I have a mouse problem right now. I've heard of humane mouse traps, but I don't want to buy them if they don't work. Does anyone have any experience with these?

NO!!! they are horrible! the mouse gets stuck and most people just throw the whole thing in the trash where the poor little thing dehydrates to death.
not that you would do that but you just can't get mice out of those things.

here's what my gran used to do. take a thimble and fill it with flour. put it on a saucer and put a tea cup upside down on the saucer propped up by the thimble. make sure most of the thimble is inside the cup so a mouse would have to go under the cup to get at the flour. when the mouse moves the thimble to get at the flour it will shift and the teacup will drop down over the mouse and the thimble. you know you got it when you see the teacup has fallen. take it far from your house and let the mouse go. it's hard to get rid of mice this way though, you have to be patient and willing to keep at it.

in the meantime, all of your food can go into mason jars. you can find them at the thrift store for really cheap a lot of the time. mice will eat soap, candles, cosmetics, etc etc. and paper and your clothes too. find the holes and plug them up with steel wool, mice don't like to chew that stuff.

the best mouse deterant though is a cat. rescue one from a shelter and it will be your mouse guardian and friend for life.

good luck!

Brilliant!

inspirit - aka coolkarma

Yes, they do work! Here's my mouse story --

When we came home after a week of vacation, there was evidence of a mouse in the house. So we got two of those humane traps and we caught him. So we took him to the end of the cul-de-sac and let him go on the other side of the street. Then a day or two later, we had another mouse or it was the same one, and we caught him again, and took him to the end of the street and let him go, and he came back again -- we knew it was the same one because my daughter recognized that he had his tail partly cut off, like the previous mouse. So then we caught him again and this time we took him into town about 4 miles away and he never came back.

So anyway, those traps definitely work -- but make sure you take the mouse a long way from your house to let him go, or he'll be back again.

There are different kinds of humane mouse traps, so maybe some work better than others. We purchased ours a couple of decades ago from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. They still carry the same ones. Ours is the Havahart Model #1, Item #PAT062. There's also a smaller model, but it's probably not quite big enough if you ever happen to have rats.

We've caught so many rats and mice in this same trap. I don't know how many, but it's a lot. We get rats and mice in our attic, and sometimes it takes a few days before they go into the trap. But eventually, they always go in. You might have to play with the door a little before you really get how to set the trap.

The rats/mice are easy to let go. Just set down the trap, open the door, and tap on the other side.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2007 03:36AM by suncloud.

ok, i meant the kind that is sticky and Supposed to be humaine but really, really aren't.

the trap kind i'm sure is much better.

This is all really good feedback. Thanks to all of you. By the way, we do have a cat, but he doesn't catch mice =-(

i can't believe the smell of the cat doesn't keep the mice away! my goodness. you could skip some kitty meals and see if an empty belly encourages some hunting. won't hurt the cat and might solve your problem.

pffffTTTTTTTT!!!!!!