To get rid of mice outside my home (hopefully before any of them find a way into my house) I've used plastic rat traps baited with peanut butter. For the past few years these traps have worked well, and it was not unusual for me to find 3 or 4 trapped and dead mice daily in the 8 to 10 traps that I put out. But this year is different. While I am still catching some, I daily find some of my traps sprunIg or unsprung with the bait gone. I guess its possible that some other critters are getting the bait without tripping the trap, but I suspect that it is mice. It appears as if the mice around here have learned how to gently nibble the bait without setting the trap off, and maybe are teaching other mice how to do as well.
How smart are field mice?
- Thread starter vito
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toysoldier
Hunter
Look for mouse traps on YouTube. Ther are hundreds of designs. Try a few.
Mice often lick pb off traps.
I use the old wood style baited with apple. I hook the skin under the tab so they have to tug on it. I have a high success rate with that method.
I use the old wood style baited with apple. I hook the skin under the tab so they have to tug on it. I have a high success rate with that method.
contender
Ruger Guru
"Mice often lick pb off traps."
Bingo!
I use the older traps like mentioned above,, but put a small piece of raw bacon on the trip pan in a way they have to WORK the trap.
Or,, I use the plastic trip pan type that looks like swiss cheese. I wedge sunflower seeds in a couple of the holes. Works quite well.
Bingo!
I use the older traps like mentioned above,, but put a small piece of raw bacon on the trip pan in a way they have to WORK the trap.
Or,, I use the plastic trip pan type that looks like swiss cheese. I wedge sunflower seeds in a couple of the holes. Works quite well.
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Rick Courtright
Hawkeye
Hi,
One of my neighbors swears by p-nut butter, but he cuts small squares of light cardboard on which he smears some PB. Then he ties a card to the trip lever. Critters may safely survive licking the top of the card, but when they try to pull the cards off to get the PB on the bottom side they're imitating Contenders critters perfectly. Work the lever just a bit, and WHACK!
Rick C
One of my neighbors swears by p-nut butter, but he cuts small squares of light cardboard on which he smears some PB. Then he ties a card to the trip lever. Critters may safely survive licking the top of the card, but when they try to pull the cards off to get the PB on the bottom side they're imitating Contenders critters perfectly. Work the lever just a bit, and WHACK!
Rick C
Pat-inCO
Hawkeye
Try some stale chocolate chips.
woodsy
Buckeye
When we had a house in VT (vacation one) we had lots of mice. I learned to get a low-temp. heat gun (really cheap), stick a small piece of cracker on it (the bait area, with the hot glue) then smear peanut butter on the cracker, before setting the trigger. Used to catch between ten and twenty mice every two weeks. REALLY works. The peanut butter smeared into the cracker was ireresistable to the critters. And the hot glue was impossible for the mice to remove without triggering the trap.
JStacy
Blackhawk
I take heavy cotton cord string and rub PB into it then tie it to the trigger and they can lick but eventually they pull on the string and wind up with that funny look on their face and the steel wire across their neck.
I try to thin the herd before they get to my house as well. I set traps AND poison in any buildings on the property out not connected to the house. I use several different types of traps and baits so if they "learn" one another gets them before they have a chance to hold lessons on what they've learned. Poison pinned in plastic pipes, water bucket traps with "rolling log" type traps of various type logs in the middle. Diving board trap in the same bucket with a rolling plastic bottle has been VERY production lately. Every one you catch in a trap is one less you have to feed until they die where ever they want. Makes the poison last a lot longer and a lot more effective for the ones who do eat it. I think it might even dumb them down a little so they fall for the traps easier.
You can hot glue a kernal of field corn on there to and it doesn't get moldy and funky as quick at PB for a long term set. Doesn't attract ants as bad either.
OP
Good suggestion but I have no idea where I would get field corn. Sweet corn, no problem, but that won't last long. Maybe I'll just try the chocolate chip suggestion.
Durango Dave
Single-Sixer
you have to use this type of mouse trap and then bend the catch that the wire rests on. This will make it more sensitive and trap the mice easier.
Or get or make a bucket mouse trap to catch more mice.
Or get or make a bucket mouse trap to catch more mice.
Selena
Hunter
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Two things mice are looking for is food and safety. When your house provides both it doesn’t matter how many you trap as there are thousands willing to take their place. Three house cats and a dozen or so barn cats will deny the safety aspect and proper food storage the buffet problem. Add some poisoned wheat and they stop becoming a problem.
A much more ecologically friendly solution. And it cuts down on his food bill. That's right, he's a meat hunter and eats what he kills.
Yep, we’ve always had a cat, and never any mice problems.A much more ecologically friendly solution. And it cuts down on his food bill. That's right, he's a meat hunter and eats what he kills.
Jeepnik, your fluffy looks like a true killer. :)
I have a cat, and I still trap mice. I dislike cats as it is, but here he lies in my lap as I type this! Sigh!
gramps
gramps
wheelgun1958
Hunter
My dachshunds take care of any around here. They don't seem to eat them, just gift them to me.
DeletedMember275
Hunter
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My swimming pool seems to work quite well. I have to fish a dead mouse out of it periodically.
gunslinger258
Bearcat
I think the mice are actually evolving already.
... and then you can fight your new ant problem. Better get some Sevin dust and permethrin to. If you can't find field corn in the United States of America then we have bigger problems than mice.
Selena
Hunter
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You could try Cargill at Port of Chicago. Like as not you could pick up more than you need from the empty trucks waiting for their receipts. If all else fails... Amazon - field corn
powder smoke
Hawkeye
We live in the country have a house cat and your mouse problems will be gone!!
Just the sent of a cat will keep mice away!
Just the sent of a cat will keep mice away!
How smart? Very, is a good answer. The other afternoon my cat Callie had 'acquired' a field mouse as a play toy. The little critter escaped and hid under the rocker of one of our porch rocking chairs. The cat couldn't get to it. When the cat went around the chair for a better try the mouse hauled freight off the porch and was GONE!
