Mouse trap baiting

[supton]

I get about 50% take rate with peanut butter on the traps in my attic. I make sure to not put too much in it, and try to work it into the crevices, that way they spend more time and are more likely to get taken.

Traps are cheap—set up twice as many as you think you need. They do get a bit grimy after a few catches, I might toss the worst looking ones this year… maybe, the mice will eat each other, so it’s not like the trap has to be pristine…

 

[wwillson]

After we had collected +70 corpses, we took the box of evidence to his office.

Did you hide it in the bottom file cabinet drawer?

 

[Rmay635703]

The electric traps seem to work even on squirrels, getting them to go in is another matter, had to move my live traps because I kept catching rabbits,

If I liked grilled hasenpfeffer I would be golden

 

[paulo57509]

Did you hide it in the bottom file cabinet drawer?

No. Threw the box on his desk while he was sitting there.

 

[AmBeRnEcTaR]

These are great traps. I live in the country, so "wildlife" is always trying to get into the old farmhouse. I've never seen the bait stolen from these without a fatality. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Victor-2...VTdpEl7NI1DxtmN5pCUaAmFHEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

For bait, i use powdered peanut butter like this. It doesn't seem to go bad or clot up. https://www.amazon.com/PBfit-All-Na...t+butter+powder+pb+fit&qid=1677441808&sr=8-12

PBfit the best stuff ever:)
Goes in my shakes,over cereal.
Love it!!

 

[MrGraybeard]

PBfit the best stuff ever:)
Goes in my shakes,over cereal.
Love it!!

Mice love it too!

 

[SuperSalad]

If I need to bait a mousetrap, I halve an almond and then jam the half into the trigger so it can't just be slid off but needs a little pull to get it out. It's worked pretty good and then I don't have the peanut butter glob.

 

[svtrit]

I’ve had really good luck with PB, but finally started using poison traps. I’ve had a couple spring traps cause undue suffering and I decided poison was more humane. If they are caught in a way that doesn’t kill them, I’ve seen them drag the trap in circles trying to get out, or get bones broken that leaves them laying there panting until I find them.

I’m not against killing, but don’t promote causing suffering in the process.

Plus I don’t have to hear a mouse scream before I bash it’s head in against the foundation any more.

 

[kschachn]

Lots of mice come into my garage. If I bait with peanut butter they lick it off. They often do the same thing with cheese. If found that if I tie a string arount the trip lever and soak it in bacon grease the trap never fails.

I think something changed with the traps. We live on 20+ acres of wetland/woods and we have mice. I always used the regular Victor traps but about three years ago they became much harder to trigger. My wife was actually bouncing a knife edge on one to try and get it to snap, it took waaay too much force. I also remember them being harder to set in that the mechanism was much closer to the verge of releasing than it is today. I set them on the first try now and like you I find many with the bait eaten but the trap still set.

Like many I will not use something as inhumane as a glue trap, and with poison we have them dying in the walls and attic.

 

[supton]

I’ve had really good luck with PB, but finally started using poison traps. I’ve had a couple spring traps cause undue suffering and I decided poison was more humane. If they are caught in a way that doesn’t kill them, I’ve seen them drag the trap in circles trying to get out, or get bones broken that leaves them laying there panting until I find them.

I'm not a fan of poisoning, unless if it was quick, like within minutes. Otherwise it might spread the poison to the other wildlife that I might be ok with existing (assuming it's not trying to live in my attic).

Surprisingly I haven't had much issue like you mention--but then again, it's what, 10 inches of insulation in the attic? it's real quiet, I rarely if ever hear the trap snap down. What I can't hear... doesn't bother me? I feel kinda bad for the mice, they're just trying to get by, but I also know, if they chew on the wiring in the attic, I could be in for a lot of trouble.

 

[PoorMans180SX]

I use both the bucket trap and the smaller ones with a reservoir. I've had great luck with a small piece of ground beef in the reservoir, and peanut butter in the bucket trap. I've caught 12 mice in the bucket trap in two weeks or so.

 

[ironman_gq]

bait the underside of the trip pedal, push it up through the holes in the pedal. They can't lick it all off without really getting in there, kraft singles works great applied the same way.

 

[GON]

Two supplemental comments. (1) peanut butter on a glue RAT trip with the peanut butter in the center gets them every time. No licking issue- but I always use crunchy peanut butter. (2) away from the garage, place poison bait traps, and a lot of them- maybe 50 meters away circle, over time this will take out the population before they get close to the garage. Amazon has the bait stations that prevent most other animals from getting to the bait.

Poison bait in the garage is not usually a good call, and the mice will die in the walls, etc- and smell really bad for many years. And they continue to go the bathroom (I know the poison dehydrates the mice) until they die, another issue. Nothing beats a rat glue trap with a dollop of crunchy peanut butter in the center.

It takes time and money to rid a place of mice, but must be done aggressively, systemically, and daily- until eradicated.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

In rare occasions, I've had a herd of ants clean off peanut butter traps over night.

I have that exact problem. I've been trying to trap rats in the yard for the last few years, and mice under the house since last summer.

On the outdoor rat traps, I have used peanut butter, cheese, and bits of meat. The ants clean it all out in a day, if not overnight.

I started using peanut butter on mouse traps in the crawl space, and caught a few. Often, the traps would be empty but still set, so I thought mice were eating the bait without setting off the trap. But the crawlspace is full of crickets, and sometimes I'll see one on the bait when I check the trap. I started cramming a peanut half or walnut into the mousetrap trigger, since it takes longer for the crickets to eat a nut than peanut butter.

I've done OK with the mice. Traditional rat traps were catching chipmunks and birds, but no rats. I finally got a couple rats with the black plastic Tomcat jaws-type trap. It has a bait cup that screws in from the bottom. Of course, the first time I used it, something set the trap off and then chewed the bait cup out from the bottom. I started using a toothpick to wipe a little peanut butter on the bottom of the trigger paddle, and caught two that way.

Sometimes I wonder if a flamethrower might be the answer.

 

[RedSpider]

I think something changed with the traps. We live on 20+ acres of wetland/woods and we have mice. I always used the regular Victor traps but about three years ago they became much harder to trigger. My wife was actually bouncing a knife edge on one to try and get it to snap, it took waaay too much force. I also remember them being harder to set in that the mechanism was much closer to the verge of releasing than it is today. I set them on the first try now and like you I find many with the bait eaten but the trap still set.

Like many I will not use something as inhumane as a glue trap, and with poison we have them dying in the walls and attic.

The traditional dime a dozen Victor traps are definitely harder to trigger than they used to be. I have found that they need to be tweaked a bit to make them a bit more trigger happy... on the metal tab where the bait goes, use some needle nose pliers to make the ident a little more shallow, so that the wire arm pulls out of it easier. I have gotten them to the point where they will many times snap shut just from very gently placing them on the ground, and it takes 2-3 times to get it in place without snapping. Once I started doing this the success rate went way up. I also put peanut butter all over, on top of the bait tab, under it, on the spring, a little on the wire arm, and on the wood itself under the metal tab.

We have 18 acres of woods, creeks, and a pond with a 130 year old farmhouse so I'm constantly fighting mice and chipmunks. I had only caught one since the first of the year but last week all four of the traps in the dungeon I had just checked a couple days before that were untouched now had deceased visitors so I guess with the warmer weather they are getting active. The summer battle begins...

 

[zzyzzx]

There are tons of mousetrap videos where they catch a lot of mice.