Can you help me lay these mousetraps?

February 17, 2019 2:50 PM

To deal with mice in my kitchen I am using traditional wooden snap traps (expensive plastic ones have been ineffective). I have caught a few mice that way. But very often the traps are either (i) so sensitive that I can hardly set them and they go off on their own; or (ii) so insensitive once I have set them that a mouse comes and eats the bait and the trap doesn't go off. The brand is Little Nipper. This may be hard to explain, but perhaps you have some ideas about what I am doing wrong?
posted by EtTuHealy to Home & Garden (17 answers total)

I use the old wooden ones or the plastic ones that you squeeze like a clothes pin to set. I think the trick is to use the tiniest little bit of peanut butter so the mouse really has to get in there and work at it to get anything. Like a smear the size of a small sesame seed
posted by BoscosMom at 3:04 PM on February 17, 2019

No suggestions here, other than that I have always used the Victor brand wooden traps, with no such trouble and to great effect.
posted by STFUDonnie at 3:27 PM on February 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

The wooden ones are so cheaply made that on occasion they can't be set correctly. That said, I usually put some peanut butter on the catch, move it into place, then set it. Choose your trap placement carefully, if they can get to the bait from the side they will just eat it. Make them walk over the snap part to get to the bait has worked for me, by placing kitchen items as barriers to the sides of the trap.

The fancy plastic traps haven't worked for me, but plastic snap traps have worked for me, being made slightly better than the wooden ones.
posted by TheAdamist at 3:39 PM on February 17, 2019

I dunno about brands but for the snap traps I've used, you actually set the sensitivity yourself. You know the dingus you stick into the other dingus?* To stop the bar from whacking yer fingers? If you stick it on one side it's more sensitive than the other.

*I have it on good authority that this is what she said.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:41 PM on February 17, 2019 [4 favorites]

Seconding the recommendation to use less bait. Sometimes the weight of the bait itself is enough to set off a sensitive trap if there's too much on the plate and the trap gets vibrated by footsteps and whatnot.

Sometimes an insensitive trap release can be improved by carefully touching up the end of the retaining wire that hooks into the back of the bait plate with a small file. Those ends sometimes have a tiny little burr left behind by the machine that cut them off, which can be enough to hook the edge of the hole in the bait plate.

Also worth experimenting with small adjustments to the way that retaining wire is bent. As TheAdamist implies, these cheap traps are more art than science and you can't safely assume them to have been set up optimally by the manufacturer.
posted by flabdablet at 3:44 PM on February 17, 2019

I literally have been dealing with this this week. My local mice were smart enough to carefully lick off peanut butter, but they were fooled by a piece of dried apricot tied to the release with a short length of butcher’s string. My theory was that they’d want to pick it up to carry it to a safer spot. Similar tough-but-tasty foods might work, that’s just what I had to hand. I also tested all the ones that came in the bag with kitchen tongs to find the one that was sensitive but not too much, because they are a bit variable.
posted by tchemgrrl at 3:54 PM on February 17, 2019

I had a little infestation last year, and had good results with the old-school traps - MOST of the time. Be aware that you may end up with a trapped, injured, nowhere near dead, mouse, that you really ought now to kill quickly to end its suffering that your trap caused. I had this happen once, and it was kind of horrible. If you don't think you can do this, then maybe look into other solutions.

Over-baiting is, I learned, a rookie error. I used small amounts of chocolate.

Choose your trap placement carefully, if they can get to the bait from the side they will just eat it.
Put them along baseboards where they like to travel, perpendicular to the wall, with the bait end next to the wall.

Mouse trap Youtube is a thing; you can get lots of pointers there, and probably demos of trap setting.
posted by thelonius at 3:55 PM on February 17, 2019

use peanut butter, wrap it with some thread, teeth catch on thread, try it
posted by patnok at 4:22 PM on February 17, 2019

Traditional wooden snap traps are just really hard to use. Problems like this are pretty much inevitable. Try a different type of plastic trap. I have Revenge EZ-Set traps. They could not be easier to set and they seem quite effective. Much less likely to go off on their own or fail to go off than traditional wooden traps.
posted by Redstart at 4:35 PM on February 17, 2019

I haven't had mice, but nice crispy apple impaled on the bait holder on a wooden trap works great for rats.
On the "not dead yet" rodents, grab a plastic grocery bag, drop varmit and trap into bag. Go outside, start car, hold bag over tailpipe.
posted by rudd135 at 4:48 PM on February 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

tough-but-tasty foods

I use melted mozzarella cheese and wind a few strings of it all the way around the bait plate. It sets to a rubbery consistency when cool and becomes quite resistant to being pulled off whole.
posted by flabdablet at 5:10 PM on February 17, 2019

I've only dealt with 2 mice, using the cheap and traditional wooden traps. I used pliers to adjust the sensitivity, and after peanut butter was licked clean each time I tried it, I switched to a small corner of a sturdy cracker. That got the first mouse, and the second time I went straight to the wheat thin and that worked again.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:20 PM on February 17, 2019

I buy the tomcat plastic traps from home depot for mice and ground squirrels. Super easy to set and always get their game. Pro tip, don't fill up the little cup thing. I take a Q-tip and spread a little bacon grease on the bottom of the little cup thing and it works every time. The smell brings them in, and if there's nothing for them to reach for they have to come into the trap for a closer inspection.
posted by sanka at 5:36 PM on February 17, 2019

I've had decent success with Victor PowerKills with half a peanut firmly wedged into the bait trough.
posted by zamboni at 6:16 PM on February 17, 2019

I found the Victor wooden traps to be hard to set (felt like I had to have it right in place, which made it hard for under the fridge), but also entirely effective. I have a giant plastic “enter the chamber” type model that had done nothing.
posted by hijinx at 7:19 PM on February 17, 2019

I live in the woods in a 70 year old house. I trap dozens of mice every summer and fall. I use these plastic bait trigger Victor mouse traps (actually orkin branded traps that look exactly like these). They are easy to set and even move around while set without triggering but apparently are much more sensitive to mice than the metal trigger style in that I have half a dozen of each style spread around with peanut butter as bait and 95% percent of mice are caught with the plastic trigger traps.
posted by Mitheral at 7:29 PM on February 17, 2019

We used the plastic jaw traps, TomCat Gel Bait (harder to grab and run away with, wouldn't dry up in a couple days), and we set the traps and put them in plastic trays similar to black meal-prep/takeout containers. That meant we could bait and arm the trap, set it in the container, and then put the container down on the ground. That seemed to make even the touchier traps easier to set down without them going off. It also helped protect the floor etc from any...unpleasantness...that might happen in the snapping process.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:43 PM on February 17, 2019