Trapping Clever Mice
Discussion
It was getting late one night and the wife had gone to bed, I was watching some TV by myself quietly when out of the corner of my eye a mouse sprinted across the front of the fireplace like Speedy Gonzales.. except he was pretty mahoosive.
My cat is useless.. He was fast asleep somewhere else, thinking about food.. unfortuantley the food he thinks about comes in a sachet.
I grabbed a mousetrap which has been used before with some success and crammed some chocolate in it, set it and went to bed.
Next morning I leapt out of bed like it was christmas to run downstairs to see the result.. Empty trap.. no bait!.. frustrating.
The following night repeat as before.. same result, Now I'm thinking it must be grabbing the bait from the side.. like leaning over and pinching it carefully, probably a game of dare with its mates. I can visualise them egging each other on!
So I constructed a tunnel made of card. to prevent this from happening.. only way to approach it is head on, I set the trap and next day..
No bait.
Any ideas?.. this is clearly tricker than I thought.
Trap in tunnel..
My cat is useless.. He was fast asleep somewhere else, thinking about food.. unfortuantley the food he thinks about comes in a sachet.
I grabbed a mousetrap which has been used before with some success and crammed some chocolate in it, set it and went to bed.
Next morning I leapt out of bed like it was christmas to run downstairs to see the result.. Empty trap.. no bait!.. frustrating.
The following night repeat as before.. same result, Now I'm thinking it must be grabbing the bait from the side.. like leaning over and pinching it carefully, probably a game of dare with its mates. I can visualise them egging each other on!
So I constructed a tunnel made of card. to prevent this from happening.. only way to approach it is head on, I set the trap and next day..
No bait.
Any ideas?.. this is clearly tricker than I thought.
Trap in tunnel..
get one of the "humane" tunnel traps, impossible for them to get the bait without already being inside the trap!
You can them either "release them into the wild" 20 miles from your house, or bash them with a hammer, whichever takes your fancy.
Dont get one of the electrocution traps, I think they are horrific...
ETA
Just found this while looking for a picture, the "trap man" looks a better bet, I used the rentokil things, which according to this page the mice will get wise to after a little while, or eat!!
http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/wildlife/hum...
You can them either "release them into the wild" 20 miles from your house, or bash them with a hammer, whichever takes your fancy.
Dont get one of the electrocution traps, I think they are horrific...
ETA
Just found this while looking for a picture, the "trap man" looks a better bet, I used the rentokil things, which according to this page the mice will get wise to after a little while, or eat!!
http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/wildlife/hum...
I have tried those so called humane traps some years ago.. it was the most inhumane thing I have ever seen. A mouse trapped in a confined space for 5-6 hours, Trying to eat its way out, scratching furiously, When I released it, the mouse was a sweaty panicky pulpy mess, I will never use one of those again.
I will look into the electrocution thing though.. never heard of that before.. Phssst and its all over.. I'm liking the sound of that!
I will look into the electrocution thing though.. never heard of that before.. Phssst and its all over.. I'm liking the sound of that!
Bill said:
98elise said:
In the picture the trap isn't set.....might be your problem 
This. Not clever mice, just user fail.
very good.. I set it when its in place.. mars bar and smeary stuff does sound better.. I will try that. failing that I could just shoot it next time I see it run past the fireplace!.
GTIR said:
Freakuk said:
Try something like a mars bar on the trap, the caramel acts like glue i.e. much hard for it to quickly grab and go, the ones in celebrations have worked well for me.
What about a Topic?
yes, do this; any low level lighting will doJust got back from Mums in rural France. She had been away three weeks, and had several running around.
I got half a dozen of the traps like yours, and some worked. The smarter mice though, delicately chew the bait off, regardless of how sticky it is.
Next trip to the supermarche, I picked up a proper "live" trap like below. That was very successful !
I got half a dozen of the traps like yours, and some worked. The smarter mice though, delicately chew the bait off, regardless of how sticky it is.
Next trip to the supermarche, I picked up a proper "live" trap like below. That was very successful !
Got to admire his/her guts!
Back in Sydney, you get all manner of creepy crawlies in the houses and outside.
The small little red backs (spiders) are the lethal ones whereas the huge, hairy, gettouttahere ugly ones, the huntman, are non-fatal to humans but will still bite you.
Anyways, walking down the hallway and I see this huge thing out of Alien up on the ceiling and managed to swot it onto the ground. Stood over it with the size 13 ready to dispatch it to the afterlife when it raised itself up (presumably to try and bite me). I paused. There was absolutely no way he was going to come out of this but still, despite the massive size difference, he was going to go out fighting.
So I went and got a plastic container, very very carefully put him in and walked down the road to some bushland and let him go.
Like that spider, I think if you do manage to catch this Houdini of mice alive, then let him go and leave the hammer on the shelf for something else.
Good luck!
PS: use the GoPro so we can see the little guy in action!
Back in Sydney, you get all manner of creepy crawlies in the houses and outside.
The small little red backs (spiders) are the lethal ones whereas the huge, hairy, gettouttahere ugly ones, the huntman, are non-fatal to humans but will still bite you.
Anyways, walking down the hallway and I see this huge thing out of Alien up on the ceiling and managed to swot it onto the ground. Stood over it with the size 13 ready to dispatch it to the afterlife when it raised itself up (presumably to try and bite me). I paused. There was absolutely no way he was going to come out of this but still, despite the massive size difference, he was going to go out fighting.
So I went and got a plastic container, very very carefully put him in and walked down the road to some bushland and let him go.
Like that spider, I think if you do manage to catch this Houdini of mice alive, then let him go and leave the hammer on the shelf for something else.
Good luck!
PS: use the GoPro so we can see the little guy in action!
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