Originally Posted by demarpaint
A little late for you but it might help someone else. I had a similar problem, not as bad, and made a mouse trap from a 5 gallon wallpaper paste bucket. It worked better than glue strips, humane traps, and snap traps, all baited with peanut butter. I took a small plastic peanut bottle and drilled a hole dead center in the top and bottom, then drilled two holes about 4" down from the rim of the bucket. I used a welding rod to suspend the bottle, and cut a slot for a ramp which was set about 2" away from the peanut bottle and above it by about an inch. Basically the mouse has to jump for it. The thing spins like it has ball bearings. I baited it with peanut butter. It will catch several mice. You can put a few inches of water in it, anti-freeze if you can't tend to the trap every day and are concerned with the water freezing,. Or leave it w/o water and release them if you choose. A 5 gallon joint compound bucket will work, the paste buckets I have are a little deeper, so water is not needed. From what I've been told antifreeze is a quicker kill than water, and they won't decompose and stink as quickly.
You put it against a wall, with the ramp alongside the wall, they run along the corners formed where the walls meet the floor. If the garage is empty you can put it against the wall with two ramps.
I stole the idea years ago when the dead end I live on had a rat problem because the village cheaped out and didn't use rat poison in the creek. The village used a 55 gallon drum with water with the same design and caught quite a few stragglers after they put out poison.
It took all of about 10 minutes to build, including digging out some tools for drilling and cutting.
Very nice. I use the bucket without the wheel. its pretty effective. But i think the wheel will make it even better. Thanks for the tip!