I have a couple of mice living in my garage and this past winter they made a mess of the place getting into grass seed and bird food. I desperately want to get them out of there, but I can't bring myself to kill them. Spring loaded traps and poison seem very cruel to me. I've done a few Google searches and have found a few non-lethal traps that seem like they could work, but I wanted to see if any of you had any opinions on them. Mainly, do they work? All of the people selling them say they work, but I wouldn't expect them to say they didn't work!

I would guess they will catch the mice but after you let them go will they come back ? I suppose if you go far enough away they won't be able to.

How about a cat

Depends on a particular cat's preferences, but some I knew were pretty lethal rodent (and bird) removal agents.

In seaside cottage we had I used to use a trap (essentially a wire cage with funnel-like opening on the top) baited with cheese and/or bacon. It worked (not spectacularly well), and I resisted temptation to release the critters in my neighbor's yard, driving them instead to a forest a few kilometers away.

I'm afraid I brained our local mouse with a broom handle a couple weeks ago. Quite a bloody afair, so I guess I'm not the one to be giving advice.

The first thing you have to do is remove their food sources - any seed, dog/cat food etc. If you have to store it there, get plastic bins with screw tops to keep the mice out. If you don't mice will return again and again.

Beyond that I have no advice, since I don't hesitate in killing the plague carrying little *hits.

-Zeke

I had rats at an apartment one time and what did them in was when they ate a tube of model airplane glue.

Well, rats are a different story than mice.

Most mice move indoors in the winter months, and if things are nice they'll stay (and breed). If you can eliminate the mice already present and remove the impetus for them to return the following season, that's usually enough.

The "humane" traps work just fine. In particular, the larger cage style ones have the nice side effect of using the first few mice caught, as live bait for luring more of them.

Lee Valley Tools sells EDIT: used-to sell /EDIT one trap with a wind-up spring loaded "door", for batting them into the cage quickly. Other stores sell similar things. I have used a totally passive trap (no windup) that worked well with peanut butter as bait.

But the mice will keep on coming back (or new ones will move in) so long as (1) there is a way for them to enter the building, and (2) there's a good reason for them to enter the building (food, shelter).

Cheers

Come on, SE,...If it has beady little eyes and a tail, the waste the disease spreading little 'baby rat' making machines...buy a bunch of old fashon rat traps and let them have at it...you can even put one of those little bells and put on it so you can even 'call' the time of death....
Nothing good about a rat, unless they are used for snake food...but I am not fond of snakes either!
Oh! Yeah! Be sure to put some newspaper under the rat trap, because if the little bugger gets poped just right, the blood and brains sorta splat about a bit... and you can just wrap up the whole mess and toss it.

Mice, not rats. Big difference! But mice also carry common diseases, so don't stir up the dry poo when cleaning, or ...

Catch and release isn't really recommended. They tend to learn better than to get caught by the same traps again.

After one particularly bountiful summer many folks, here at work, rigged up various non lethal traps.

One trap involved a teeter totter affair that dumped into a 5 gallon bucket. After several demonstrations, using the same mice. The mice started teaming up and taking turns. One would act as a counter weight so the first could run out and snatch the bait without being dumped in the bucket.

Big diff to you...not to me. Me Thinks the tree huggers are going too far with this sort of vermin.

Ok, so I do have _one_ effective non-lethal trick, which I used to catch as many as 15 mice. Use a mostly empty 40 lb. bag of dog food, completely open on top. Set it up next to something you _know_ the mice can climb. Set up the bag so that the walls of the bag are straight as you can make them. I used Eukanuba, and other brands may work, but you need a bag with a very slippery plasticky interior lining. The mice can't climb it, and if you leave enough food in it (it must be to a level above the creases on the bottom seal) they cannot find a place where they can get their teeth into it (from the inside that is). They jump down into the bag and cannot get back out. Each morning, check the bag for mice, roll up the top - take the mice wherever you want and let them go. I caught 7 mice in two days.

Be sure to remember to check the bag regularly, otherwise you'll find dead mice (dehydration). I assume mouse carcasses would prevent other mice from entering the bag.

-Zeke

I guess I'm just different than you, but I don't enjoy killing things.

I'm with you. Just because I have opposable thumbs and am at the top of the food chain doesn't mean that I have to go around killing things whenever the whim strikes me. I see killing as a last resort when other possibilities have been exhausted and I *never* find it enjoyable (necessary sometimes, but not something I relish).

Just to head off the inevitable debate, no, I'm not a vegetarian. I hunt. I fish. I eat what I shoot or catch though, I don't take trophies. I have raised goats, chickens, guineas, etc and butchered them for meat when the time came for them to join the food chain. I *am*, after all, at the top of the food chain. Doesn't mean I have to abuse my position though.

-- Gary F.

I live in the country... tons of field mice around my house. I tried every humane way I could find and it didn't help. They kept coming back and I couldn't break the cycle. I tried to be all nice. I really did. I swear.

But then they found a way into my oven and turned it into their bathroom. I didn't discover this until I had friends over for dinner and the entire house smelled like baking mouse turds. That was it. I put out the poison and we haven't had any more mice.

Sorry cute little mouse, humans rule the earth. I eat cows too.

I tried moth balls, some mouse repellent stuff, poison (they died in the walls, really stunk) and the only thing that seems to work is the old spring trap with peanut butter.

If you do get a live trap please take the mice miles from any houses or you'll just be passing your problem on to someone else. Since we live in the country we often get dogs dumped on us. I guess the owners don't want to feel guilty about putting them in the pound but letting them starve or freeze is OK. I don't understand people.

Dylan,
I feel you pain on the oven. They turned mine into a dog food storage area. It took HOURS to scrub off charred Eukanuba grease (and of course the turds). It smelled like most people wouldn't believe.

Be careful with that poison - be sure to place it where it can't be accessed by children or pets and be sure to gather the remainder for proper disposal when you're done. My beagle ate some poison while visiting a friend's place and I can tell you it was not a fun experience. It turned out OK in the end - it was some of the newer, less lethal stuff, but it easily could have been it for my best friend. Death by rat poison is horrendous way to go.

Mind you, poison was the right choice for my friend (the non-beagle one), he had a full-on infestation. Rat/mouse poison is dangerous stuff that lasts years and can have unintended consequenses, so it should be used with utmost caution.

-Zeke
(edited for spelling)

Yeah, I don't mean to complain when it's your last resort, but the impression I get from some people of "Woohoo! Time to kill something!" is disturbing to me.

Yea, I don't like killing the little buggers but man they can tear up. The best damage to date is shedding the inside of my $300+ motorcycle helmet. I was PO'ed!

The only thing I didn't try was this sonic electronic repeller. It looked like a scam.

Somehow, spiders in my house are an exception.


Hmmm... I'm just the opposite. Any spiders in my house are treasures to be preserved. Spiders are quiet and inconspicuous and they take care of much more annoying pests like mosquitoes and fruit flies.

Besides, spiders are such engineering marvels (both in their physical attributes and their activities) that I find them absolutely fascinating.

tanstaafl.

Seems everyone will go the extra mile to protect their favorite pest. I like snakes. Would never hurt one and have gone the distance saving them.

However I think 99.9% of the world hates roaches.