and yes, I was literally trampled and pinned to the floor and would not have been able to deal with the lion had it been a real threat

That aside, yes, I think mice are cute. I dont have them as pets mainly because I have enough pets already, and I think my husband would have a fit, but I think they are cute. In the petstore and outside - not in my house!

 

[Ducatimom]

I wanted to get my friend the more humane traps but she insisted on getting the ones that "killed the little ***tards". When she finally caught one she messaged me saying she caught Fifel. I asked why in the world did she name it?! Fifel was a cute little mouse lol. Why wouldn't she name it after a mean mouse on a movie instead of Fifel lol?

 

[SilverSage]

Fidel mousecavitz??????? How horrible! I have not caught any mice, but neither have I seen any more, or found any poop. Here is hoping that it was a freak lost mouse who ran home to mommy and told her all about the lunatic who chased him and how she didn't leave any food laying around!

 

[weco]

I just saw a mouse. A MOUSE! It wasn't in my bird room and I doubt it could get to any of my cages anyway, bt STILL!!!

Just reading your post of last week & was wondering if your cages are covered with a screen wire? While mice may have plump looking little bodies, if a mouse can get its head through a hole/crack/opening, it is able to follow the head with the rest of its body.....you might think it hard to believe, but the New York State Dept. of Health states, on one of its webpages, that full grown mice can enter a home through cracks as small as 1/4 inch wide (0.635 cm).....

Mice can also climb up metal cage legs, even smooth legs.....

Was just wondering.....

 

[Ducatimom]

Fidel mousecavitz??????? How horrible! I have not caught any mice, but neither have I seen any more, or found any poop. Here is hoping that it was a freak lost mouse who ran home to mommy and told her all about the lunatic who chased him and how she didn't leave any food laying around!

I know! I was so upset for poor little Fifel! I kept picturing him on the mousetrap (the old school snappy kind) with his little cowboy hat and bandana and little boots.

Hopefully he was the only one.

 

[SilverSage]

My cages are not covered in screen, that really wouldnt be reasonable, but they are all up on smooth legged stands or card tables. I guess if they can climb that they can get in, but there is little I can do about that. I vacuum in that room every day, and there are very few places to hide. It is also on the opposite end of the house from where I saw the mouse (is it bad if I am relieved the mouse was by human food not bird food? That's a weird thing to be relieved about, right?) and I have been watching for signs. We just moved in so we dont have a lot of "clutter" yet. I sweep in the pantry most days now, just in case. Maybe the little guy just got in when the door was open, and is gone now. That is my hope anyway!