how to catch a mouse cheaply

Money_maker

We have this problem also. I have 3 of the ultrasonic thingys and my view is that they either dont work or the mice have a resistance to them. They also can go through walls so you have to have sockets pointing in the right direction, unobscured at the right height.

I hate the idea of poison and have gone along with the killing traps cos dh says we will be overrun with them if we dont do something. We have caught a few on chocolate and christmas cake.

Seems like they moved in just weeks after we had to have our last cat put to sleep. Their favourite food - the bag of dry cat food.

mademoiselle_2

My cats are always bringing in mice, it doesn't phase me one bit. I've never had to kill one, and I've always managed to catch those brought in within about 20 minutes, tops.

Get yourself a humane mouse trap like this one:
where the swing of the door is by a little lever, not gravity; and the end detaches. You don't need bait, all you need is this, and a towel.

Watch where the mouse goes. Block off all avenues of exit, bar one, and put the mouse trap as near to this exit as possible, with no gaps either side. Cover the trap withe the towel - drape it so that the towel blocks any remaining gaps, leaving a dark, inviting 'tunnel' with the trap at the end of it.

Then, either wait - or move things along by 'encouraging' the mouse towards the trap. As soon as you hear the door 'click', you're in business! Remove your mouse and put him outside where he belongs.

I don't believe for one minute that they watch where you go, and follow you back in! Someone's doing a bit of a wind up I fancy :rotfl:

TeresaO

http://www.smithsax.btinternet.co.uk/products.htm

This is what we've used to catch mice (2) and dispatched them back to the park!

Good luck

T

jaybee

They do decompose!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:
Many years ago my cat must have caught one and brought it indoors (I no longer have cats - can you guess why?)
Obviously I didn't know that the mouse was inside and injured by the cat. It had become trapped behind some furniture. The smell was awful - I can still recall it now! I eventually discovered it when I pulled all the furniture out in search of the smell.

Mice are only okay in Beatrix Potter and Brambly Hedge where they wear dresses etc. Or if they live in their own place (outside).

sillyvixen

decomposing mouse smells like rotting cabbage!! yuk . we have never had a mouse problem a such but we had a elderly cat (good mouser in the dark) but would get dazzeled by the lights coming in through the catflap and drop said catch. by the time he had readjusted to the light the mouse had hidden - we kept several humane traps behind the appliences (had to remeber to check daily or you would find a rotting mouse/cabbage smell) but we knew the cat had come in and lost a mouse the usual form of catching was a well aimed plastic colander thrown over the mose before the cat had known what was going on!! when we had my late cat we had 8 colander conveintenly hidden all around the ground floor!!!!

milliebear00001

Mutter wrote: »

Not so. I had a mouse problem as did most when I moved into a flat in Clifton, Bristol. They were house mice.

What I have here is a fieldmouse/woodmouse, tiny little creature.
We even had a shrew walk in one day. OP lives in wooded area so probably is also a field mouse.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/wood-mouse

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=house+mice&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title

Yup - we had a shrew not long ago (when living in a semi-rural area). The shrew was thick and quickly caught in a commercial home trap. We released it in the back garden (being townies) and quickly learned that rodents know their territory and COME BACk! In the end we trapped and released a distance away - it took a while but was humane and green.

I think the best answer is definitely a cat!

bishbash55

*Chattie* wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't put down poison as then the mouse will go somewhere to die and you will only find it by the smell of the decomposing body.

the mouse is going to die anyway. eventually it will die of old age ect. using poisons just speeds up the process and prevents it breeding with other mice.

there is always that risk a mouse will die in a place were its difficult to retrieve. the smell usually lasts for about 7 days depending on the temperature and season. also, mice like to live in cavities, often after they die you cant smell anything.

personally i think you need to try as many things as you can. traps, poisons, denying food, denying harbourage.

the only thing i wouldnt use are electronic scarecrows/devices. these are designed to distress mice, they soon realise however there is little threat and ignore them.