Mice - how many ?

Have got mice.

Killed two in traps (the sprung "splat" variety) baited with a large pile of poison:

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we have a third - it just eats all the poison - and the trap does not go off ! It's really strange - done that four times now, so I guess it's very sick..

The traps (I have four) just do not seem to be sensitive enough...though they worked on two.

How many mice should I expect in a "nest" ????

Thanks

Reply to
phil
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Normally quite a few. You probably got the parent and the offspring are much smaller so not setting off the trap. You'll have to feed them up until they do.

Reply to
Fred

snipped-for-privacy@philandlaura.com said the following on 30/01/2006 09:44:

Firstly, you don't need to put poison in springy mouse traps - peanut butter or Branston pickle is much cheaper and safer ;-)

Secondly, where are you putting the bait? Modern designs of trap (such as the Victor) allow you to put the bait above the trigger, so that the mouse will step on the trigger to reach the bait. This truly draws the mouse into the trap rather than allowing the mouse to nibble at the edges of the bait.

Thirdly, where are you putting the traps? Mice like cover and shun open spaces, so you should put the traps up against the wall, so that the mice would have to go "through" them or "around" them. Hopefully, the mouse will choose to go through as this keeps it closer to the wall.

As to how many mice in a nest, well that depends on how long they've been there and what sources/quantities of food are available. It's impossible to be any more specific.

Reply to
Rumble

No need for expensive poison - just good bait. I have used rasins or prunes in the past.

You need to TIE the bait to the release arm with a bit of wire, if you don't, they can nibble it away without springing it, so use tiable bait, not a paste.

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

I removed an old back boiler from the fireplace and found a nest in the outer chimney wall - at first I thought there was only one mouse, how wrong I was...

Anyway, I got a trap - just one mind you, and spent about 4 quid on it, a posh plastic affair, and used chocolate as bait. The little bug**rs kept taking the chocolate from the trap without setting it off, that trap never caught a single one! I bought some cheapo 50p wooden traps and arranged obstacles in front of the fireplace so that they'd have to pass over the trap to get out, this got them every time. I used chocolate as bait the first couple of times, but then had no more (it got eaten!), so I just set the trap without bait. This caught another two of them within 24 hours. We had four in total, touch wood we haven't seen any more for the last month or so. The way to go seems to be to force them to take a specific route. Don't use poison as they'll just go off to die somewhere inaccessible, and then stink out the house for months to come.

Phil

Reply to
funroll

Reading up on it, after I spotted a mouse happily running around the living room, it seems the official advice is prevent access as you can't fight the buggers, they breed too quickly.

To that end I fixed fine stainless steel mesh to all my low level air bricks and haven't seen any, or any evidence, of 'em since. Remember, if you can poke a pencil into something that's big enough for them to get through. They can compress their skeletons down to amazingly small proportions without ill effect.

Regards

Mark

Reply to
Mark A

A mouse will just crouch there, licking away at the chocolate. Eventually one *might* try to lift the lump off, and spring the trap, but it doesn't seem to happen often.

A nice oily roasted peanut seems to attract mice quite well.

Reply to
Tony Williams

I used to us a bit of bread smeared with sunflower spread and dipped in sugar as bait for a spring trap. Now I use a humane no-kill trap baited with a blob of peanut butter. Usually works within a few hours.

Henry

Reply to
Henry

Living with them as regular visitors to the house we have largely given up trying to stop them getting in, as you say they can get in amazingly small gaps. They seem to be largely winter visitors here coming in off the fields when it gets too cold for them.

I normally find them to be of little nuiscance apart from the time when they proceeded to gnaw the tops off a cupboard full of Tupperware when we were away. That did push my patience a little.

Reply to
Tony Hogarty

At least two, probably more. Also a word on Traps. The so called 'Humane' traps are the least humane things ever. Unless you can guarantee to check them every 2-3 hours any mouse caught in one will die in a horrible way. I had one and found the mouse the next morning stone dead, drenched in sweat and urine. Never again. A good clean kill with an old-fashioned spring trap is the best.

R.

Reply to
Richard A Downing

In what way is the use of these traps humane? I assume you trap them alive then release them outside your house alive

Reply to
soup

It's what I use/used and the mice have always been perfectly happy the following morning to be released. 'Course I made the initial mistake of releasing them in the back garden, then across the road, and eventually across the other side of the green I live on. Talking to professional exterminator he reckoned if you're going to release them make it at least half a mile as they will have found their way back to your house in under five minutes. I compromised by releasing them somewhere far enough away and hopefully more attractive. Not sure my neighbours liked that plan though. Thankfully I haven't had to do it in over a year.

Regards

Mark

Reply to
Mark A

It provides a sustainable, green source of cat toys.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

Indeed of the mice which are brought in by my cats those that are not too mashed up get caught in the humane trap and get a second chance to be cat prey once again. :-)

Henry

Reply to
Henry

Don't use poison, or chocolate.

Depending on your location, you could be feeding every mouse in a 50m radius, so potentially dozens.

Reply to
Nigel Molesworth

Yes we have one and I think I've only had one 'fatality' (when admittedly I unfortunately forgot I'd set the trap), versus half a dozen extremely perky live ones (released on the other side of town).

David

Reply to
Lobster

Where they become food for the local predators after all these are mice that have been born or adapted to life in the enviroment of inside a house not "out in the wild". What is more humane being killed quickly or being eaten, possibly still "kicking and screaming"?

Reply to
soup

|Mark A wrote: |> Richard A Downing wrote: |> |>>At least two, probably more. Also a word on Traps. The so called |>>'Humane' traps are the least humane things ever. Unless you can |>>guarantee to check them every 2-3 hours any mouse caught in one will |>>die in a horrible way. |> |> It's what I use/used and the mice have always been perfectly happy the |> following morning to be released. | |Yes we have one and I think I've only had one 'fatality' (when |admittedly I unfortunately forgot I'd set the trap), versus half a dozen |extremely perky live ones (released on the other side of town).

Where they either went into someone else's house, or got killed by the local cats. Not a good idea :-(

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

I used a small bit of twix with a normal cheapo spring trap. you can stick it down by the toffee side so it stays in place. true they cna lick the chocolate off but they then have to be bit more active to get at the biscuit and this sets them off. worked every time for me, once within 20 minutes of setting it in the loft.

Nigel Molesworth wrote:

Reply to
kev208

And what do you do with the living mice you trap?

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

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