Need to catch (or kill) a mouse

the_mac said:
Do yourself a favor. Unbait one of your spring traps and re-bait it using a damp and fluffed cotton ball. Just grab a cotton ball, get it a little damp, use your fingers to pull it a little bit, and then stick it on the lever. Check the trap after you've heard a SNAP. I bet this one is the one that gets the mouse.

Mice love collecting stuff to line their nests with, and a fluffed up cotton ball looks about as sexy to a mouse as a high-priced hooker does to a marine on shore leave.
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I like that idea. I just rigged up a snap trap with a couple cotton balls. For everyone's information, if you're ever trying to glue cotton balls to something, Elmers works really well. Super glue only results in getting cotton ball strands permanently affixed to your finger tips.

I haven't had a chance to set up any of the more elaborate mouse traps that have been proposed. That might have to wait until the weekend, assuming the mouse doesn't go for the cotton balls. In keeping with the Marine on shore leave analogy, maybe I should dab the cotton balls with some bright red lipstick and cheap perfume...then again maybe not.
 
first of all, its not a him, its a them, you never get just one.

Make a box of death, they like dark places to hide, and to eat, so get a shoe box, add 4 or 5 spring traps in there loaded with peanut butter, and cut a small hole in one side, leave it against the wall, make another, and another, and place them along sides walls or where you find droppings. they get in, the smell the food and if they set off one trap without getting nabbed, the jump sideways and the other traps get them. Using four boxes, we took 42 mice out of a semi abandoned house in 3 days,

Second they are in your house because there are entry points from outside, they found food and they did not detect a predator. A good house cat will keep mice away for a week or two after they leave as the smell will drive the mice away. ONE reminder, if you are contemplating getting a cat or borrowing one, do not leave out the poison as the sick mice will be first caught and can kill the cat.

Get all food cleaned up, remove any paper sacks, feed pets only at certain times and then sweep up after picking up the dishes. Keep the house clean and the mice will b e more attracted to the traps.
 
Again, I think the most important thing here seems to be you don't really want to catch that mouse? Oh, you say you do, but you don't. No, no, no. You like that mouse. You like him freeloading off of you, perhaps giving you and your family the hanta virus. You like it. You know how I know that? Because you can't really want to catch him. If you really wanted to catch him, you'd be in full out hunter killer mode. You want to catch him? Prove it. Get some tiger stripe BDUs (only Camo BDUs that look awesome that I know of that were used by SEAL hunter killer teams in 'Nam.). Get yourself a flashlight, chair, binoculars, and a pencil and paper. Sit down in that room and sketch it out. Include all furniture and non-mobile things. Then, you need to search for where that/those mouse/mice is/are. Look for the hole(s) or entry place(s). Mark them down. If you can't find them, then this is a little harder. Set the traps right there and... wait. Wait and see where they come from. Set it up so you can see how they work, where they come from. And wait. Mice are nocturnal. In the meantime, get some reading on the behavior of mice. Psychology, what they like, etc. You must know these mice better than they know themselves. Then, see if the traps work or not, and if not, still note where they come from, and why they don't work. Some camouflage netting might help keep you invisible. Leave 'em dead to the last mouse. Unless they are rats. At which point I could launch into a discussion on them actually being NVA troops going into their ratholes, etc. etc.

Seriously though, if they have defeated you before, find out why. Maybe your mice are different- smarter? Maybe they have multiple entry points. Question your assumptions, and find out if they are correct or not. Perhaps if you had a video camera, you could record the trap and check on it in 2 hour intervals to see if the bait is gone, and then review tactics, and see what you've been doing wrong. The best trap in the world won't work if not in the right place, used incorrectly, or a whole host of reasons. See if you have been limiting your success and change tactics.

Remember, Your Mice May Vary.

Zero
 
Go to your local hardware or feedstore and ask them for "job bar" Just one bite ,great stuff works over nite .
 
Of course, it could just be that you've got...


NINJA MICE!

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Well he didn't go for the cotton balls last night. I like the "box of death" idea. Simple and effective or so it would seem.

I'm going to try to set up some of the conTRAPtions that have been proposed on Saturday. I'm starting to feel like Wyle E. Coyote trying to catch the road runner. I wonder if ACME makes a mouse trap?

If that fails, I guess it's time to go into full on shadow soldier mouse assassin mode like Zero Time suggests.

Thanks for the suggestions -- keep em coming!
 
just make the trap i told you about, no way for them to steal the bait. i seen it work too many times on hard to catch mice. one night we caught 7 mice in 1 trap out of 3 traps total. the others had 3 or 4 in them. :D
 
Try using a small piece of ham on the trigger of the spring trap. I also make sure that my spring trap is set so finely that if a mouse's whisker touches the trigger it will go off, I even get the file out and make sure the sear faces are all nice and square and smooth. I have never missed a mouse yet.
I have caught mice in as little as 5 mins using this method.

Hint: if you can lift the trigger end of the trap off the ground 1/8 inch and drop it and it doesn't go off...it's not set lightly enough.
 
I had one mouse in the 2 years I've lived here. Saw him running around and tried some "humane" traps to no avail. After a few nights of being frustarted......I got out my trustypellet gun. I have a clear field of fire from my bedroom to the kitchen. After setting out a little peanut butter and getting into a good prone, supported position, I waited. And waited. And waited. After close to an hour of my lying there hardly breathing the little turd ran over to the PB. After making sure I had a good sight picture,a gentle squeeze of the trigger resulted in one dead mouse.
 
Don't get a cat......they bring in, & let go more than they kill. I use a humane trap and with soft cheese it works a treat.
 
Hey Guys...

Heres a couple that were stupid enough to show themselves while I was working in the shop...

The second one came out to see what all the fyss was about...
So I showed him too!

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Another good trick is to dust some oatmeal with concrete mix..
When they get enough concrete in their system, it'll clog them up and they'll be literally trying to $hit bricks.

Both of these mice were shot with a pellet pistol...
As a matter of fact,, I just seen one run over my head yesterday..

Just a matter of time!!!


ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
eric, do you have your potato gun finished yet? you should see what one does to a mouse or rat. a friend i made one for killed a coon in his trashcan one night with his. he didnt think taters could be lethal:eek:
 
Just to update, I haven't seen any mice in several days, and no mouse carcasses have turned up in my traps either. I'm thinking the poison must have done its job. Hopefully I won't start smelling them in the next few days.

Thanks again to all who provided suggestions.
 
Hey Richard...


richard j said:
eric, do you have your potato gun finished yet? you should see what one does to a mouse or rat. a friend i made one for killed a coon in his trashcan one night with his. he didnt think taters could be lethal:eek:
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LOL...

no,, Don't think that would be too cool in close quarters..

I fired a spud at a tree rat this summer,, and that littel F$#&*% ducked the Tater..
I couldn't believe it...
He literally laid down and the Tater went right over it's head..If he didn't duck,, he would have caught it in the Kisser..

I have no Doubt it would have been lights out!!

LOL

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
get a wet shop towel folded 2x and then rolled up. you can put a few layers of electrical tape around one end tight and load it down the barrel. reuseable ammo :thumbup::D
 
Well always late to the game.... when I was a kid I used a pellet gun to shoot some around the house. Thing is I didn't use pellets. I had one of those pencils that have the little white plastic lead tipped darts in em.... the ones where it gets dull so you take it out the end and put it in where the eraser goes... well I had some dull ones that I trimmed to fit in the pellet gun... No damage to the house, but plenty nuff to the rodent...

Hope ya got the little bugger!!!

DM
 
spring loaded trap with cream cheese or peanut butter. Trick is to set the trigger as light as possible. I end up tripping the trigger several times each time I set a trap and have to reset multiple times before the trap is sitting in a place I like with a very light trigger.
 
longbeachguy said:
Just to update, I haven't seen any mice in several days, and no mouse carcasses have turned up in my traps either. I'm thinking the poison must have done its job. Hopefully I won't start smelling them in the next few days.

Thanks again to all who provided suggestions.
Click to expand...

Mice are pretty small and don't stink a lot.
 
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