Have you seen this mouse?

Shogun

So I have a mouse problem. Could be a colony for all I know but I don't think so. The main perpetrator is the same mouse and guys this is not your average mouse. I've been using basic Tomcat brand mouse traps. You know the kind. Touch the plastic bit, spring the trap, metal clamp breaks their neck or whatever. I've been using cheese and peanut butter as bait.

Here is my problem. This mouse is smart. Checked my traps last night. He had stolen the peanut butter without setting the trap off. Then I was woken up in the middle of the night by an odd sound. Turns out he had popped the other trap with cheese, and was dragging the cheese while it is still on the trap across the floor and into my closet. What kind of mouse is this? Velociraptor mouse? I feel like this is slightly ridiculous.

His entry point is through the cold air return duct in one of my closets. I've re-baited my traps and I tried to go for a lot less bait so hopefully he really has to interact with the plastic bit that springs the trap. I'm sort of flabbergasted here and I'm not particularly fond of using poison as there are a lot of other animals in the house including small dogs/cats.

Any suggestions? I seriously feel like this mouse is outsmarting me and it is not a good feeling.

iRevert

Rat poison usually does the trick if you don't have any pets or children that will consume it.

That or you could get a cat.

Soggybiscuit

Shogun wrote: »

So I have a mouse problem. Could be a colony for all I know but I don't think so. The main perpetrator is the same mouse and guys this is not your average mouse. I've been using basic Tomcat brand mouse traps. You know the kind. Touch the plastic bit, spring the trap, metal clamp breaks their neck or whatever. I've been using cheese and peanut butter as bait.

Here is my problem. This mouse is smart. Checked my traps last night. He had stolen the peanut butter without setting the trap off. Then I was woken up in the middle of the night by an odd sound. Turns out he had popped the other trap with cheese, and was dragging the cheese while it is still on the trap across the floor and into my closet. What kind of mouse is this? Velociraptor mouse? I feel like this is slightly ridiculous.

His entry point is through the cold air return duct in one of my closets. I've re-baited my traps and I tried to go for a lot less bait so hopefully he really has to interact with the plastic bit that springs the trap. I'm sort of flabbergasted here and I'm not particularly fond of using poison as there are a lot of other animals in the house including small dogs/cats.

Any suggestions? I seriously feel like this mouse is outsmarting me and it is not a good feeling.

Electric mouse traps, my friend. No poison needed.

BigBadWolf

What about somesort of 'humane' mousetrap? Mouse goes in, door shuts, mouse is trapped.

You'd have to deal with disposing of it (or breeding a race of supermice), but he shouldn't be able to get at the bait without getting trapped.

Shadowfire

BigBadWolf wrote: »

What about somesort of 'humane' mousetrap? Mouse goes in, door shuts, mouse is trapped.

You'd have to deal with disposing of it (or breeding a race of supermice), but he shouldn't be able to get at the bait without getting trapped.

You dispose of it by releasing it somewhere a few miles away on the way to work or something.

Siska

Do this. Spread peanut butter on the underside of the trigger of the snap trap. And only leave a thin smear. You do not want any easy to grab big blobs of food. You can also, if the mouse shows no interest in plastic triggers even when baited, wrap and tie a thread securely around the trigger (snip off the ends, just leave the bits wrapped around the trigger). Then rub a tiny about of peanut butter all over the tread. That gives the mouse something softer, but still secured to the trigger, to tug on.

mts

The other option is the baited pail trap. Big pail filled halfway with water. Affix a rod across the top secured so it can spin bait the rod with peanut butter.

Assuming that the pail is big enough it should fall in reaching for the rod

Iruka

You could try a bucket trap Like this, but you can do it with a soda can and a trash bin, you don't have to fill it with water if you want a humane trap. I've never actually made the trap, but I know the principal works because we used to catch mice who fell off the counter into the recycling bin when it was empty.

edit: Damn you mts.

Skeith

I'd caution you against using poison because you may have one hell of a game of "find that smell" if you go that route. Electric traps work well, though, my mother used to use those for rats when the fruit trees started to ripen.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

Try a humane trap and keep him as an ultra intelligent pet!

Arang

Siska wrote: »

Do this. Spread peanut butter on the underside of the trigger of the snap trap. And only leave a thin smear. You do not want any easy to grab big blobs of food. You can also, if the mouse shows no interest in plastic triggers even when baited, wrap and tie a thread securely around the trigger (snip off the ends, just leave the bits wrapped around the trigger). Then rub a tiny about of peanut butter all over the tread. That gives the mouse something softer, but still secured to the trigger, to tug on.

This tip is the one, I think. At least you know he's going for the traps, so the issue is more how to get them to kill him. In my experience mice aren't shy about getting really in there to get peanut butter, another bait that works is deli meat, salami or whatever you have handy. Make sure it's not easy to get loose, jam the little trigger right through the piece if you can.

Also, if the mouse is as smart as you say, he may go sour on the traps if they keep almost killing him (supposedly rats are real fuckers to catch because of this). Do you know anyone with a cat you could borrow? Even our spoiled-rotten cats were quite capable mouse-catchers when I was a kid, so if it's not too much of a hassle give a cat half an hour in the dark and see how it goes before you resort to the poison (our cats also helped with the smell issue when a mouse decided to die wedged in behind the fridge)

Iruka

Mice are also apparently pretty opposed to the smell of cats, so getting one to hang out for a bit may help the problem just with that.

Shogun

Hot dog thanks for all the replies guys.

My main reasons for avoiding poison is I have other animals in the house that I dare not risk exposing them. The other reason is what Skeith mentioned earlier and that is often times they ingest poison, die in the walls/crawlspace/attic and then it is a nightmare of smell. This also happened to me using glue traps at a shit job in highschool. The mouse got one paw caught on the glue and chewed its own limb off to get free and then promptly died in a wall. I will not go down that road again because I think that is horribly cruel even for a mouse. Also dead mice in the walls etc.

A cat is not an option because my dogs will not have it. I think one of them would be cool, but the 13 year old lady dog would not, and I mean no way never, have a cat in this house. I'm also not really a cat person. Cats are fine but they're also jerks. Definitely looking into some other styles of traps though. I've been using what I've been using, and let's face it they are cheap as hell and basic, because I've had them for a long time and I've caught plenty of mice with them. This particular mouse has presented a real challenge though. I'll see him late at night sometimes around 1-3 am if I'm still up. He'll be darting between my closet and bedroom door on a regular basis. He is a brave little fucker even after I've given chase.

mts

Honestly a mouse that brazen is not going to be caught by a humane trap. It will find a way to escape it.

Zilla360

Invest in an ACME catalogue before this ends up becoming a full-blown nuclear arms race, and you find the mouse and it's minions enriching uranium behind your skirting boards, holding your cheese for ransom.
Nip this in the bud and you won't have to call in the UN weapons inspectors...

:P :bz

DivideByZero

Grab the tube from a roll of paper towels. Put some bait on the inside of one end. Balance the tube on a countertop so the bait is hanging out over a bucket or your trash can. Mouse goes in the countertop end, tips the tube into the bucket.

knitdan

Is he darting across open space, or along walls?

I've had good results just placing non-baited traps along the wall, with the trigger side closest to the wall. They run along the wall and set them off.

Transmorphia

iRevert wrote: »

Rat poison usually does the trick if you don't have any pets or children that will consume it.

That or you could get a cat.

Oh hell no, the smell of dead mouse in the wall is not something you want to deal with. It can soak the drywall/seep.... you get the picture. I've had it happen in the garage, it wasn't a living space so we just let it air out over a week, but if It happens inside, you will resort to cutting holes in walls....

Its just an odds thing, the mouse is smart but eventually he will fall to the spring trap, make sure its along a wall and raise the number of traps. On the few occasions I've had mice, they never beat the trap for long.

And sticky traps, stay away unless you feel like peeling a mouse off glue, or frankly just dispatching it because you can't do it without breaking something.

Ranlin

DivideByZero wrote: »

Grab the tube from a roll of paper towels. Put some bait on the inside of one end. Balance the tube on a countertop so the bait is hanging out over a bucket or your trash can. Mouse goes in the countertop end, tips the tube into the bucket.

For as easy as it is, this works incredibly well.

Shogun

Caught a mouse this morning at 9AM. Don't think it was the mastermind however. The mouse caught in the trap looks to be a bit small to me compared with our tricksy friend. Maybe 1/2 or 2/3 the size. Gonna keep baiting and keep trying. Should I clean these traps between uses? Can they smell their dead brethren on them?

Mego Thor

Shogun wrote: »

Here is my problem. This mouse is smart. Checked my traps last night. He had stolen the peanut butter without setting the trap off. Then I was woken up in the middle of the night by an odd sound. Turns out he had popped the other trap with cheese, and was dragging the cheese while it is still on the trap across the floor and into my closet. What kind of mouse is this? Velociraptor mouse? I feel like this is slightly ridiculous.

Are you Lee Evans or Nathan Lane?

Shogun

Believe me I've seen the flick and this feels extremely similar. You should have seen me a week ago up at 3AM chasing that fucker all over my bedroom. I also posted the Ralph S Mouse pic because I'm not joking when I say I'm just waiting to see this mouse go tearing-ass down my hallway on a motorcycle.

Mego Thor

I have to agree with the previous poster who suggested catching him and breeding a race of super-mice. A mouse that smart deserves to live!

mts

Probably couldn't hurt to clean it off. Mice have very sensitive smell. When I do my mouse working make sure to limit the smell of death as it keeps them less stressed

El Mucho

BigBadWolf wrote: »

What about somesort of 'humane' mousetrap? Mouse goes in, door shuts, mouse is trapped.

You'd have to deal with disposing of it (or breeding a race of supermice), but he shouldn't be able to get at the bait without getting trapped.

This was my solution when I encountered a super mouse last fall. This mouse bested me for the better part of two weeks. At one point he even chewed through the top of one of those fancy spring loaded traps to get in at the food. I awoke to bits of plastic everywhere the food was gone and no mouse.

He avoided poison like he knew exactly what it was. The trap I used was a L-shaped humane trap were their weight tips it over and closes the door.

Hevach

As a cat lover, I'll say this: Don't try a cat unless you're just plain desperate. Even cats with a history of catching mice seem to have a 50/50 chance of just giving up when moved into a new home. My cat I got as a kitten, and he'll catch mice and play with them, but always released them unharmed once he gets bored, so I need to intervene myself and dispose of them. My wife's cat we got as an adult, who we know as a stray had been catching and killing everything in the neighborhood (I'm pretty sure she was filming a shot by shot remake of the Saw franchise behind our shed judging by all the squirrel and rabbit bits that she'd hoarded), but once in a warm home with food every day she stopped giving even a single shit about catching vermin and last winter we actually saw her staring at a mouse while it stole food from her bowl and disappeared under a radiator.

Darkewolfe

I have had luck the two times I've had a mouse by using glue traps. Granted, I've never had the mouse chew its own limb off to escape after only getting one foot stuck.

I DID have a bit of a challenge the first time I caught the mouse only half on the trap and had to decide which way to kill it as it repeatedly screamed at me from the trap. They're vermin, but you sure feel a lot worse about it when the thing is shrieking at you.

mts

rock to the head

Shogun

So far I'm a fan of these cheap-o basic traps. They are pretty effective and kill the mouse almost instantly. I have my two traps rebaited with the suggestion above of putting the peanut butter in a thin smear on the underside of the plastic trigger. Will report back with results.

mts

do you have the ones with the traditional metal trigger or the one with the fake plastic cheese ?

in my experience the fake plastic cheese ones are way more sensitive and will get mice the regular trigger won't

Shogun

mts wrote: »

do you have the ones with the traditional metal trigger or the one with the fake plastic cheese ?

in my experience the fake plastic cheese ones are way more sensitive and will get mice the regular trigger won't

plastic yellow cheese

Aioua

God, the packaging in that picture is amazing. KILLS MICE Just, bravo. Also NEW!
Trap so old it's probably in the very first Looney Tune and they've got the stones to put NEW! on it.
I love these guys.

bowen

They work though!

Siska

Hevach wrote: »

As a cat lover, I'll say this: Don't try a cat unless you're just plain desperate. Even cats with a history of catching mice seem to have a 50/50 chance of just giving up when moved into a new home. My cat I got as a kitten, and he'll catch mice and play with them, but always released them unharmed once he gets bored, so I need to intervene myself and dispose of them. My wife's cat we got as an adult, who we know as a stray had been catching and killing everything in the neighborhood (I'm pretty sure she was filming a shot by shot remake of the Saw franchise behind our shed judging by all the squirrel and rabbit bits that she'd hoarded), but once in a warm home with food every day she stopped giving even a single shit about catching vermin and last winter we actually saw her staring at a mouse while it stole food from her bowl and disappeared under a radiator.

Doh. My late kitty was excellent at hunting down mice (self taught indoor cat). From the moment I would first notice the trace of a mouse he would catch it within 48 hrs. Then play with it until it died from fright without a single mark on it. Sometimes it would escape, but he would find it again. Then he would lay there and guard it just in case it decided to move again, until it was taken away. I always told him he was a good kitty and give him a piece of food. Bit of a dog treatment but I didn't want him to feel like I was discouraging his hunting by removing his prize. He just had a strong chase anything that moves instinct. Toys or a mouse.