Effing mice!

[tigertoy]

So I click the print button on the computer, and look over at the printer to see my page come out.  Hey, what's that green thing in the paper out tray?  WTF, it's an M&M.  With the Avacyn mark on it.  It's an Innistrad release promo M&M.  I have a pack of those in my magic bag... well I did. Now I have an empty wrapper with holes in it in my magic bag.  And, probably, M&Ms in other places in the house.

I have lots of mousetraps, but I seem to have evolved weightless mice.  I've seen them run right over the traps.  And the darn things are taking over my house.  I've got to find something more effective.  I've never been willing to use poison, but I don't have any pets any more, and I can't deal with the level of depredation I'm suffering.

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Clearly they like M&Ms. Simply Hotglue them onto the triggers so the mice cannot just lift them off without firing the trap. And clean the trigger hole where the clasp wire sits with a dab of vegetable oil (NOT WD40) to prevent corrosion from impeding smooth firing. Do not use anything but vegetable oil or the mice will be repelled from it.

[guppiecat]

Do NOT go with the glue traps.

Dealing with a dead mouse is much better than killing a live and terrified one.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. I bought a package of those once. A couple of them never got anything; one of them that did, the mouse dragged it halfway across the house. And I think I had to kill a live attached one once.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Missy Mousey can smell chocolate much further away than you think. I have live trapped and released before, first catch was Larry, Moe & Curly all trying to get to the peanut butter on a Ritz without letting the others know they are now in a trap. Problem is I can't seem to find the same brand of live trap--a nice clear rectangle cube thing. No mice problem for a couple of years, I believe because I don't open the front door for trick or treaters anymore--I seemed to have a mouse problem after Halloween.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

Yup, Halloween is about the time when the coldening of the weather convinces all the little commensal rodent species to move indoors with us providers of central heating. My house, being 131 years old, is hopelessly sieve-like to prevention of their entrance.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

And yeah, I went Googling for Mice Cube, and apart from Amazon, all the retailers with brick 'n mortar presence have discontinued it.

Drat.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

I sure hope these folks still have the Mice Cubes they're proffering:

http://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WDC001&Product_Code=WWCSMC01&Category_Code=WDCRT01

[quasiskunk.livejournal.com]

I smear the peanut butter on the spring on the snap trap; they can't get it offa there without snapping it. Sometimes, they've been able to take the PB right off the trigger without setting it off.

Then again, I seldom have mice..I get short-tailed shrews instead...which don't appreciate peanut butter. :P

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I don't eat peanut butter except inside Reese's cups. Perhaps I should get some just for this purpose. Putting it on the spring sounds like a good idea.

[quasiskunk.livejournal.com]

I have a ton of Reese's leftover from the aborted Halloween crawl still..I'll leave them at coffee next week...use some of them for bait...if you can stand it XD

[rcfoot.livejournal.com]

uh, you don't have as many Reese's as you might think. I like em' too :)

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

Curious. When I've had a multispecies infestation, The Mice Cube will preferentially catch me a shrew before it catches me a Peromyscus (deer mouse). I put the peanut butter, smeared on a small piece of cracker, deep into the Cube, and smear a whiff of peanut butter on the outside of the door to lure them in.

Shrew metabolism is so notoriously high, that if they don't eat every several hours, they die. Where the Peromyscus can afford normal (for a wild rodent) neophobia and avoid a freshly-set trap, a shrew is much more desperate.

[quasiskunk.livejournal.com]

There have been times when I've seen the shrew trundle by the trap, yet it could be days before it'll finally attempt to eat the PB. I'm thinking that since they are carnivorous, they don't really understand what peanut butter is, and the smell isn't enticing enough until they become desperate. It isn't like I have food out anyway; I know when its harvest time that I have to be more vigilant on making sure dishes are washed and foods are put away promptly.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Foster a cat?

[quasiskunk.livejournal.com]

Ha! My last cat would act like Garfield...
"Yep, its a mouse", and go back to sleep XD

[rcfoot.livejournal.com]

I'm having a meces problem too. I found the rectangular live traps at Walmart. Pretty effective too-caught three at once.
Then I returned from MFF to find mouse poo on the counter. With Aragorn spending the night I had enough and told the super about it. 10 min later one of the handymen came with 4 glue traps. The next day 3 of the glue traps at at least one mouse. One having evacuated itself on the counter.

Yeah....it's no wonder why nobody likes the glue traps.

[danebassett.livejournal.com]

Get a needle and some dental floss. run the floss through the m&m and tie it to the trigger.

They clearly want them and this triggers the trap for sure. Works for me (I use the whichever food that they came after because they seem to have different tastes from year to year)