This site has been online for over three years, and it has been dedicated to helping homeowners like you get rid of mice for good. Thousands of visitors, like you, come to this site every month with the hopes of finding out what it takes to get rid of mice. People, like you, come here with a problem, and they leave this site with a solution. They come with a question, and they leave with an answer. The question I’m answering in today’s article is how to catch a mouse.
I recently wrote a lengthy article about catching mice, but this article is designed with a step by step approach in mind. I recommend reading it if you’re interested in a detailed discussion about the important aspects of catching mice, but if you’re just looking for a step by step guide to taking care of your mouse problem, read on.
First, you’re going to need a mouse trap. Actually, you should buy six. The more traps you deploy, the more likely you are to quickly catch the mouse in your house. It only takes one trap to catch a mouse, but if you don’t place it in exactly the right place, you’re not going to catch any. Six traps means six opportunities to be right. It is what is needed to effectively cover a decent sized room and the various nooks and crannies mice like to hide in.
The most common type of trap homeowners use is the snap trap. There are a variety of designs on the market to choose from, from the simple wood board snap traps to more complex designs. They all have their pros and cons, but the trap I most frequently recommend is the Snap-E Mouse Trap. The short story is that they are effective and clean up of the dead mouse is a cinch. I’ll let you check out various reviews of the trap on Amazon and won’t get into the details here. I’m going to assume you buy this trap or an equivalent for the rest of the article.
The next thing you need to do is bait the trap. Peanut butter is the most effective bait for attracting mice into your trap. Place a small amount onto the trigger paddle. Too much will give the mouse an opportunity to eat the bait without triggering the trap (or worse trigger the trap without catching the mouse). Too little and you won’t attract the mouse. The perfect amount is a thin layer in the center of the paddle. Think about where you want the mouse’s head to be when the trap is engaged. Too far to the side and you may miss. Center it perfectly and you’ll greatly improve the success rate of your trap.
Finally, you’ll want to set the traps where the mice are. If you have mice in your kitchen, set traps alongside the walls and even in the cabinets (if that’s where you’ve detected the signs of mice). Place the traps alongside the refrigerator and toward the rear. Mice are excellent climbers, so don’t limit the traps only to the ground level, especially if there are signs of mice higher up in cabinets or along your countertops. Basically wherever you’ve detected signs of mice, deploy a trap in and around that area. If there are small holes around your appliances that lead behind the cabinet area, you definitely want to place a trap or two there. Remember you have at least six traps, so make sure to cover all your bases.
Once all the traps are set, you’ll want to make sure to check them at least daily. If you catch a mouse you want to properly dispose of it immediately. If you let the dead mouse sit in the trap for long, it will begin decompose and start emanating a foul musty odor. There are solutions for the dead mouse smell, but your best bet is to take care of the problem before it happens. Also make sure to use gloves and adequately wash your hands with an antibacterial soap after handling the dead mouse. Mice carry diseases that are harmful to humans, so you want to make sure to practice good sanitary procedures.
That’s really all there is to catching mice. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a message in the comment section, but I hope that this step-by-step article is all that you need to make your home mouse free.
Best of luck!