I set up a mouse trap in the garage and have caught several mice successfully.
After several peaceful months, I found the trap tripped again and the peanut butter all gone, but there is no mouse to be found anywhere. How is this possible?
This is the trap I use:
Evolution: the mice are getting smarter with each generation.
Perce
The trap could have tripped after you set it due to vibration or a bump. Then, the mice cleaned it out. Just try again.
False trips are a part of having a hair trigger.
"james" wrote in news:hja4pg$to8$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
Mighty Mouse.
Think cat.
Eggsactly. Me, I just set out live traps and relocate them. They have a right to live like any of us, or else God wouldn't have put them here..
The mice you caught were Darwin award winners. Now you have a whole smarter generation to outsmart!
example:
Here is how:
use:
I've seen in the past it might take several try's to get a set trap 'operational'. 'Course a sprung trap, allowing the mice to clean it out will give them a false sense of security. Let 'em eat for a day or so and then set the trap.
It took once to learn to keep my fingers clear.
Glad to hear it ME TOO!
Dont keep food around your basement or garage!
I got into feeding birds and squirrels:) To save oney bought 50 pound sack of sunflower seeds.
Kept seeds in basement:( Was over run with mice, relocated 36 mice.
Checked and released trap at least twice a day.
Had a few deaths, onlt old grey aged mice
I have a lot of experience. I only put traps in my garage and shops, as I also have little dogs that run around, so I have to be careful. I use the same ones as you, but a Tin Cat by Victor is better.
But back to your question. One of two things. Either the mouse does not get caught, or bugs strip the peanut butter. I have seen some mice push the trap to get it to spring, then eat the pb. For them, I place the trap vertical with the food down. That will get them. I have also come back to find a sprung trap, nothing in it, and a large dead pack rat close by. Guess it hit them on the head, and they didn't stay in the trap. So look around, and you may have a dead larger rodent. And then sometimes they get caught but manage to wiggle out, sometimes leaving a leg or paw.
I live in a very very heavily populated rodent area. I have to deal with huge squirrels that raid my fruit trees. Then there's the chipmunks that get into just about everything, the gophers that make tunnels and large mounds of expensive spoils on the lawn, pack rats, and mice.
I have given up on the chipmunks. For the squirrels, I use a shotgun and a water trap with a trap door that works good. I use spring traps for the gophers underground. I have gotten pretty good at catching them, but I have to check them EVERY DAY. My grandsons love coming here to stay, because we make rounds and empty the traps. Then we take a large metal spoon and see how far we can fling them into the air into the canyon abutting my property as food for the coyotes and birds. I'm going to make some tall T's to put them on so I can draw in some of the large raptors in the area.
Let us know what you figure out, and again, look for dead carcasses from injured animals. They get skanky real quick unless you're in a cold place, and then they will come spring.
Steve
"Oren" wrote
Putting them vertical helps so the rodent has to reach up and really push on it, and they're in the right position for the bar to get them. I have screwed them on to wood, and used velcro. It helps to get the REALLY smart ones.
Steve
It is easy to lick all the peanut butter off without tripping the trap. But, try wiring on a peanut.
Never, ever have I kept food, seeds, anything edible (insulation doesn't count!) in my basement or my detached garage. The little vermin overrun both anyway, since those are the only two places the cats don't go since neither are accessible from inside the house. I have no problem with live and let live, but that stops at the foundation of my house. You come in uninvited, you get what you get.
I think not. Feeding a few mice is cheaper. And why do you post this every single time a mouse thread comes up? And please don't tell us about that distillery cat again.
-- aem sends...
Birds starved after that sack a seeds?
Q: The bait is being eaten off the snap trap but the rodent is not being caught.
A: Try to use the least amount of bait possible in any style mouse trap used. The more bait you use, the easier it is for rodents to remove it without disturbing the traps. The goal is to have them apply extra force to the trigger pedal with their nose/tongue to remove the bait. To do this press a small amount of bait into the bait pedal.
Additionally, by using nesting materials like a string, mice will need to tug on the material to free it from the trap.
Be sure to position the snap trap so that the baited end of each trap is placed perpendicular to the wall. Rodents generally travel with their bodies against a wall for protection. It may be necessary to bait a rat trap without setting the trap and allow the bait to be eaten a couple of times. Then set the trap with more bait. Rats tend to shy away from new objects so this method gets them accustomed to the trap. Mice are more inquisitive than rats, so pre-baiting is less likely to be needed.
Maybe just sneakier.
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