Whenever any homeowner gets the signal that mice are present in his house he should take appropriate measures to check their infestation. The indications can be in the form of rodent droppings, holes along the wall or at the rear side of cupboards, etc. Options to capture mice are many and you need to choose an appropriate technique that would suit your house and match your psyche. Some people have reservations about killing mice and for them the humane techniques of mice eradication are preferable. A mice trap along with suitable mice bait has been used for a long time to catch mice. Primarily, there are three versions of bait traps used, bar snap-trap, glue-trap, and poisoned bait.
In the first variation there is a bar than snaps down when mice nibble at the bait and the trap exit is closed. In the glue-trap, mice get caught in the glue while trying to move / run over the sticky strip of the trap to eat the bait. In the last method, the unfortunate scene of mice death needs to be dealt with. Also the mice after eating the venom-added bait might die in some remote corner of the house and emit a stinking and nauseating smell. Many animal-rights activists have strongly protested against the use of traps with glue-boards as the mice are subject to tremendous agony. If these rodents are allowed to remain on those boards for too long they slowly die due to starvation, dehydration and suffocation. For mice that travel very quickly the glue might not be very effective.
Hence a person should try to use the snap-trap first with the trap properly baited with an extremely gluey, sweet material. Small mice might not bring down the bar over the trap and hence a person must choose extremely gummy mice bait with which the mice would spend an appreciably long time. Some people have got a wrong notion that cheese is a good choice for mice bait, but that is not actually true. A much better choice would be peanut butter. The bait might not be very effective in the first attempt, and then the user would need to add some honey to it. This would enhance adherence to the mice trap and also make the bait more appealing to the mice.
Many people use traps that do not kill the mice and then release these rodents in the wilderness far away from their homes. The choice of mice bait for these traps would depend a lot on the structure of the traps. One such example of a mouse trap comprises of a pail of predetermined size. Suitable bait needs to be attached at the extremity of the wooden piece that hangs over the entrance/mouth of the pail. A person can make this arrangement in his house or buy one from a grocery store. After the mouse gets enticed by the bait, it falls into the pail and remains confined within the bucket. A person has more flexibility in the choice baits on this occasion, as it is only required to lure the mice towards it. For tempting the mice any delicious-smelling bait would be sufficient.
Toilet paper tubes and trash cans can also be used as alternatives to the bucket-traps, especially in houses having space constraints. Plastic soda-bottles and wooden blocks also work quite effectively in catching mice. The main variations in mice bait that are used by homeowners to trap mice are sticky baits, aromatic baits, and sweet baits. Apart from peanut butter, other sticky baits that are commonly used are marshmallows, jellies, and various solid baits. It is preferable to melt the solid baits onto the mouse-trap to make them soft and gelatinous. A person’s main purpose should be to securely bait the mice and not to feed them. Sticky baits that are hard to pull from the mice-trap should be chosen.
One must remember that a mouse has a sharp sense of aroma. Aromatic mice bait should therefore smell enticing and strong. Possible food choices can be sunflower seeds, oatmeal, bacons, pretzels, bird seeds, etc. Sweet mice bait is also effective and examples of such baits would be jelly beans, gum drops, caramels, maple syrup, chocolate, candy bars, tootsie rolls, etc.
All the best,
Sergiu Zburatoru
