Well we ended up with a family of mice in the house due to the change in weather. They started coming in and didnt stop. I tried the 'live' traps and they were a pain because they were designed for adult mice and the smaller ones are too light in weight to trip the release and close the hatch, so they steal the bait and go off to wander and steal bait again.
I found the flaw in these traps is the spring used to hold up the lever that trips the hatch to close was too strong. If it was a lighter gauge wire it would press down easier so the lighter weight ones would get trapped also. Fixing tha problem is a little hard to do because specifying a spring is not that easy to do and this one has to be very weak just enough to hold up the lever but no more. Since procuring a better spring looked impossible, i noticed that if i put a small weight on the lever it would add to the mouse weight and it would trigger even with the smaller ones. Almost done, but then there was the problem of them quickly grabbing the bait and running. Simply tying the bait to the back of the trap solved that issue, so they have to struggle to pull the bait out of the trap and thus put mroe pressure on the lever and thus trigger the door to close. Problem sovled? Not exactly.
The next problem came in due to the fact that .we had a live mouse in the trap that had to be released somewhere. So taking the thing out back and releasing seemed to do the job. Then came more mice, which also had to be released, then more. It started to become obvious that they were getting back in somehow.

Now i happen to like mice. I had a large family of mice i was taking care of many many years ago. I saw how they made a family and stayed together and slept together and it was really nice. But i also read about the dangers they pose to a human being because they can carry viruses and stuff like that. They can carry rabies but that seems to be rare, but stull a possibility. Then i also started to think about what it means to release one in the wild. First, they might get into someoen else's house which would then be a problem for them. Second, if they stay in the wild they could multiply (20 days gestation period) and then more can come into the house. Third, taking them to a remote area in town miles away is frowned upon also because the policy in New Jersey is such that you have to get permission from the land owner to release these kinds of animals, and it's not legal to release on any government property.
So it became time to go with the kill traps, there simply was no other way that was going to be any more humane than a quick death.

These new innovative traps are quick and break the neck so the mouse must die within a second. They have wide jaws that snap down quickly. So that seems to be the only way to deal with these little critters. As cute as they are, in these times it is just too dangerous to keep them alive and/or as pets.

Comments welcome.

 

Get a cat.

Bob

 

I have found some traps are better than others.
I have been trapping the mice that enter my garage during the fall and winter, and subsequently try to enter the house, the traps I have ended up using are from H.D. and have a small plastic platform set with a hair trigger that even the lightest vermin will usually trip.!

On a side note, for the last couple of fall seasons, I have found dismembered rabbit carcasses on the property, they do not appear to be killed for food, just torn apart, I suspected a Racoon, but on setting up a night game camera, apart from the usual Deer herd and rabbits, I got a shot at ~ 4:00am of what appears to be a tabby cat, the camera only shoots B&W at night, so colour is not distinct.
I am investigating further!
The neighbour also had their Koi fish taken out of the pond and eaten.

 

The neighbour also had their Koi fish taken out of the pond and eaten.

A great blue heron is usually the culprit for that around here (MA.)

Bib

 

The traps in post #3 are the ones I use, just with a little added peanut butter to make them irresistible.

 

A great blue heron is usually the culprit for that around here (MA.)
Bib

All we have at the moment is Geese on their way to heading south, they party all night in the river behind me!!

 

Well Al, been there and done that. Tis the season and as our weather gets cold the mice move indoors. My wife being the kind soul she is started using those have a heart traps. She would take her caught mice out to the yard and release them, sort of a catch and release program. I think on some days the mice beat her back to the house. I began going down the basement and turning off the lights and looking for daylight leaks. They were obviously getting in here somehow. Using "Great Stuff" insulating foam I tried to fill any and all leaks. Eventually, despite Kathy's objections I used real traps to eliminate the remaining mice. Heck, they were chewing into our dry goods in the pantry. I didn't need mouse turds where we store food. A spring loaded trap is quick and gets things done.

Ron

 

This is the best design I've seen in a while. Not cheap but work well baited with peanut butter on the back walls of the red cover. Plus you need a 5 gal. bucket. Probably too small for the big rats but great for small rats and mice.

 

Tis the season and as our weather gets cold the mice move indoors

Yep, our cat is in seventh heaven.

Bob

 

Get a cat.

Bob

I did think about that but then the cat becomes a problem.
In the old kids tale, the cats multiply then the owner has to get dogs, then the dogs multiply and he has to get lions, etc., ha ha.

 

I have found some traps are better than others.
I have been trapping the mice that enter my garage during the fall and winter, and subsequently try to enter the house, the traps I have ended up using are from H.D. and have a small plastic platform set with a hair trigger that even the lightest vermin will usually trip.!

On a side note, for the last couple of fall seasons, I have found dismembered rabbit carcasses on the property, they do not appear to be killed for food, just torn apart, I suspected a Racoon, but on setting up a night game camera, apart from the usual Deer herd and rabbits, I got a shot at ~ 4:00am of what appears to be a tabby cat, the camera only shoots B&W at night, so colour is not distinct.
I am investigating further!
The neighbour also had their Koi fish taken out of the pond and eaten.

View attachment 251488

I have some of those but for the smaller juvenile mice it sometimes just catches the tail.

Here are the ones i got. The jaws are wide but not too wide so even the smaller mice get their necks broken in 1/2 second. So easy to set and bait, and no finger snap problems they open just like a regular spring clamp. Discarding the carcass is easy too, just squeeze the clamp handles again, mouse falls free into garbage. To set again, just squeeze handles again. No more bait needed they never get to eat it.

 

The traps in post #3 are the ones I use, just with a little added peanut butter to make them irresistible.

Yeah i've gotten some within 10 minutes after setting using peanut butter. Amazing how they like that.

 

All we have at the moment is Geese on their way to heading south, they party all night in the river behind me!!

Wow i bet that is noisy ha ha.

 

This is the best design I've seen in a while. Not cheap but work well baited with peanut butter on the back walls of the red cover. Plus you need a 5 gal. bucket. Probably too small for the big rats but great for small rats and mice.

View attachment 251491

Sorry but death by drowning is considered very inhumane. The other traps seems to be more humane because they usually kill almost instantly.
Worse though are those 'glue' traps. The mouse can struggle for hours or days getting bloody and possibly ripping arms or legs off. One of the most inhumane things ever invented.

 

Well Al, been there and done that. Tis the season and as our weather gets cold the mice move indoors. My wife being the kind soul she is started using those have a heart traps. She would take her caught mice out to the yard and release them, sort of a catch and release program. I think on some days the mice beat her back to the house. I began going down the basement and turning off the lights and looking for daylight leaks. They were obviously getting in here somehow. Using "Great Stuff" insulating foam I tried to fill any and all leaks. Eventually, despite Kathy's objections I used real traps to eliminate the remaining mice. Heck, they were chewing into our dry goods in the pantry. I didn't need mouse turds where we store food. A spring loaded trap is quick and gets things done.

Ron

Hi Ron,

Yes they are so cute it's hard to kill them and feel good about it. The saving grace is that we get rid of the risk of some sort of infection from them. There are all kinds of ways they can spread disease too. Best to get rid of them completely.

These traps work better than anything i have used in the past if the goal is to exterminate...
Easy to set, easy to bait, easy to release into garbage, easy to reset.
Right size for both adult and juvenile mice.

 

I did think about that but then the cat becomes a problem.
In the old kids tale, the cats multiply then the owner has to get dogs, then the dogs multiply and he has to get lions, etc., ha ha.

You can get or make unmultipliable cats.

 

Sorry but death by drowning is considered very inhumane.

Nope, no water involved. Besides, rats are good swimmers. Catch them live, they can't climb up the walls of the bucket. Then just dump them live where someone else can have fun with them!

 

Hi Ron,

Yes they are so cute it's hard to kill them and feel good about it. The saving grace is that we get rid of the risk of some sort of infection from them. There are all kinds of ways they can spread disease too. Best to get rid of them completely.

These traps work better than anything i have used in the past if the goal is to exterminate...
Easy to set, easy to bait, easy to release into garbage, easy to reset.
Right size for both adult and juvenile mice.

View attachment 251493

I like these for the larger mice and rats. For the smaller ones I find the following effective.

https://www.amazon.com/D-Ultra-Cove...ocphy=9027814&hvtargid=pla-319112719562&psc=1

I have tried a few variations of the bucket trap (rolling log, diving board, etc), and they are fairly effective but too often the mice evade capture.

 

I couldn’t sleep last night, so I got up to read for a while. Soon, Licorice, our black cat, showed up, proudly showing me her latest catch.

Bob

 

You can get or make unmultipliable cats.

Yeah ha ha.

I think the story goes like this:
Owner gets cats to get rid of mice,
then gets dogs to get rid of cats,
then gets lions to get rid of dogs,
then gets elephants to get rid of lions,
then gets mice to get rid of elephants, and everyone knows that elephants are deathly afraid of mice.