How to Catch Mice With a Mousetrap?

Mice are very smart and fast rodents. And although we admire their little tails and cute ears on YouTube or in cartoons, their presence in the house becomes a huge problem. These little rodents, unlike rats, live mostly in the house. With the approach of cold weather, they come to your house in search of warmth and food. Mice breed very quickly, and if you see only a couple of them, then in a month, they will fill the whole house. In this case, you need to act as efficiently and quickly as possible. I will help you organize the hunt.

Trap Types

Obviously, to get rid of an infestation of rodents, you first should choose the best mouse trap. For the most effectiveness, you can use both homemade traps and commercial ones. The first option can be made from a bucket, plastic bottle, or container. They work on a similar principle and take a couple of minutes to install. Commercial models are much more efficient and use different mechanisms to get rid of mice.

• The trap with a spring mechanism is a classic. Although there are many more modern models on the market, this option does not lose its popularity: it is cheap, effective, and easy to use;

• Electric traps allow you to quickly kill a mouse without unnecessary dirt and blood;

• Pallets with glue. A universal trap for everyone who decides to go into it: mice, rats, snakes, spiders, and so on;

• Cage traps and labyrinths. The good thing is that they allow you to decide whether to leave the animal alive or not. If you don’t want to use death traps, install the cage. The mouse will enter but not be able to get out, and then you can set it free in a remote wild place.

Please note that traps with similar mechanisms are also suitable for catching rats. But since mice are much smaller, the rat trap might not work. So if this is not a universal option like a maze, choose a trap for the rodent you want to get rid of.

Step-By-Step Installation of a Classic Mousetrap

You can find such a trap in any store and set it up in 1 minute. The oldest model that still effectively helps in the fight against rodents.

1. Release the arm bar from the bracket that secures it to the wood base;
2. Lay the armbar in the opposite direction (outside the base of the trap);
3. Place a small bait on the metal pedal in the center of the mousetrap. Use cutlery, wooden or plastic sticks for this;
4. Move the kill bar to the opposite side and hold it with your thumb;
5. There is a small hole on the metal pedal. Take the arm bar and hook its outermost curved part into this hole;
6. Quickly but gently remove your fingers from the kill bar;
7. Activate the trap by lightly pressing the kill bar.

How to Use Traps for Maximum Efficiency?

Regardless of how the trap works, almost all models require to bait and must be placed in the house correctly.

• Mice hide from people, so there is no point in placing a trap in the middle of the room. Pay attention to where you notice the litter most often. Place traps nearby these areas. Additionally, arrange them along the baseboards, behind refrigerators and cabinets, under furniture, and in the garage.

• Maintain silence while catching mice. If you set traps, but it is constantly loud in the house, the mice will feel the danger and will not be as willing to explore the territory. Accordingly, it may not reach the traps.

• Hide all the food in the house. Check all kitchen cabinets for cracks and holes that a mouse can fit through. Do not leave trash cans open. After eating, be sure to remove all leftover food from the table. This is necessary so that the mouse is hungry and cannot get food anywhere except in the trap.

• Unlike rats, mice do not like meat and sausage very much. Offer them cheese, grains, bread, seeds, cereals, or cookies as bait. These rodents build nests and look for materials for them, so they can also be interested in pieces of paper, cotton wool, or cloth.

• Use gloves when setting mousetraps. Mice have an excellent sense of smell and can avoid traps if they notice a human’s scent.

• Check your traps as often as possible for dead rodents. If the mouse’s body lies for a long time, other individuals will bypass the traps, as the corpses of their relatives scare them away.

• Combine methods of getting rid of mice. These little rodents breed incredibly fast, and you need to always be one step ahead. Perhaps some method in your case will be ineffective, and while you have caught only two, a huge offspring will be born in your house. Therefore, use different combinations and set traps not only in the house but also near it.

The main rule: harm the mice, not yourself

Be sure to read the mousetrap instructions and follow them. Be extremely careful when setting spring-loaded traps. If you have small children or pets in your home, ensure they can’t get to the traps and don’t use poison baits. Use gloves while handling the traps, and after you find a dead mouse and take it out of the house, wash the area thoroughly with disinfectants added to the water.

Mice bring many dangerous infections into your home and gnaw on walls, books, and furniture. And although they are a full-fledged part of the ecosystem, they are definitely not part of your home life. Use this advice, and mice will quickly leave your cozy home. What home traps have you tried making? Please share your experience in the comments!