our mouse problem

[topaz]

our mouse problem, originally uploaded by qwrrty.

is that they're too f'ing smart for us. I left this trap last night *coated* with peanut butter. Today--- well, see for yourself.

Maybe I need to start sending them requests for urgent assistance in moving $3.7 million in gold bullion from my father's accounts in Nigeria.

Comments

[dbang.livejournal.com]

Maybe the problem is your type of trap. We tried a different one with success.

Or...you could make an improvement yourself. If you do, it will reduce your plowing costs.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Really? Which trap did you use? I was under the impression that you guys were having luck with the good ol' spring-loaded neck snappers.

Or...you could make an improvement yourself. If you do, it will reduce your plowing costs.

OK, it took me just a minute. :-)

[dbang.livejournal.com]

"Really? Which trap did you use? I was under the impression that you guys were having luck with the good ol' spring-loaded neck snappers."

Yup, but a different brand. Ask J where he got them. They are made of plastic and the snapper bit is larger.

"OK, it took me just a minute. :-)"

*big grin*

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

It's a completely different design, and it's a lot more effective. I'll bring one of ours to Interlude today to show you.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Yuck! I'd offer to lend you one of my cats if we lived closer.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

We have two white rats who are now almost the size of lap dogs. I toy with the idea of setting them loose in the house for a few days.

[arcticelf.livejournal.com]

Get a knife, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the _bottom_ of the trigger plate (between it and the wooden base) and no where else.

I've killed half a dozen clever mice that way.

Thats also a different trap from the ones I've used.

AE

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

OK, now this puzzles me even more. That's what the instructions told me to do (put the bait underneath the trigger) but the trap doesn't seem to work at all that way! I can push up from underneath the trigger with no trouble, but even a little bit of pressure from the top makes Maxwell's Silver Hammer come swinging down.

So on this trap I had peanut butter both above and beneath, almost completely obscuring the trigger, and figured that really ought to do the trick.

I should really have taken verminology in school when I had the chance.

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

I think the theory is that less peanut butter ensures that they really have to get their heads in there to tongue it off. A larger glob of the stuff can come off in one piece with a swipe of the paw.

Also: I don't know how many traps you're setting, but I've always used lots. Like, 5 for every 100 sq. foot.

signed,
your friendly neighborhood food pantry director

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Also: I don't know how many traps you're setting, but I've always used lots. Like, 5 for every 100 sq. foot.

Ow. Our house is 3300 sq. ft. :}

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Less peanut butter, and put the traps near food.

In areas that they will be running in, like baseboards.

I agree with trying a different brand of snap trap, maybe that's a problem and they're pretty cheap.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

In areas that they will be running in, like baseboards.

That's a real problem, given the other animals in the house. The only areas where we can safely set traps are (a) on countertops, (b) inside under-sink cabinets, and (c) in the utility room (lowest level of the house).

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

The most effective traps I have seen are the simple bridge over water type. Less bloody, too. Alternatively, if you can keep them from children/pets, the baits that cause dehydration are supposed to be effective.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Bridge over water traps?? I assume this does not mean playing treacly Art Garfunkel vocals at them until they surrender?

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

Google mousetrap bucket peanut butter.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Mouse-Trap
http://asktrapperjohn.com/topics/bucketmouse.htm

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Oh, fascinating! Thanks!

[khedron.livejournal.com]

We had a similar problem, in the house we were renting when we first moved here. I started with one trap, baited with peanut butter like yours. Then I made a twisty maze of traps, where you couldn't help but walk on one to get to the others. They eluded that trivially too.

We've clearly engineered smarter mice. Now what?

[fj.livejournal.com]

Once again I am totally disappointed in what little use you put your children to. Surely a bounty on dead mice would make them get cleaned up right quick.

Especially if you outfit them with guns.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

We tried these mouse feeding stations in Gloucester and then switched to using Dcon traps which are black plastic things that the mouse cannot get out of when it snaps. Their selling feature is that you don't even see the dead mouse and you can just discard the trap when it has worked.

They still did no good in Cambridge, although we might have had a rat. I tired a plastic snapping rat trap but it did no good. Eventually I resorted to Dcon poison. Four trays of it were eaten up. We had a bit of smell for a few days because of one or more dead creatures in the wall/ceiling but it has gone away. With no kids or animals this method is safe for us.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Their presence on our counters near our food is making me increasingly nervous:

http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20061214/mouse-virus-link-breast-cancer

If the new-and-improved mousetraps don't work, I'm ready to resort to poison, anywhere the dog and rats can't reach. The tradeoff in smell (especially if it's only "a few days", instead of weeks or months as I'd feared -- our house is going on the market this spring) might be worth it.

[(Anonymous)]

Sadly, poison is the only thing that worked for us. We tried everything else (regular traps, plastic traps, electrocuting traps, even sticky traps). We put it in the cabinet under the sink and behind the trash can (this was when Miss C wasn't mobile, obviously would have to find other locations if we do it again).

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Oh, dead mice don't smell for very long at all. They're pretty small and decompose or mummify quickly.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Get a cat.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

That would certainly be my preference -- we never saw a single mouse, or evidence thereof, during Gwydion's lifetime or for a year or so thereafter -- but Tim is allergic to cats and made me promise we wouldn't get another one when Gwydion died :(

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Himalayan cats are fairly unallergenic for cats. Try to find a loaner to see how Tim handles it.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

In the past (between cats) I had used the first two of these (http://www.victorpest.com/live_mouse_traps.htm) traps, but the first one in particular was pretty fiddly about getting everything positioned/adjusted exactly right so it would close securely and the mouse wouldn't be able to get right out again.

[d3l1r1um.livejournal.com]

I saw this do-it-yourself option a while back:

http://glass.typepad.com/journal/2005/09/how_to_catch_a_.html

Note that there is a counter-less option a little further down, since keyne mentioned her desire to not have mice on the counters, understandably.

Also, not sure how having a dog would fit into this equation... would she be likely to knock over the contraption after the mouse is inside?

While looking for the other link, I found this:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/09/simple_humane_mousetrap.html

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

Let me know when they start hiding the stolen bait in your shoes and coat pockets.

On a more practical note: is there some non-peanut butter type food they seem to consistently steal? I've had amazing luck with jelly beans, corn (United States definition) and cat kibble stuck in peanut butter on the traps.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I have two thoughts.

1. Use less pb.

2. We had 100% success with snap traps made of plastic. They looked a bit like office clips. Wish I could find a pix.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

We used these on our kitchen counters and in the basement, which is where we saw mouse evidence. With a single exception the trap killed the trapped mouse. Mouse was tossed into the far reaches of the backyard, trap rebaited and reused. The nondead mouse, with its trap, was deposited into a bucket of water to drown.

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

2 sounds exactly like what I used. I gave qwrrty a sample earlier tonight. The trick, IME, was to smear the bait on underside of the top of the trap, *not* on the trigger.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Based on the example that jacflash gave me, I'm guessing they were the Victor Quick Set (http://www.tritonpestcontrol.com/item--Victor-M130-Quick-Set-Mouse-Trap-Twinpack-198161--198161) traps.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

That's them.

[fengshui.livejournal.com]

Putting the PB on the bottom is a good idea, as is putting it on the area around the trigger. If it's on the bottom, they may be more likely to stand/step on the trigger when trying to get at the tasty PB. If the PB is on the top of the trigger, they're not going to stand or put pressure on it, as it will get stuck to them and they're too smart for that.