Mice Traps

If you’re scared of mice or similar rodents such as rats or voles, you’ll want to read this article. It discusses mice traps and all the different varieties, hopefully arming you wish enough information to get rid of the pests for good!

Although there are hundreds of variants, mice traps can be split into two main groups, humane and non-humane. Put simply, these are mice traps that either kill (non-humane) or capture the mice (humane) so they can be released at a later date. There are lots of advantages of each which will discuss in more detail.

Humane Mice traps
Types of humane traps

The most common form of humane mice trap is known as a ‘Trap-Ease’. These are small, square plastic box tubes that are angled to act as a counterbalance. Bait is put in the end that is raised of the floor, and when the mice walk into it their weight causes the end to fall to the ground and the other end to shut closed. The mouse is then trapped. It’s wise to put the trap against a wall so it can’t spin round or be played with by the mice before they are in it. In our experiments we found that peanut butter was the best bait for trapping the mice.

Advantages of a humane mice trap

The most obvious is that it keeps the mouse alive. Some people believe that you should protect the lives of other animals, so will catch the mice and then let them out in a field which is far away from their house. This way their home is free of mice but the live is still alive and well.

Some non-humane traps have a tendency to splatter the remains of the trapped mice all over the floor. This makes cleaning up after it difficult and is not ideal for the squeamish. With a humane mice trap, the animal is not harmed so disposing of it is very simple.

Most humane mice traps such as the ‘Trap-Ease’ have the bait concealed inside them so that the bait is only accessible to the mice. This is particularly important if you have cats and dogs in your home, to which some of the baits may be poisonous (e.g. chocolate for dogs). This feature is particularly useful if you have younger children who could get their fingers broken by a non-humane trap.

Disadvantages of humane mice traps

Humane traps require the mouse to enter into a tunnel which is completely alien to them, so it might take them a while to get used to the new object if it is suddenly placed in a room. This means that humane mice traps do not tend to have the instant results of non-humane, as they require a bedding in period.

The only other main disadvantage is more to do with user error than the traps themselves. When releasing the caught mice into the wild, people have the habit of not taking them far enough from their house before letting them go and subsequently the mice come back and need to be caught again. I would always suggest you take any caught mice into a car and drive them around 5 minutes away to be sure.

Non-Humane Mice Traps
Types of non-humane mice traps

The most popular form of mouse trap is the iconic snap trap. They’re normally made of wood and have a metal bar held in place by another metal bar which is attached to the bait. When the bait is moved by the mouse, it sets off the bar which comes slamming down on the mice, killing it instantly.

A more recent innovation is mouse glue. This works by covering a piece of wood in cardboard in very sticky glue. This is then placed on a known mouse route, and when the mice walk over it they will be stuck to it by the glue and unable to move off it. More often than not the mouse then dies as it is unable to eat or drink

Advantages of non-humane

For the snap trap, its clean method of kill is popular, as the mouse is killed instantly and will know very little about. Some even argue this is more humane than traps that catch the mice and keep them trapped in a box for days on end at times.

Non-humane traps kill their prey, so unlike humane traps there is no way that mouse will ever be able to cause a nuisance in your house again.

Disadvantages of non-humane

The snap trap can sometimes end up splattering the killed mice all over the floor. This means that finding it and clearing it up is very unpleasant, and far from ideal if you have the trap in your kitchen nearer food preparation surfaces.

Non-humane traps can sometimes pose a threat to pets or children in the house, so care must be taken where they are placed.

Mice Deterrents

For those of you who don’t have mice, or want to keep them away after you’ve killed them all, I highly recommend mice deterrents. They are devices that are plugged into to plug sockets and then emit a high frequency sound which can’t be heard by humans, dogs or cats, but is horrific to mice. As a result they won’t set foot in your house again!