Killing Mice

Any tips/tricks on killing mice? A couple weeks ago I saw a tiny one scurrying along the baseboards out of the corner of my eye. I haven't seen him in a while and I thought he might have died or left, but just this morning I saw one that appeared to be a bit bigger scurry around the corner into my laundry room. I've dealt with mice in the past, and I've always had almost immediate success with traditional wooden snap traps. However, this time I can't seem to kill the little fuckers. Here's what I've tried:

- 4 traditional wood snap traps with cheese. The mouse managed to remove the cheese from all 4 without setting them off.

- 2 of these enclosed snap traps: Amazon.com : D-Con No View, No Touch Mouse Trap (6 pack) : Home Pest Control Traps : Patio, Lawn & Garden. No luck, and the bait is still in both. I suspect the mouse (at least the one I saw most recently) might be too big to go inside.

- 4 of these poison traps: Amazon.com : Tomcat Mouse Killer II, 4-Pack (Kid Resistant Disposable Mouse Bait Station) : Bird House Accessories : Patio, Lawn & Garden. Again, no dice. It doesn't look like any of the poison has even been nibbled. I suspect the most recent mouse might be too big to squeeze inside and get the poison.

- 4 of these glue traps: Amazon.com : Tomcat Mouse Size Glue Traps, 4-Pack (Eugenol Formula) : Rodent Traps : Patio, Lawn & Garden. I had these out for about a week but they seemed to be ignored. I had peanut butter bait in the middle of each one, so the mouse either ignored them completely or managed to nibble some peanut butter without getting stuck.

Just this morning I put out the 4 traditional wooden snap traps again with more cheese, since at least I know the mouse/mice went after that. I tried to stick the bait onto the trap a little more firmly so they'll have to really yank it to get it and hopefully get snapped.

Any suggestions for things I might not be thinking of? Any good trap recommendations?

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I've heard people say what you guys are saying about the effectiveness of peanut butter. However, I've tried it on two types of traps without any luck. After the mice took the cheese off my original snap traps, I tried using them with peanut butter. Either the mice ignored them or they nibbled off the peanut butter without triggering the traps. Same with the glue traps and peanut butter.

I think my mice might not like peanut butter for some reason. I went back to cheese because at least they clearly like it, since they already ate 4 bits of it.

Well, I guess my mouse just has a thing for cheese over peanut butter. Came home to my jarlsberg-laden traps to this after work today:


I'm going to keep the other traps out for a while and see if I can find and plug whatever hole he was using to get in. I'm hoping it was only him, but I know that's a small chance.

Sludig said:

Fwiw, those big paddle ones i had issues, it caught nice but higher rate of them not triggering and getting the bait. Prefer the older style with metal little doohickey trigger.

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Yeah, I've actually had the same experience. In the past I've always used the super traditional ones with the metal triggers. I bought these at the only store that was open at the time (a small grocery store) so this was all they had. I imagine that's why the mouse was able to snag the first bits of cheese off of them; they aren't as sensitive as the metal trigger ones.

There's a tiny blood stain on my carpet where he died. It cracked right through his head and caused more bleeding than I'd expect from a mouse. Normally it gets them in their backs and there is no bleeding. Oh well.