Mouse springs trap... and escapes

[ARW]

So what do you do if you manage to trap a mouse with a bat on it's back:-)?

[Nightjar]

So, what is the difference between humanely dispatched and humanely killed?

In any case, I was only making the point that the trap makers have to include text along those lines in order to comply with legislation. In practice, most people who want to kill the mice will use break-back traps.

[Richard]

No. You said that the trapper needs to see to their welfare *even if* the intention is to kill later. I am left wondering just what the welfare needs of a mouse are. If they are any similar to the needs of human vermin, then that's going to hit the bank balance severely. In the end, whatever you personally feel about the mouse, it's expected to be dead.

[Nightjar]

That is what the Animal Welfare Act requires, which is why I think the trap makers include the instruction to check the traps regularly.

They must not suffer cruelty, which could be taken to include being left in the traps for excessively long periods.

[Lobster]

On 23 Sep 2014, Lobster grunted:

Hehe - success! On the video capture front, if not mouse...

The webcam worked perfectly - see results here: It seems that the little bugger is able to stand with its back legs on the 'ground', which is where it keeps its weight as it reaches up the slope to grab the bait. I agree that the obvious next step is to use a gooey bait smeared on the cap, to encourage mousey up the slope. Am not convinced that its tail still won't jam the door, as it's certainly not as small as I'd been led to believe, but we'll see!

Anyway, at least the video provided a giggle for the family...

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Lobster writes

I think that is a Wood mouse. Moving out of the hedgerows into winter quarters:-)

>

[Nightjar]

It is unlikely to be the only one you have, so there may well be a variation in sizes. It looks like the field mice I caught, which were a lot smaller than the house mice - I wasn't sure they weren't small rats until I caught them and could get a closer look.

and us.

[tony sayer]

In article , Nightjar

[Dave Liquorice]

Wood mice and brown house mice grey ... and yes it is getting to that time of year again. Will have to set the traps in the loft and turn the baby monitor on.

[Richard]

OK, I'll bite... baby monitor, why?

[Nightjar]

To hear the traps snap shut I imagine.

[Richard]

What, sit there waiting for the event?

[Dave Liquorice]

Is the right answer. Though as we use the tipping box live capture traps it's more of a c-click followed by scrable/rattle. Once caught they are put ina mouse cage with bedding and a bit of food 'till next morning when they are deported up onto the fells several miles from any human habitation.

We used to let them go down the bottom of the paddock, couple of hundred yards from the house. One mouse looks much like another, until one has a nick out of an ear. We twigged that they where probably getting back to the house before us after we caught said mouse with nicked ear three nights on the trot!

[Richard]

Oh. I was thinking more along the lines of - Snap! Brokeback mousey - silence.

[spuorgelgoog]

What *do* you think they're getting up to?

Owain

[Bill]

Here is a link to a video of one I made last year. A mouse carrier box with a hinged lid, attached to the lid was a piece of cotton that was in turn attached to a piece of card in the box. Mouse stands on card and pulls the lid down There was some food in the box and he climbed in to eat it and then was caught.

My thoughts for this year are to have it solenoid operated, so that as soon as I view the mouse enter I can trap it.

The best score was something around 6 in one evening.

I live next to fields and have lots of mouse sized holes around the house, so they are almost inevitable.