Mouse trap bait

Bought a house built in the 1820's. It's not what I would call rodent proof. Cat has taken care of a few already, but we keep some parts of the house closed off to save on heat so he doesn't have access to the beasties.

Last night I found a hole behind the couch in my man loft. It's war. I don't want to use poison since el gato might get a piece, so I'm using old-fashioned Victor traps placed perpendicular to the wall. Right now I'm just herding the mice toward the traps with a plank, but I'll likely want to bait these things for maximum effectiveness.

What do you use?

Sticky traps. Piss on those bastards.

They are animals, so their tastes will vary. Things that tend to work well in mouse traps are peanut butter, katsup, corn, gumdrops, suet. They need to move the trap pan, so don't just put a big glop of peanut butter on that they just lick. You want them to pull or push a bit. For the corn or seeds, mix it into a bit of peanut butter and push it into the trigger pan.

Peanut butter, or the cartoon favorite cheese. Stuff it under the little bait retaining tab so they won't take it without setting off the trap

PB

My dad always used peanut butter. They could possibly nab a hunk of what we Americans call cheese and run. Peanut Butter means they have to stay on the trap.

Another for Peanut Butter. It gets the Squirrels, too.

I have one of the little buggers in my kitchen. Nothing grosser than opening the stove drawer and finding the pans filled with mouse poop. I'd rather live-trap and release - is there such a thing for such tiny animals?

Peanut butter works for me. Make sure to set the traps so the catch is just holding with a hair trigger, if it isn't right on the edge of snapping they can lick the peanut butter off without tripping it.

Lesley wrote: I'd rather live-trap and release - is there such a thing for such tiny animals?

They do make live traps for mice, here's one:

There is, but unless you release it far away it will come back, and released that far away it won't last long unless it finds someone else to move in with.

You need a bucket, a piece of all-thread with nuts and washers, a small piece of PVC pipe, a ramp board and some water. Bait with peanut butter.

Crap. Wonder if I can put up with it until the warm weather.

Not going to get into the type of trap discussion, board regulars might remember what happened the last time that subject came up. But dog food pellets work very well.

The funny thing was the last time I had that problem we had both a dog and a cat, we kept the food out in the garage. They'd get into the dog food bag but ignore the cat food.

Buy a mouse eating snake, then buy a mongoose when the mice are gone, then maybe a Falcon to eat the mongoose

This one steals cat food. I find it in the damndest places.

Another vote for peanut butter. Works well as it is tacky and sticks to the trigger on the trap.

I had to use sticky traps to get the last one we had at work. He wouldn't touch anything we put on a regular trap. One night with a sticky trap caught him.

My dad uses cheese spread. Apparently the mice love the port wine flavor.

Peanut butter.

If you toast it a little with a lighter or torch, the buggers will come out and get in the trap before you leave the room.

On, chocolate syrup, pieces of slim Jim, I've heard a chewed up tootsie roll molded around the trigger works well on YouTube. But also whatever they have been eating, if you know they like dog or cat food, put some of that on there. Also heard drier lint or cotton balls tied to the trigger with floss or thread so they will try to take it for nesting material

5 gallon bucket water trap, baited with peanut butter.

I left a little jewelry in a bowl in the middle

Wrap a little string around the trigger, tie it off and trim. Then rub a little bit of cheese, peanut butter, or whatever into the string. That makes it where they can't steal a hunk of food without triggering the trap, and you don't feed the second varmint to come along.

In addition to the widely-accepted peanut-butter, if you're using and old-fashioned metal trap, try melting a small chunk of chocolate onto the trigger. Once cool, they're not going to be able to steal it, and they seem to really love it...

I mix a little birdseed in with the peanut butter. I also do a trigger job on the mouse traps.

That being said, I haven't seen a mouse in my garage since I started using these things: