Sheril has asked for suggestion on live trapping mice, and since this is a bit involved I thought I'd blog it. Please feel free to add your suggestions below.
First, on the bait. Mice are granivores, so attract them to grain. The ultimate grain ... the orgasmically excellent purest grain-extract champaign of grain, the grain that a mouse will (literally) die for ... is wheat germ.
Wheat germ does not behave well in a trap situation, so mix the wheat germ with peanut butter so you can stick it on stuff.
There are two kinds of traps that work well. One is commercial, and it is the Havahart 1020 Two Door Cage Trap for Mice and Rats 10 x 3 x 3
The second kind of trap is home made. For this you need two things: A container and a way to get into the container. I have used two versions of this with great success.
The first is a vase, as shown. This vase has to be tall enough and have a sufficiently narrow neck that a mouse cannot jump up and out of it. Now, people will tell you that a mouse can jump ten feet and climb up vertical glass, but that is a bunch of hooey. A typical 1.5 foot high Victorian porcelain or white stoneware vase will work, if you smear Vasoline(tm) petroleum jelly around the rim.
The other type of container that has worked for me is your typical milk can. These are usually about three feet tall, and you want to use it without the top. A mouse in one of these things cant' get out.
All you have to do with either container is put the wheat germ (with or without peanut butter) in the container, and place the container near anything the mice can climb on. A pile of newspapers, a chair, whatever. The mice just need to get in to the container. They won't be able to get out.
Of course, at the end of all of this, you need to have a place to put the mice. If you drive the mice to a different neighborhood and dump them there, be aware that you are probably violating state law if you are in the US. Transporting wild(ish) animals and releasing them, any distance, is usually illegal. You might consider keeping them in a cage until they grow old and die of natural causes. But also, keep in mind that if these mice are deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) they could be carriers of Hanta virus.
If you have a friend with a snake, maybe just feed them to the snake. Or, if you have a back yard and live in a place where owls live, you could make an owl feeding station. For this, you just need the minimum size child's wading pool to keep the mice from getting away (no water in the pool, please!). Put that in your back yard, toss the mice in there, and the owls will eventually come to eat them.
Unless you live in Arkansas where every 8-year old boy is issued a rifle, and therefore, there are no owls or raptors of any kind. If you do this in Arkansas, you'll just get snakes. Lots of snakes.
Environment
Comments
While the Havahart trap will work for rats as well as mice, for mice I've head better luck with this type, which allows catching more than one mouse at a time:
http://www.amazon.com/Eaton-421CL-Multip-Catch-Mouse/dp/B000VXBTO2
(and this one is cheaper than the similar one I linked to in my comment at Sheril's blog.)
Of course, one can also get a cat.
Posted by: chezjake | January 4, 2009 1:14 PM
... or an owl ...
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 4, 2009 1:19 PM
The black rat snakes in my attic do an okay job, but not in the winter.
Posted by: mark | January 4, 2009 1:37 PM
I keep the feline variety of mouse/rat/insect catchers. I always be sure that I get a mouser when I adopt a cat.
The only problem is, some of the mousers will track and disable said vermin, and then expect me to make the kill.
From a long history of killing rats, I determined the best method of killing them is to drown them. Because as far as I'm concerned the only good mouse/rat is a dead one.
Posted by: Tony P | January 4, 2009 1:46 PM
Don't fall for the sticky traps if you want to be "humane" to mice. In order to catch a mouse, you need to put the trap out of your field of vision. Mice are very watchful of the predators in their environment. IF they think you might be able to see them they will not go towards the trap. So, what this means is that you will need to hide the sticky traps in inconvenient locations.
In order to catch a mouse before it dies on a sticky trap, you will need to monitor the hidden traps on a short interval basis. I had captured a mouse, and even though I checked them every day, the mouse had torn its jaw loose from its head while trying to escape. It was gruesome.
Better to get a cat. It's more humane. Or an owl, yes, but only if you live in a barn.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | January 4, 2009 2:04 PM
Thanks to Greg and everyone for your advice! I'll let you know how it goes...
Posted by: Sheril R. Kirshenbaum | January 4, 2009 2:35 PM
I just use a large metal trash can with dog food. Then I release the rat out in the yard and let the dog chase it and usually kill it. Only fair. It was eating his food.
Posted by: ppnl | January 4, 2009 3:52 PM
I've been using live capture traps for almost a year now & my non-deliberate trap (a trash pail next to the bird cages). so far the pail has worked best but its limited because of its size.
The little critters are also suspicious of new things like traps & often set them off while trying to get the bait from the outside. They've even popped the backs off a few times to escape after being caught.
They get released in local parks or wooded areas. come & get me DEP!
Posted by: Robert Jase | January 4, 2009 5:02 PM
Having just caught a house mouse under the sink and having a little experience with the critters I'd say there's no use getting fancy. Mice are dumb.
A dab of peanut butter on a regular spring trap gets 'em every time because mice follow the same routes.
Posted by: David Lee | January 4, 2009 5:12 PM
If you want to live-trap a mouse then you'd better keep the traps handy. Once a mouse has marked its territory it'll always find its way back unless you release it far, far away from where you live.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | January 4, 2009 5:41 PM
I don't agree that mice are dumb. Or maybe they are only smart in comparison to myself! In any case, we worked our way through live traps, pb & regular traps, poison (the mice played hockey with the blocks). The mice, under our assault, got fat and bold. They started coming out during the day and playing in plain sight. Finally we called in a pest guy. I felt bad. The little buggers are cute. But the endless poop and the chewing upon of wires was not.
Posted by: Lilian Nattel | January 4, 2009 5:41 PM
As the owner of a critter who is quite fond of mice, I'd have to caution against feeding wild mice to pet snakes. Little Mus musculus may well have a gutload of parasites that can be passed along to a new host, and may not have enjoyed the most salubrious diet before discovering your tasty peanut butter and wheat germ.
Posted by: Bill Sheehan | January 4, 2009 5:52 PM
Mice are dumb. The first several mice are dumb. But then they evolve. Culturally, anyway.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 4, 2009 6:13 PM
There are some really cheap live traps from Victor and other companies that work very well.The ones that worked best for me when I cleared out an infestation at my wife's previous house worked on the basis of balance
/ ramp /
entrance |-------/
The entrance door is triggered closed as soon as the mouse starts to climb the ramp to get to the bait.
As they are cheap buy a bunch and set then up in places where they won't accidentally be touched (the "trap" mechanism is very sensitive)
Posted by: Doug Alder | January 4, 2009 9:17 PM
Well that sad attempt at a graphic didn't work so well ;) Here's a link to the ones I've used with great success
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4112W5SWEQL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
Do remember to take the little critters a long ways from home or the will find their way back. You also need to look for how they are getting in and block those holes up.
Posted by: Doug Alder | January 4, 2009 9:37 PM
Well, live-trapping wise, the mice my trap usually catches are quite alive... temporarily.
My trap is called Heisenberg, and she is a stripey critter-catching machine
Posted by: Jason | January 5, 2009 12:42 AM
I once nabbed a mouse in my family room with a butterfly net.
The little guy was happily scuttling around when I walked into the room and startled it. It ran for the sliding door that opened out onto our porch, but had trouble navigating the door tracks. I didn't want to risk squishing it by messing with the door itself, so I grabbed my aerial net, which was conveniently parked in the corner, and put it over the mouse. Then I pulled the cloth pouch of the net into a vertical position; this is what you do with big game like butterflies and dragonflies, which tend to respond to this maneuver by flying, as Daffy Duck once said, due up.
The mouse didn't disappoint. It ran straight up into the pocket of the net. I flipped the net over and trapped the mouse in the pouch, and then carried it outside and released the mouse unharmed.
Posted by: Julie Stahlhut | January 5, 2009 8:34 AM
I guess you mean you want to trap a mouse and keep it alive, to be turned outside and given the chance to come back inside. The cheapest way to do this is wear heavy socks. Put a chunk of smelly cheese and a spoonful of peanut putter on a dish on top of your coffee table. The mouse will run toward it but of course, cannot climb up to get it. While the mouse is sniffing at the base of the table, step on it. Not too hard (which is why you wear socks not shoes), just enough to stun it so you can pick it up and toss it outside. Now you can eat the cheese and peanut butter. No waste!
Posted by: CalderaGal | January 5, 2009 9:35 AM
But really, if, after catching the thing in a live-trap, one would then hand it to the cat/snake/owl/etc., what is the major attraction of the live-trap?
Personally, the spring-traps are my favorite. They're quick, humane, and have a pretty decent kill-rate. I consider it a kindness that my wintry neighborhood, my cat, a snake, or an owl would be hard-pressed to offer.
Posted by: Brian | January 5, 2009 10:09 AM
Your basic 5 gal bucket seems to work well for small mice. My dad trapped 3 or 4 mice one winter by accident in his garage. No bait or anything just left the bucket out.
Posted by: Mr P | January 5, 2009 12:04 PM
Why would you want to live trap a mouse? It's not like there's a shortage of them that they need to be carefully preserved.
Posted by: Frasque | January 5, 2009 1:28 PM
I don't know about all sticky traps but it is possible to successfully recover a mouse live from the glue of some of them by using rubbing alcohol and a little vegetable oil mixed.
The alcohol dissolves the glue and the oil prevents the stickum from reattaching. I held the mouse with one hand and used a q-tip to apply the mix. Apply the solvent I worked in a circular pattern around the animal allowing it time to work while gently lifting the limbs and wetting any part released to keep them from sticking again.
After being freed I gave the mouse a bath in warm water and a little Dawn to remove the oil and any remaining glue. After a bath and a rinse in warm water the mouse was pat dry and allowed to groom his frizzy fur back into shape.
After being fed a peanut and kept in a warm location, coffee can with a couple of wadded up paper towels inside and a 60w incandescent bulb nearby, the mouse seemed to be entirely healthy but was kept an additional 48 hours for observation. The mouse, now named "Max" by the resident naming authority, was released in a grassy field full of tasty seeds and surrounded by a dense wood.
Even though the mouse was provided with our address, e-mail and phone number he has not kept in touch and his status and location are unknown. So it goes with children.
Posted by: Art | January 5, 2009 6:50 PM
Next week: why to live-trap a mouse. It's not like they're dying out.
Posted by: Dunc | January 6, 2009 6:17 AM
I found the mouse in my house too clever for the traps but we managed to catch one with a broom.
I was too grossed out to kill it.
One question though: how true is it that mice can really find their way home unless you take them miles away?
For the mouse I caught, I walked three blocks down a hill, across a fairly busy road to where there is a deep gorge that is bounded by a 3ft stone wall. On the other side of the wall is a steep cliff on which there are a lot of trees, but it's very shear. I threw the mouse over this gorge. Would that be enough?
Posted by: Ila Mc | February 14, 2009 7:41 PM
Maybe it wasn't a mouse. Maybe it was a monkey or something.
Posted by: Greg Laden | February 14, 2009 8:49 PM
Coming from a family who were very against killing rats and mice (though at the same time disgusted by them)-a flowerpot, a piece of card and a well-trained terrier or energetic small child are needed. Get the dog/child to corner it, slam the flowerpot down on top of it, slide the card underneath and dump it in the garden.
Posted by: simba | February 14, 2009 9:14 PM
Oh. I think I've been slamming down the flower put upside down from how I'm supposed to. Whoops.
Posted by: Greg Laden | February 15, 2009 12:09 AM
another thing is if you release them somewhere else than your home they may have already marked their territory. if so than they will most likely find their way back. this may sound harsh but the best way to get rid of them is to somehow kill them. What i do is drown them for 4 to 5 minutes.
Posted by: jamie | June 24, 2009 7:46 PM
another thing is if you release them somewhere else than your home they may have already marked their territory. if so than they will most likely find their way back. this may sound harsh but the best way to get rid of them is to somehow kill them. What i do is drown them for 4 to 5 minutes.
Posted by: jamie | June 24, 2009 7:48 PM
another thing is if you release them somewhere else than your home they may have already marked their territory. if so than they will most likely find their way back. this may sound harsh but the best way to get rid of them is to somehow kill them. What i do is drown them for 4 to 5 minutes.
Posted by: jamie | June 24, 2009 7:52 PM
where can i get one for free & witch stor because i wont to catch a rabbit mouse and other animails two....thank you
Posted by: kyle rinas | October 8, 2009 7:25 AM
i need a trap for free so i can catch a anamail
Posted by: kyle | October 8, 2009 7:27 AM