Tip-Traps

[cookingVeg]

(When I told my friends I had a mouse infestation in my house, several of them related having bad experiences with live catch traps. Since I've had good ones, I thought I'd share them.)

I bought two tip-traps (http://www.kness.com/tip-trap.html) at a hardware store for $3.29 each. I baited them with peanut butter and set them up near where I'd seen a mouse. In 2 days, I'd caught 3 mice. My husband released them near his work, about 8 k.m. from our house, so *fingers crossed* they shouldn't return. We're going to leave the traps out for another week or so to see if we catch any more.

They're super-easy to set up and to release the mouse.

(A cute story: My husband, an omni, agreed to live traps only because I insisted -- he wasn't sure they worked. Then as soon as he saw the first mouse as he was releasing it he became worried that the mouse would suffer from the cold. Many of our friends reassured him that mice are active in winter. I'm so glad to see him displaying empathy towards animals.)

[jenna]

Thanks for this. I hadn't heard of tip-traps before. I'll have to check around here to see if anyone carries them. My mom has a mouse (or mouse family) living in her house and she was wanting to use spring traps :( but they are apparently too smart for those. I've been insisting on live traps.

[Fritemare]

Thanks, my husband keeps wanting to use sticky traps, which are totally disgusting. He put them out before without me knowing and luckily I got both of the mice off the trap with baby oil.

[rabid_child]

I used PETA traps when I had a mouse in my apartment. It's got a spring and a door and when the mouse walks inside the door closes behind them. I only had the one mouse as far as I could tell, and I caught him and took him on a drive and released him. (You can get the peta traps from peta's website)

[LovelyPerv]

If you can't find live traps, you can make a ghetto-version:

This is what my father did whenever 'feeder' rats and mice would escape. (He is an avid snake-collector..oh, I hope he doesn't win the lottery!)

Find a box...any box.
If you have chewers, you may want a heavy one made of plastic or metal.

Find two sticks (or pencils...whatever)

Rubberband, electrical tape, elastic hairband...whatever.

Get bait... Peanut butter works best...esp if coated onto a peice of bread. (the cheese thing is mostly a myth) Or, just dig around in the trash until you find something smelly.

1. Tie/tape the sticks/pencils together until you have a 'T' shape.

2. Put your 'bait' on end of the longer part of the 'T'

3. Turn your box upside down, and prop it up with the 'top' part of the 'T' so that the baited in sticks out underneath the box.

4. Leave the box alone (try not to peek too often). The little critter will try to eat the bait, tug on the sticks, and the box will fall over the top of him.

5. Use the box lid, some cardboard, or something flat to slide underneath the box...gently...so he'll jump onto your 'lid'.

6. Flip these upside down, and congratulations! You've got a very unhappy captured mouse!

(Note: Doesn't work so well for raccoons, cats, or little brothers)

[Fritemare]

If you can't find live traps, you can make a ghetto-version:

This is what my father did whenever 'feeder' rats and mice would escape. (He is an avid snake-collector..oh, I hope he doesn't win the lottery!)

Find a box...any box.
If you have chewers, you may want a heavy one made of plastic or metal.

Find two sticks (or pencils...whatever)

Rubberband, electrical tape, elastic hairband...whatever.

Get bait... Peanut butter works best...esp if coated onto a peice of bread. (the cheese thing is mostly a myth) Or, just dig around in the trash until you find something smelly.

1. Tie/tape the sticks/pencils together until you have a 'T' shape.

2. Put your 'bait' on end of the longer part of the 'T'

3. Turn your box upside down, and prop it up with the 'top' part of the 'T' so that the baited in sticks out underneath the box.

4. Leave the box alone (try not to peek too often). The little critter will try to eat the bait, tug on the sticks, and the box will fall over the top of him.

5. Use the box lid, some cardboard, or something flat to slide underneath the box...gently...so he'll jump onto your 'lid'.

6. Flip these upside down, and congratulations! You've got a very unhappy captured mouse!

(Note: Doesn't work so well for raccoons, cats, or little brothers)

Do you have a version of this trap that DOES work on little brothers? Mine keep coming over here and drinking all my soda and using up my electricity. I'd like to put a stop to this.

[leminchyl]

Thanks, my husband keeps wanting to use sticky traps, which are totally disgusting. He put them out before without me knowing and luckily I got both of the mice off the trap with baby oil.

dont do the sticky ones. my friend haley's cat got stuck to one and it was horrible.

[Fritemare]

dont do the sticky ones. my friend haley's cat got stuck to one and it was horrible.

I had a hamster get stuck to one when I was a kid, which is why I dislike them. It was a long haired hamster, and we spent forever getting the poor guy off the trap. Last time my mom ever put mouse traps out.

We were using live traps from Lowe's but they don't work. The mice just kept going in and eating the peanut butter. My husband then went out and bought the sticky ones and put them out while I was busy. After catching two mice on them and luckily getting them off while they were still alive, I think I finally convinced him not to buy them.