A friend of mine seems to having trouble with getting rid of mice that keep popping up in her apartment. She's seriously considering just borrowing my cat for a few days to help get rid of them. Have any of you guys done this before? If so, was it successful?

2/10/2009 10:01:54 AM

In my experience, most cats just like to play with a mouse. At my parents house, the cats will just swat them around and chew on them for about hour or so before they kill them. Sometimes they'd get away too. I don't know how good they'd be for removing the mice, but they do a good job keeping them from running around where you can see them.

These really do work and you can set several of them with different foods on them. I think peanut butter works the best:


[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 10:15 AM. Reason : smaller pic]

2/10/2009 10:12:16 AM

Or, if you'd rather not clean up mouse guts, or bring toxic chemicals in your house

use these:










(You could put the traps in places the cat can't get to.)

2/10/2009 10:25:57 AM

Haha my mom uses the glue traps. They are so cruel though, as the mice will actually pull their limbs off in an attempt to get away. The funny thing is that they pull of an arm and then the stump just gets lodged in the glue.

SEVERE

MOUSE

FAIL

2/10/2009 10:35:22 AM

I tried humane traps in my garage and screened porch, but the mice would get caught and escape all in one night. Then I put down poison which disappeared and took care of the mouse problem, but I can't find the blocks of poison so I'm always worried when people stop by with their dogs. Now I just have the old fashioned back snappers which I'll use if the mice ever come back.

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 10:42 AM. Reason : s]

2/10/2009 10:40:52 AM

^^Yea I think the standard spring loaded mouse trap is more humane than that. About 90% of the time it results in a broken neck and the other 10% it is a broken back (from my experience).

Shouldn't her apartment be doing something about it?

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 10:44 AM. Reason : ^]

Also the problem with poison is that the mice rarely die right where the poison is, so they end up dead in their hiding spots, stinking up the place.

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 10:47 AM. Reason : ]

2/10/2009 10:44:06 AM

We've done the live catch traps before and they've not gotten away. We put some horse grain (as this was in the barn) in the trap to lure them in. We used traps like this:


However, if you don't get rid of the mice within 24 hours of it being caught, it's probably going to die in there. That was our experience with the traps - they get very distressed and die after a while.

2/10/2009 10:46:13 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikm3o5hDks

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM. Reason : .]

2/10/2009 11:00:28 AM

Quote :

"I tried humane traps in my garage and screened porch, but the mice would get caught and escape all in one night. Then I put down poison which disappeared and took care of the mouse problem, but I can't find the blocks of poison so I'm always worried when people stop by with their dogs. Now I just have the old fashioned back snappers which I'll use if the mice ever come back. "

Huh...
I've never heard of a humane trap that mice could escape from. Whatever kind you had was a rare miss.
You should try a different brand -- It's sure to work.

Think about it:
1) Poison can be left around and kill visiting dogs or children.
2) Poison is poison. Do you really want that in your house? Poison?
3) "the mice rarely die right where the poison is, so they end up dead in their hiding spots, stinking up the place"

4) Spring-loaded traps have a fairly decent failure rate.
5) They often leave mouse brains and/or blood and guts to clean up. (possible stain or smell)
6) They kill the mouse. (if you care about the mouse's life)

7) Humane traps are re-usable. They pay for themselves and reduce waste.
8) You can release the mouse alive far away from your house. (if you care about the mouse's life)
9) Even if you don't care about the mouse's life, they still work great.

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 11:11 AM. Reason : ]

2/10/2009 11:11:06 AM

12 gauge.

2/10/2009 11:14:10 AM

.22 is more like it.

2/10/2009 11:18:40 AM

HOWITZER

2/10/2009 11:22:21 AM

Quote :

"I've never heard of a humane trap that mice could escape from. Whatever kind you had was a rare miss. You should try a different brand -- It's sure to work."

I got them from Lowes in Cary. I was surprised as well. I really shouldn't have to research this type of thing. You go in, you buy some traps, and you set them up. Pretty crappy when they catch a mouse, but the thing gnaws his way out overnight.

Not too worried about where the mouse dies or if it makes a mess since it was in the garage. I found some dehydrated carcasses the last time I cleaned it out and swept the floor.

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 11:24 AM. Reason : l]

2/10/2009 11:23:47 AM

I don't know how much truth there is to it, but I read on a few forums that came up with a google search that the smell of a cat alone is enough to freak the hell out of some mice and may even make them leave.

2/10/2009 11:30:02 AM

^
Not if they're infected with Toxoplasma gondii.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

Quote :

"T. gondii infections have the ability to change the behavior of rats and mice, making them drawn to rather than fearful of the scent of cats. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to sexually reproduce if its host is eaten by a cat"

[Edited on February 10, 2009 at 11:36 AM. Reason : ]

2/10/2009 11:36:19 AM

mouse 'poison' is anticoagulent. Its often Werfarin, same as the heart drug Coumadin. Will not kill larger dogs and children unless in VERY high doses.

2/10/2009 6:15:31 PM

RAT poison, on the other hand...

2/10/2009 10:02:43 PM

Hahaha, this willy nilly tool wants to save the life of the mouse but wants to shoot human border crossers in the other thread.

2/11/2009 12:09:28 AM

Hey look, Willy Nilly is being a hippie again

2/11/2009 12:47:59 AM

depends on the cat. i used to have a cat that would come out of the garage with mice tails hanging out of its mouth. but i haven't seen one as good as her before. you could try your cat just to make it interesting (its a good show when they lock on to a mouse), but a trap would be more reliable.

2/11/2009 1:18:49 AM

I've used this before with a cashew/peanut butter and it works great.

2/11/2009 8:29:32 AM

Quote :

"Hahaha, this willy nilly tool wants to save the life of the mouse but wants to shoot human border crossers in the other thread."

Two swings, two misses.
Nowhere have I said anything about my wanting to save the life of a mouse. (show me where. you can't.)
Nowhere have I said anything about my wanting to shoot human border crossers. (that was someone else. read.)
(You fail miserably.)

Quote :

"Hey look, Willy Nilly is being a hippie again"

How? No really, how? I assume that your troll-vision locked on to skokiaan's post, where he incorrectly suggested that I had somewhere expressed a desire to save the life of a mouse. But, as that was incorrect, you'll need to find another hippie stereotype to employ your trolling. (Nice try, though )



[Remember folks, skokiaan and ThePeter are the trolls here. (message_topic.aspx?topic=557629&page=1#12615246)
They are starting off-topic shit in the lounge. I'll try to steer things back on topic, but if they return, it's not my fault.]

Quote :

"Will not kill larger dogs and children unless in VERY high doses."

But it's still poison, and it's in your house. I personally can't get over that. If any alternatives exist to using poisons in my home, even if they're less effective or less convenient, I'll always choose them. Plus, you've still got dead mice in your house. Who'd want that?

Quote :

"I've used this before with a cashew/peanut butter and it works great."

lol, I wouldn't waste cashew butter on mouse traps.

[Edited on February 11, 2009 at 9:08 AM. Reason : ]

2/11/2009 8:44:24 AM

Before I got my two cats I have now we would always hear mice in the walls. After we got the cats, no mice but they destroy everything else in the apartment too

2/11/2009 6:21:09 PM