Set a Mousetrap
Mice are pesky and persistent rodents that are often difficult to get rid of. Here are several methods of trapping mice and keeping your home free of them.
Contents
Steps
Finding the Mice
- Determine where the mice are in your house. Before you set traps, one of the keys to getting rid of mice is identifying the "rodent zones," or the areas between the nest and the food source. If you've found droppings or signs of chewing (or have seen mice) in a particular area of your home, start there and narrow in on the following popular locations:
- Secluded corners
- Under cabinets
- Between furniture
- Ceiling and wall voids, especially near heat sources
- Top of the basement
- Crawl space
- Cluttered office or desk drawers
- Garages
- Check the possibility of immediate outdoor locations and attics. You may not be dealing with a nest in your home, but rather immediately outside it. You'll want to also be aware of:
- Dead fruit trees
- Wall and floor voids on upper or attic floors
- Beneath low-lying shrubbery
- Within the wall voids of a brick foundation
- Along utility lines
- Beneath slab walkways or porches
- Place traps near walls or baseboards. Mice typically don't run through the middle of rooms, but stick close to the walls. Placing the traps in these paths will increase the likelihood of their working.
- Keep the traps out of your way to avoid accidents.
Setting Live Traps
- Select a live trap in your price range. A wide variety of "humane traps" are on the market, which will enclose mice without killing them, but all work with the same basic principle. Generally, these traps involve a wire cage or a plastic tube with a door on each end. After entering the cage or tube in search of the food you've placed there, the trap will close, trapping the mouse safely inside.
- Set the trap in the area you've selected. Open one or both of the openings of the trap, activating the mechanism (usually a small lever) that keeps the doors open.
- Bait the trap. Popular baits include apples, peanut butter, and cheese.
- Check on the trap regularly. If you're hoping to catch the mice alive, you'll want to make sure to keep up with them.
- Mice trapped together have a tendency to eat each other.
- Release the mice in a secluded location.
- Don't release them in the backyard or near other houses the mice might take up residence in.
- Find a wooded area or a park to release the mice.
Setting Snap Traps
- Select reusable or disposable snap traps. If you're ok with repeatedly handling and reusing a trap with dead mouse on it, high quality reusable options are available. These are reliable, but involve a little more face-to-face time with the mouse.
- Cheap wooden disposable snap traps often come in packages of three or five and are an economical bet if you've got a serious mouse problem.
- Set the trap in the area you've selected. Remember: the more traps you use in the targeted rodent zones, the more effective the traps will be at getting rid of the mice.
- First, bait the spring plate with a tiny amount of peanut butter or cheese. Baiting the trap first is important, because you'll want to fiddle with it as little as possible after setting it.
- Point the pin at the end away from the spring.
- Pull the metal snapper back towards the pin. Use a firm grip so the trap doesn't snap your finger.
- Hold the metal piece that catches the mouse down with one hand and lay the pin over it with the other hand. Keep holding the snapper firmly until you've got it set.
- Put the pin in the hole on the metal plate at the other end. This will hold the snapper in place, but it's very sensitive. Use caution.
- Carefully hold the metal plate up and let go of the snapping mechanism.
Setting a Bucket Trap
- Try making one yourself and setting a bucket trap. For this you'll need:
- Five gallon plastic bucket
- Wooden or metal dowel rod
- Tin or aluminum can
- Peanut butter or desired bait
- Small wooden plank long enough to ramp from the ground to the top of the bucket
- Drill holes at the top of the bucket, on 2 opposite sides. Make sure the holes are big enough for the dowel to fit through.
- Drill holes in the middle of each flat side of the can. Be careful of any jagged edges created by drilling the hole.
- Insert the dowel through the can and fix it in place on the bucket. Make sure the dowel fits securely and won't come loose with some jostling. The mouse will probably try to crawl along the dowel to get to the bait.
- Smear some peanut butter on the can and add a ramp for the mice to get up. If you'd like to kill the mice, fill the bottom few inches with water or leave it empty for a live release option.
Tips
- Try different baits like cheese, salami, bacon, peanut butter, or chocolate.
Warnings
- Keep the trap out of reach of infants, children and pets.
