Get a Mouse Out of the House

Mice can be kind of cute, but it’s not so sweet when you see one scurrying through your house. Worse is finding traces of a mouse in your cabinets or closets — telltale droppings or even a nest. If you have a mouse in your house, you have several choices at your disposal. You can set a humane trap and release it outside, use a standard snap trap, or even get a cat to do the job. Use mouse repellents and seal your house to keep mice out in the future.

Steps

Trapping and Releasing Mice

  1. Track down the mouse. If you saw a mouse running by out of the corner of your eye, see if you can figure out where it went. Mice are pretty fast, and chasing them around the house usually isn’t the best way to catch them and remove them. Instead, track the mouse to its nest so you can catch it using a trap.
    • If you didn’t see where the mouse went, look for the nest. A mouse’s nest is usually composed of scraps of cloth, paper, hair, and other odds and ends. It will have a musty smell. Look in the back corners of closets, under the sink, behind the refrigerator, in cracks in the wall and in any other dark, hidden places.
    • You may also be able to track down the mouse by looking for droppings. Mouse droppings look like pieces of black rice. If you see some droppings, the nest is probably nearby.
  2. Set a humane mouse trap. Humane mouse traps let you trap a mouse without killing it. You can then take the trap to a nearby park or forest and release the mouse into the wild. Humane traps work by using bait to lure the mouse into a maze-like tunnel. When the mouse is inside, the trap closes behind it, making it impossible for the mouse to escape.
    • Humane mouse traps tend to be a little more expensive than the snap traps, but like snap traps they’re reusable, so it’s worth the investment.
    • Bait the trap according to the instructions using peanut butter or cheese.
    • Set the trap near the mouse’s nest and wait for the mouse to come take the bait.
    • Check the trap every day to see if a mouse is inside.
  3. Try a homemade trap. If the mouse is running around in plain sight, you might not want to wait to trap it. Close the doors to the room you’re in and stuff towels underneath them so the mouse can’t go anywhere. Grab a sturdy box, bowl or crate and wait patiently for the right moment to cover the mouse with it.
    • Once you successfully trap the mouse, slide a thin piece of cardboard under the trap. Fold the edges of the cardboard up and tape them to the side of the trap with duct tape. Turn the trap upside down so that the mice is at the bottom of the box or bowl and can’t scramble out.
    • If you don't want to run around chasing it, try a homemade bucket trap. Get a bucket and balance its rim on a piece of wood, pencil, pen or similar object. Tie a piece of string around the handle. Place peanut butter or any of the mouse's favorite food types under the bucket. When the mouse comes out to eat the food, pull the string trapping him. Then slide a magazine under the box and carefully turn over.
  4. Release the mouse. Don’t just take the mouse into your backyard to release it. Walk, bike or drive your trap at least a mile from your house, since you don’t want it to come right back inside. Release the mouse in a park or a patch of woods. When you’re ready to release the mouse, just open the trap and let it hop out.
  5. Try shooing it out of your house. There’s one final humane way you can try to get a mouse out of your house: just shoo it outside! Sometimes a mouse will wander in and run around, confused and wanting to leave just as much as you want it to. Help it along by using a broom to scoot it toward an open door. This may require chasing the mouse around a bit before you’re able to get it outside. However, when all’s said and done, it’s faster than trying to trap and release it.
    • Of course, if you use this method, the mouse might decide to come right back in, especially if it got inside through a gap in the door or a hole in your foundation. If your house isn’t sealed against mice, take measures to seal it up and use repellents so mice won’t wander in.

Killing Mice With Traps and Other Methods

  1. Set snap traps. This is widely considered to be the most effective method for getting rid of a mouse. Snap traps are baited with peanut butter or cheese. When the weight of the mouse presses against the trap, a wire springs down and kills it instantly. Using snap traps isn’t the most pleasant way to kill a mouse, but it does get the job done.
    • Set traps in places where you’ve noticed signs of a mouse, like droppings or a nest.
    • Bait the traps with a little cheese or peanut butter. One effective trick you can try is to cut the toe off a pair of pantyhose, tie the bait inside, and secure the pantyhose to the place on the trap where you’re supposed to put the bait. The mouse’s teeth will get caught on the pantyhose, causing the trap to spring.
  2. Set glue traps. These look like little cardboard houses. The floor of the traps are lined with a very sticky glue that keeps mice in place as soon as they run inside. Once mice are caught, they eventually die of starvation. Place the traps in areas where you’ve seen signs of a mouse, like near closets or behind the refrigerator.
  3. Try a homemade water trap. Get a pail or garbage can, preferably with two opposing handles. Fill it one-quarter full of water. Poke a hole in the bottom of a used can or bottle. Get a string or piece of thin rope or wire and string it through the can, then tie it onto both handles Smear a bit of peanut butter on the can to serve as bait. Use a piece of plywood propped against the bucket to provide some kind of access for the mouse to reach one handle of the pail. The mouse will climb up the ramp to get to the bait, but once it steps onto the can, it will slip off into the bucket.
    • Leave overnight and there will be a drowned mouse in the pail to dispose of the next day. On a larger scale this can also work for a rat.
  4. Check the traps often. Once you set a mousetrap of any kind, don’t forget to check it every day. You may need to replace the bait if a smart mouse figured out how to steal it. And if you caught a mouse, leaving it to sit for several days is unsanitary. The dead mouse could draw bugs and start to smell, so don’t forget to check your traps.
  5. Dispose of the dead mouse promptly. When you see you’ve caught a mouse, place glue traps into a trash bag and seal it tightly. You can throw the bag out with the regular trash pickup. Glue traps aren't reusable, so don’t attempt to take the mouse out of the trap. If you are using a snap trap then simply deposit the dead mouse into a trashcan and reset the trap to catch another mouse.
    • You might want to wear a pair of thick gloves to protect your hands when you throw out the trap.
    • Bear in mind that if you used a glue trap, the mouse may still be alive when you throw it away. You can euthanize the mouse by applying massive force to the head with a heavy object (such as a brick). This is to ensure not only the animal doesn't suffer for long, but to ensure the animal does not manage to escape.
  6. Let a cat do the job. Cats are natural predators of mice, and having one around is a great way to keep the population down. If you don’t already own a cat, see if a friend who’s a cat owner would mind if you had the cat come stay with you for a few days. Not all cats like to catch mice, so this isn’t guaranteed to work, but it’s often just as effective as setting a trap.

Keeping Mice Out of Your Home

  1. Seal your doors. If you have a crack between the bottom of your door and the floor, a mouse can walk right in. Mice can squeeze through very slim cracks, so don’t look at a crack and assume nothing could get through. Go to the hardware store and buy a door seal that you attach to the bottom of your door to close the gap.
    • Look around the vicinity of your door to see if there are any other places mice could be getting in. You might have holes in your foundation that need to be caulked. You can also stuff them with steel wool.
    • Check your screen doors to make sure they don’t have holes, too.
  2. Keep your trash contained. Mice are attracted to food smells, so it’s important to keep your trash well contained within your house and your yard. Use trash cans with tight-fitting lids both inside and outdoors. Make sure trash gets removed from the premises promptly on trash collection day.
    • Mice may also be attracted to recycling containers, since the bottles, cans and boxes they contain could still have traces of food on them. Keep recycling in a container with a lid as well.
    • If you have a compost pile, make sure it’s located well away from your home, since it may be attracting mice.
  3. Clean up messes. Both inside your house and in your yard, clean up messes that could provide food and shelter for mice. When you leave food out, neglect to pick up crumbs, or even have a pile of brush in your yard, mice might start to move in. Keep your home neat and tidy to make it less hospitable to mice.
  4. Use repellents to keep mice away. There are several effective natural substances you can use to keep mice out of your house. When they smell a repellant, they won’t want to come in. Many mice repellents smell great to humans, so don’t hesitate to sprinkle them around your house. Put your repellant of choice in the cracks, crevices and dark spaces where mice tend to dwell. Here are some to choose from:
    • Peppermint oil, which is great for sprinkling on countertops and other kitchen spaces
    • Cedar chips or cedar oil
    • Predator urine, available for purchase from places that sell any type of pest repellent

Tips

  • If the mouse is still alive in the trap, squirming and squealing, then you have to kill it somehow before disposing of it. Leaving it to die slowly or drowning is more like torture. Sometimes they can escape the trap, leaving their tail behind. If you must kill it, the fastest and painless way is cerebral concussion, i.e., a swift and hard whack to the head with a hammer. Place the mouse in a plastic bag. This is why live traps are best (see Warnings).
  • Contrary to popular belief, some mice don't like cheese. Chocolate, bread, meat, hard caramel, and peanut butter work best.
  • Don't forget to plug up all holes; it's a tedious step but a necessary one. Steel wool works especially well, and can be combined with plaster for walls (though it will rust through the plaster eventually). One important spot to plug is the back of the oven, where the wires come out. Stuff that hole well!
  • Mice also like corn chicken feed. If you know a friend with any, borrow some from them. To catch the mice in our barn, we just left the lid off the top of the feed barrel with a stick leading to the top and picked them out in the morning.
  • Spread peanut butter on a cotton ball, and attach the cotton ball to the trap.
  • The quickest and least painful way to kill a mouse in a sticky trap is to drown it. Just plop the trap in a bucket filled with water and submerge it using a garden implement. No need to whack it - this would just spread more germs and possibly blood.
  • The most humane and least messy way to kill mice on a glue trap is to take a pair of pliers and apply direct pressure to their neck, breaking their spine. They die almost instantly and do not suffer. Plus, there's no mess to clean up afterwards!
  • Always try to use a humane mouse trap. It will make you feel better about yourself, and it's nicer for you than having to dispose of a gory dead rodent. If you have to use a fatal mouse trap, make sure it's a quick death. Also, be prepared to kill it. Don't let it suffer!
  • Stuff holes with copper wool, then spray with expandable filler with scent deterrent. Copper won't rust and it gets caught in a rodent's gums so they shy away from chewing on it.
  • Don't place snap traps in close proximity to things rat blood could contaminate or stain.

Warnings

  • Glue traps are especially cruel. The animal's paws become stuck to the surface of the trap and can't be unstuck. Mice have been known to gnaw off their paw or paws to escape. This will invariably result in a slow and gruesome death.
  • Most cats are too domesticated to be of any real help, they are too accustomed to humans feeding them to catch and kill the mouse. If anything, they will play with it, but not kill it.
  • It is illegal in many areas to release trapped animals of any kind on property that is not yours, and makes for bad neighbors if they see you releasing mice in their yard.
  • Glue traps; should you find yourself staring down a mouse on the glue who looks like he just hopped on recently, you can take the trap outside and pour olive oil over his feet--welling it up--this will break down the glue quickly and allow the mouse to run away. Don't do this in the house! The mouse will come right back in your house if you do it close by!
  • Note on ultrasound rodent repellent: according to the FTC's complaint, the respondents do not have a reasonable basis for claims that ultrasound will eliminate or repel pests, including rodents and many insects, from a user's home.
  • Traps hurt animals. Consider buying live traps to release the animals out in the wild. This will also spare you from having to kill the mouse.

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