A Better Mousetrap?

February 13, 2009 7:13 PM

I live in a communal dorm in an urban city, and have a bit of a mouse problem. Standard hall procedure is to put in a request for an exterminator to place poison and glue traps. I'm looking for an alternative to these that will allow me to safely, ethically, and humanely dispose of the mice.

I consider the glue traps used to be inhumane regarding the pain and stress that it places the mouse under, as well as the resulting starvation. As well, I question the effectiveness of poison in this situation. Snap traps would not work in my room, and no-kill traps would cause a problem for me to release the mouse.

Given this, I've been researching alternative pest control measures to solve this problem. From what I've read online (as well as on this site), the effectiveness of ultrasonic devices is questionable. It seems as if the electronic traps that "zap" the mouse may be the closest, however, I don't know if this type of device will achieve what I'm looking for. What has your experience been with the electronic-type device, or do you have a different recommendation to approach this problem?

posted by kensch to home & garden (14 comments total)

why won't snap traps work? change the bait and/or make sure the traps are sensitive enough.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 7:16 PM on February 13

Hi. I asked this question. I have the zapper. It is fantastic. I don't know how guilty you would feel when it works, but I know the times I have caught mice in it and I've been around, the zap itself is surprising and I've heard a mouse death scream.

I got a UV flashlight and turned out the lights and (thanks to eritain's comment) I found the source hole thanks to the mice/mice pee footprint trail. I plugged steel wool into the hole. My landlord puttied up the hole. I caught the two mice that were already living in my cupboards with the zapper and Ritz Crackers and peanut butter. And my boyfriend cleaned up the cupboard and every kitchen surface. Haven't had a problem since.

On the humane aspect:
In my question, I agree with pseudostrabismus about poison. Plus a bunch of dead things in another part of the building wouldn't be healthy.
You already have your reasons for no glue traps.
There is still a chance of the mouse surviving in a snap trap. Also, there's a big chance of it not working at all.
posted by spec80 at 7:28 PM on February 13

Whatever you do, do something effective, and soon. During college I had friends living at a Zen monastery who didn't want to kill the little mouse that was occasionally seen in their kitchen, because they didn't want to harm any sentient beings. A few months later, they had to pay someone to harm lots and lots of sentient beings because, as you might expect, that one mouse turned into dozens. Even the most humane intentions can go awry if you're not careful.
posted by vytae at 8:03 PM on February 13 [1 favorite]

Zap them. It is great. Mice are small enough that they're easy for the zapper to kill...unlike rats.
posted by crinklebat at 8:46 PM on February 13

Nothing about killing them is humane. Do what works. You don't want to prolong an infestation. Have fresh batteries in the zapper otherwise you just end up with a really badly shocked mouse that is not dead but no longer able to do much of anything. Tin cats can work (look em up on google) but someone will need to empty them.

Figure out what they are coming in for (food, water or nesting) and eliminate the lure.

Good luck.
posted by zerobyproxy at 9:15 PM on February 13

Why would releasing the mouse be a problem? Take it to a park and leave it somewhere, wouldn't that work?
posted by big open mouth at 11:18 PM on February 13

I zapped about one mouse an hour so long as I was willing to keep replacing the bait.
posted by Pants! at 3:40 AM on February 14

You don't have to kill them :-)
posted by aheckler at 5:03 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

That zapper sounds less humane than the good old snap traps. When I've used the snap traps, I've never heard any mouse noise because the metal bar crushes their skull or neck and they die immediately.

When I lived in a dorm in college, they too put out the glue traps. They're horrible. I ended up buying the snap traps and taking care of the mouse problem myself. I caught 27 or 28 one semester. After seeing one sitting on my pillow in the middle of the afternoon, the war was on.

At my office, we also get mice from year to year. Our first pest control company used the glue traps. They didn't catch anything and the problem got worse. We brought in the wood traps and have not had a mouse in over a year.
posted by onhazier at 6:28 AM on February 14

this may be surprising, but you know that old cartoon trap with the upside-down box? it works.

i used a breadpan with a pencil as a support (pointy end up). attach a wire to the pencil so that it extends into the area under the pan about 2" off the floor. put food on the end of the wire. the mice will pull down on the food, pulling the pencil in and dropping the pan.

one mouse died when the pan fell on his midsection, but the others survived and i trucked them out to the bush (where they probably got slaughtered by owls anyway).

never had problems again.
posted by klanawa at 8:22 AM on February 14

Wire Fox Terrier.
posted by notyou at 9:03 AM on February 14

I've used the humane mouse trap and it works like a charm. When you bait and catch the little guys you just go to a field and let them go. Here's the link
posted by watercarrier at 9:28 AM on February 14

Put cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil all around your room. Every time you clean anything in your room, use Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap (made with peppermint oil). If you can handle the fact that your room will smell like an Altoids box, the scent should deter the mice. It will not, however, remove them from the building. It will make your room the least appealing in the building.

This is what we do in our apartment, and as long as we also keep the apartment generally clean, the mice will stick to pestering the other 15 tenants in the building.
posted by cheerwine at 1:35 PM on February 14

Thank you all for your help! I will try out these different solutions.
posted by kensch at 2:43 PM on February 26