We've had a slight mouse problem for a while, but it was never bad enough to really get my attention. Our food has been fine; we just don't want the mice to populate.

In any case, without my knowing, my dad set up glue traps to catch them. This morning we found one caught and I just barely was able to stop him from putting it in the trash. He doesn't seem to care that it will starve or dehydrate to death. So now I'm stuck with a sticky mouse. Its leg is at a funny angle and it's too sticky to come off and it's very scared. What should I do? :(

I think the proper way to release them is to get some sort of oil (ie vegetable) and slowly try to release the little guy gently scraping at the glue and take it out at least a mile away to prevent it from coming back. And if you have gloves, wear them.

Don't you know any place to call (like a clinic for small animals etc.)?

I don't really know anything about glue traps, sorry :(

Oil. I know it's hard, but try to get it only on the part that is stuck. The sad thing is he'll may be literally scared to death by the whole ordeal. It's not hard to scare them right into a heart attack. Poor thing. :(

Oh gosh. That is so sad! Yes, use gloves and some kind of oil. Maybe try to distract the little guy with some food. If that doesn't work, I'm sure a vet or someone could help out. Good luck, let us know what happens! :(

I peeled a mouse off a glue trap once back when I lived with my mom. It was terrible. It is almost impossible to get them off without breaking their legs, and they will bite you over and over again out of terror. I actually ended up pulling as much of the mouse as possible off the glue trap and then carefully cutting through the trap with scissors so that the mouse could run free with just a little piece of cardboard on it's foot.

However, it didn't run free. I walked out into the trees to let the mouse go, but it just stood there. I think it had PTSD.

Call a vet or animal rescue place. They'll have better ideas that I had.

the thing is your dad should try to find out where the mice are coming in, somtimes this is extremely difficult especially if you live in an older house. but find places where you think they are coming in and block those entry spots, sometimes it impossible to entirely block them because they can come in thru 1/4 inch areas,
but we had a problem and i wouldnt let hubby trap or poisen them, so he hired a pest person to come over and find the entry spots and he blocked them with some mesh stuff.
and the problem is gone, we sometimes here a few in the attic but not like before,
good luck,
i live near a wildlife rehab place and when i encounter situations with wildlife i always call them and they know what to do, maybe there is a place near you like that?

oh i also wanted to add, your dad should really do this because before we did it the mice had chewed thru electrical wiring and it cost us more for the electrician to fix it all than it did to find the entry spots and cover them! so prevention is cheaper!

Here, to find a wildlife help place near you, go here.

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm

call an emergency vet for advice, or take the animal in.

do whatever you are doing very carefully. I know someone who tried to do this and literally pulled the animal's feet off. unfortunately the most humane thing to do at some point may to euthanize the animal quickly, I don't know.

then give your dad a hard kick in the nuts. what a jerk (and that's the kind word for him).

Well, I was scared to try and handle it, so I went to the page snownose gave. I was going to call my local group, and figured I'd better have the mouse nearby, so I went to the garage, where I'd left it, and it wasn't there.

My dad says it's "taken care of," and won't get any more specific. :-/

That's the way some people are. It's not enough that they don't care about animals, they also seem intent to make sure no one else does so, either.

find out if the animal is actually dead, or just tossed in the trash and still dying. humans owe animals at least a quick death, if they're going to do this kind of crap to them. then do a sweep of your house to make sure there are no more glue traps. and then raise hell with your dad. this is one issue I would not let down on. no more glue traps in the house. it doesn't matter if you're not paying rent, he's going to have to figure out another way to deal with the mice. seriously, I wouldn't let down on this.

:cry: omg the poor mouse.

I've seen the glue traps at the dollar store, which makes it really easy for people to buy them. They have got to be one of the cruelest things going.

:cry:

:( :( :(

they should outlaw those things along with betta bowls.

the pet food store I normally go to is a big family run warehouse type. once I went into the back for the super large kitty litter bag and there WAS A CHIPMUNK in a glue trap. I raised holy hell about that- my ex was able to free the chipmunk but all in all I hope that a crazy screaming woman would be enough to deter them from using them again.

there are humane traps...I know it's hard to make changes in your parents house but If you cry a lot and kick up a fuss maybe he'll switch to those?:hug:

OMG this is terrible, i read through each post waiting for you to say that you had managed to set him free... i agree sevenseas fair enough if your dad doesnt care, but why the hell does that mean you can't care?

i also agree with finding where they are coming in from, becuase otherwize they will KEEp getting in and keep getting caught in the traps. some people are so sick. ggggrr

I think the proper way to release them is to get some sort of oil (ie vegetable) and slowly try to release the little guy gently scraping at the glue and take it out at least a mile away to prevent it from coming back. And if you have gloves, wear them.
I segundo this.
I would definitely suggest rubber gloves. A small dab of petroleum jelly, coconut, or just cooking oil should work. Let us know how it goes.

Well, I was scared to try and handle it, so I went to the page snownose gave. I was going to call my local group, and figured I'd better have the mouse nearby, so I went to the garage, where I'd left it, and it wasn't there.

My dad says it's "taken care of," and won't get any more specific. :-/

:( I'm sorry.

i have released several mice out of glue traps soak the whole thing in vegetable oil (careful not to drown them) and don't try to pull on them they make their way out. I always put them in a cage with food and water till they're clean and dry and release them far away. sorry about the mouse you had but in the future you can just do this if your dad won't take up the glue traps.

I work in a hardware store that sells and used to use glue and snap traps. As much as i hate them both, I prefer the snap traps, because the mice tend to go quickly.

Any large building, usually apartment buildings and retail stores, have a mouse problem. My workplace (An Ace Hardware in PA.) is no exception. They go SO BAD that we have to pull all of our edibles, because literally all of them would have eaten portions. Then my boss adopted two rescue cats (poor things were abused, though we had to adopt one out to an employee because Tigger didn't like dogs...she once attacked a lady in the store holding a dog. Eek.) and that scaled back the mice problem considerably. The cat we have left is Oreo (little black and white kitten) who provides our PR, mouse control, and is (jokingly) our night tern manager. :P Though that cat is nuts. She will find a mouse and play with the thing for an hour. If you attempt to rescue the mouse (which we have tried) she gulps it down and walks away. Crazy cat.

I've posted about this thing in probably every mouse thread on this board, but here it is again:

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__SI310TNM

This thing WORKS. My husband and I had a mouse problem for a while, and the landlord of course put out the sticky traps.... and we collected them up and threw them away. We got this, and we haven't had a mouse since. It's amazing, and I highly recommend. Of course it's more expensive than a glue trap, but it's humane. Its far more effective than catch-and-release too - they never come into your space, so you never have to catch them.

When i was living at home my dad used to use these awful things too!
Got to the point that I would just pick them up and pitch 'em. Then he would gripe about the money he was losing, by my throwing them away...
so then, I would pitch the glue trap and leave a dollar in it's place. :shifty:
Anyhoo, after a few months of this- we finally got him to go humane!

Very smart! When I worked in food service, at a hospital, I removed many a mouse from glue traps. It wasn't easy. Very stressful for me and the mouse! I tried the humane traps but got in trouble for that. Management didn't like the idea.

:( :( :(

they should outlaw those things along with betta bowls.

the pet food store I normally go to is a big family run warehouse type. once I went into the back for the super large kitty litter bag and there WAS A CHIPMUNK in a glue trap. I raised holy hell about that- my ex was able to free the chipmunk but all in all I hope that a crazy screaming woman would be enough to deter them from using them again.

there are humane traps...I know it's hard to make changes in your parents house but If you cry a lot and kick up a fuss maybe he'll switch to those?:hug:

Hi, can you tell me the problem with Betta bowls? Thanks.

I've posted about this thing in probably every mouse thread on this board, but here it is again:

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__SI310TNM

This thing WORKS. My husband and I had a mouse problem for a while, and the landlord of course put out the sticky traps.... and we collected them up and threw them away. We got this, and we haven't had a mouse since. It's amazing, and I highly recommend. Of course it's more expensive than a glue trap, but it's humane. Its far more effective than catch-and-release too - they never come into your space, so you never have to catch them.

I had those before. The way it worked for us is it moved the mice for sure..just deeper into the walls where we couldn't see them so we thought our problem was solved. About a year later we ended up unplugging them for about 4 days for a remodeling project and we found we were infested. They started coming out and we caught them in the box traps. I lost count at 20.

Maybe it's not the same for you but I just wanted to let you know our experience. Those mice will chew up your electrical wiring.