Catching Mice

There are two very important aspects to catching mice. The first is that you have to have the right mouse trap. The second is that you have to have the right bait. If the device you purchased doesn’t catch mice, you’re not going to get rid of them. If the bait you use doesn’t entice mice to come to the trap, you’re not going to catch them either. What I’m going to do is to point you toward the best mouse traps and the best bait. Armed with this knowledge there’s only one thing left for you to do: catch the mouse.

There are so many different types of mouse traps on the market, you may be overwhelmed by the decision making process. What trap works? Does more money mean more success? Are the 99 cent traps as effective as the 99 dollar traps? Snap traps, electronic traps, glue traps? Which do I use? Which are most effective? I’m going to tell you what works. I’ve written many articles that explain the very nuances about getting rid of mice, but I don’t know that you really care about every last detail. If you want the answers without all the fuss, read on.

The mouse trap I most frequently recommend is the Snap-E Mouse Trap. I recommend these because they are simple to use and easy to deploy. Clean up of a captured mouse is as easy as it gets. They are very effective and relatively inexpensive, so you can deploy multiple units without breaking the bank. They also get good reviews from other users. If a mouse trap gets good reviews, that’s something to take note of. Most people that leave reviews of mouse traps tend to be negative because it didn’t miraculously solve their problem over night. People like to complain, but when it works they forget about the problem completely. It did its job, so it’s forgotten. That’s my theory at least. If you go the snap trap route, don’t buy one and think it’ll solve all your problems. Experts recommend deploying six mouse traps per room. Don’t be skimpy to save a couple bucks. Quickly and efficiently dealing with a mouse problem up front will save you money in the long run (think of the cost of food you’ll have to throw away if the problem worsens, or the cost of having an electrician re-wire your house because the mouse chewed through your wires). The Snap-E traps will be good to use year after year, so make the investment up front and have years of mouse free living.

You may be wondering whether or not electronic mouse traps have their place in your effort to get rid of mice. I’m a fan of the electronic mouse traps that administer an electronic shock to kill the mice, but the problem with them is that they don’t scale cost wise. For one or two mice, it might not be the best investment. If your home is frequently the subject of a mouse invasion, the electronic traps may be a worthy investment because they tend to last longer than snap traps. If you’re dealing with more than a few mice, the electronic traps start to make more sense as well. The electronic trap that I recommend is the Agri Zap Rat Zapper Ultra. Don’t buy the one electronic trap and think you’re done though. You’re going to want to round up your mouse defense with the snap traps because you’ll get more coverage. Like I said earlier, experts recommend deploying six mouse traps per infected room. If you can afford six electronic traps, by all means, go for it; I can think of better places to spend that money though. Your best plan of attack is one electronic trap and several of the lower tech snap traps. If you only have one or two mice, just get a handful of the Snap-E Traps, and you’ll be well on your way.

Now that the first element of catching mice is covered, we need to talk about bait. The best bait to use is peanut butter. There are a few reasons, namely it’s good at attracting mice and second is that it’s not something a mouse can pick up and run away with. If a mouse wants the peanut butter (which it does), it’s going to have to eat it on the spot. Of course that spot is the paddle trigger that snaps the trap shut, or it’s the electrocution chamber the zaps the life out of the mouse. Don’t use a lot of bait on the trap. If you put a huge clump of peanut butter on the paddle, the mouse may not be optimally positioned when the trap fires off. You want to make sure that the mouse’s head is right in the middle of the strike zone. If the mouse can eat the bait from the side because the bait is lumped on there so much, when the trap fires off, the mouse will have a head start and may actually beat it. Use enough bait so the mouse can catch the scent, but not so much bait so the trap can catch the mouse.

I said there were two important aspects to catching mice, but I’d remiss if I left out important aspect number three: trap placement. Since you have multiple traps, you have some room for error. You have more coverage. You don’t have to guess the single best location to catch the mouse because you have traps in multiple places. You may even catch multiple mice in one night. This reminds me of one other thing. The first night is the most important night in your campaign against mice. Since mice will be curious to see what these new food sources are in their environment, they will inspect them. It’s important that you do it right the first time. If you have signs of mice in the pantry, place a trap or two in the pantry. Then place a trap along the side of the wall leading up to the pantry. Mice walk along walls, so don’t put it in the middle of the room. Put it in the corners and along the wall right in the path of the suspected mouse trails.

That’s really all there is to catching mice. Buy the right traps and use the right bait. Then deploy the traps where the mice are going to be. If you do that, you’ll have your home mouse free in no time.

Good luck!

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