There rarely is only one mouse although, since you may only see one at a time, it may appear that way. First of all make sure there is no other food they can get into in your cabinets, pantry, pet foods or kitchen garbage. I use Tupperware and other heavy plastic containers. Try a piece of apple in the trap. Have you considered making a Mouse water trap with a bucket of water?

I hadn't thought about a bucket of water, Elizabeth. Drowning seems cruel. One thing I like about the spring-loaded traps is that they're quick.

Yes, I'm sure I'm dealing with more than one mouse--although having killed four so far, I hope there aren't many left. I found some droppings in the warming drawer of my range. I have no idea how it might have gotten in there, but I suppose it was via the back by the wall.

One of the trade-offs of living in a very old house.

Coconut ! I had field mice come in my Dallas house from the corn field one winter . One made it to the pantry and into a bag of Grated coconut, it went crazy eating the stuff and actually ate so much it exploded him . He died a happy mouse in a coconut coma. So I assume they like coconut .

What we always did was wrap peanut butter in saran wrap, twist it tight, it worked great.

Bacon usually works good here. A friend of mine tried the bucket of water trap, and found she did catch a mouse, but it didn't drown. Apparently mice are excellent little swimmers! So then there is the problem of either relocating or dispatching it in some way. Personally, I'm not about to relocate a nuisance pest so it can be a nuisance somewhere else. I much prefer a good strong snap trap. I've had a mouse invasion here, too, lately.

Raven, had to laugh at the coconut exploded mouse, but I really don't think it would be very funny to find one and have to clean it up.

Rusty

You probably don't have any, but Velveeta worked really well for us. Now, I just use dog cookie pieces in my live trap.

I have had good luck with a round trap. you toss the whole thing with the mouse inside.

Chocolate! We were invaded this year, and I called a good friend of ours who owns a pest control company. He brought me several of the black traps and told me to use chocolate and it works great.

I don't have bacon or Velveeta, but I have coconut and chocolate--thanks!

Rose, my son tosses the regular snap mousetraps, mouse and all. He thinks I'm brave (or crazy) to separate the mouse from the trap and reuse it. Not brave, just frugal. LOL

Rats and mice are very wary critters. Once they see others get snapped, they avoid the traps. Although you have pretty good luck, Alisande. A used trap may smell of a killed mouse. Good luck.

Good thought, Socks. Considering the kill mechanism, I wonder if the mouse becomes incontinent of urine on the trap. For less than $1 each, I don't reuse.

If you use chocolate use Hershey kisses. We had a bowl of kisses and Dove candy and they ate only the kisses!

My father bought mouse traps one day from the man who owned our local variety store. He suggested we bait with chocolate as that was what they headed for in his store every time. I stick a chocolate chip on the trap. I hear other people like using peanut butter or bacon too, but we always used chocolate.

My Mom always got her mouse by baiting the trap with cheese or sometimes peanut butter. Then she gently laid a sheet of toilet paper over the trap. Always worked for me too!

When I worked in a bakery I found they ignored peanut butter but went crazy for the fondant icing.

Flour. Sprinkle a little on the spot where the cheese would go. Even used this on the fake cheese.

And there are the glue traps too. I've put a dab of peanut butter in the center of these and had success.

They also like candles ...any kind, the white emergency long burning ones, were the ones we found in the drawer after the power went out one night, chewed like a cob of corn. Last year in the RV they found two in a fancy jars called Hot Chocolate, a few gnaws on the citronella ones and they got choosy and ate the expensive one. ALL OF IT!! We also have them at the cottage hence everything gets packed in plastic, shoe cases, sweater boxes, and totes. We did not put the toilet tissue that was already out away, or the soap. They climbed the wall to get at the paper and made two nests. They also ate most of two cakes of soap last year. One was Ivory the other not sure of the brand. Bet their mother was forever washing their mouths with soap...We now use a piece of soap or candle on the traps.

wet cat food can be a good lure!

I also use Velveeta, press it flat into the depression so they have to spend some time licking it out.

I tried a glue trap once--never again! I don't know why I didn't realize they'd die a slow, awful death. But we never even got to that point. I used it in my bedroom and caught only spiders. I love spiders, so I was not happy about that at all. I realized I must have quite a parade of spiders coming through my bedroom!

Socks, I thought about the smell of dead mouse recently, so I threw out the used traps and started fresh. One I set today looks just like the Victor pictured above. The other is a different brand, the spring so tight that it was hard to set. I hope it doesn't decapitate the mouse.

The only chocolate I have is European dark. Let's hope I have an epicurean mouse. ;-)

My cousin's mice ate her candles too. I'd never heard of that.

The funny photo of the helmet-wearing mouse reminds me of something from my childhood: A woman in our apartment building used to make tiny clothes for mice, and dress them. They were wild mice, so I have no idea how she managed this. But it was well known in the building.

Alisande- the woman in your apartment building wasn't nicknamed Cinderella by any chance, was she? ;)

Oh no - no glue traps, please! Talk about cruel! How horrible. And I don't like the idea of water traps, either. They may be little rodents but they are still living things and cruelty just seems unnecessary. Alisande, I know you wouldn't consider those.

I, too, have a very old house and have had mice. I tried the traps that trap them live and ended up having to drive them places to relocate them! That got old very fast. No when I need to trap any I use the snap traps that are enclosed so that I don't have to see it. I have found that chocolate works well, too.

I second not using the glue traps. Who would even invent those??

At our vacation place in the middle of the woods we use the old fashioned mouse traps with peanut butter and have some success. Our exterminator was here this week to check his bait stations and I asked him why some were untouched while others were empty. He said that mice leave urine trails somewhat like dogs marking territory and that other mice will follow them.

I don't want to cause any creature unnecessary pain but since we don't live here full time I don't want to discover that we've become the 'home away from home' for rodents. Our exterminator has poisoned bait stations both inside and outside the house. They seem to work well since we usually only find 2 or 3 mice a year in our snap traps.

One year at our home we had a terrible problem with chipmunks chewing holes in our mahogany deck so I bought a Havahart trap and caught 28 within 3 months - I didn't even use bait. The Havahart people said to release them at least 5 miles away to be sure they wouldn't return. Then I happened to speak with a Humane Society officer who told me that it would be more humane to quickly drown them because relocating them puts them in an unfamiliar environment without any protection and they are more apt to become prey. Fortunately I was done with my chipmunk infestation so I never had to resort to that method.

Omigosh, Maire--28 chipmunks! Yikes. Re mouse urine, I'm remembering a group hypnosis session I went to years ago when I wanted to lose weight. He told the audience to envision mice urinating on any forbidden foods we kept in the house. "We see the droppings," he pointed out, "but you've never seen the urine." Hmm . . . good point. :-)

Okay, my positive update is that I caught two mice last night--one using stinky cheese for bait and the other using chocolate. The chocolate trap was in my warming drawer. Both were Victor traps (50¢ each at Walmart), and I disposed of them with mice attached.

I have to say, though, that it seems more respectful of the mice to remove them from the trap and return them to nature. I'm sure some will laugh (or sneer) at this, but it feels better to me, and I may well retrieve them from the plastic bag in the garbage. My DNA didn't identify me as part Native American, but maybe in my heart I am.

Years ago we used to have mice eat from the dog dish left out overnight. I stopped leaving food in the bowl and put dog food in a mouse trap and it worked well. Also found a half eaten candy bar in a cabinet once. I have never re-used traps as there is an odor left behind and live mice won't go near it. Besides, I am not handling dead mice. :-( The only time I used the water trap was in my guest house when it was empty for the winter because it did not need to be attended.

My take on all these suggestions is it is not the bait that is your issue it is the trap. We have several, hotel type, cheap snappers, single poison dispensers...they all seem to be working as we walk the line regularly and find them occupied. We flush the dead critter and reset..we happen to use peanut butter. Just read there is some peanut butter with xylitol now that is dangerous to dogs...perhaps it kills mice too. Seems worth a try. The only problem with poisoning is they crawl back into holes and die..and then SMELL...Better to use the cheap SNAP trap and kill them where they can be disposed of.

@ Marie_cate, Please do not use poison bait traps.

Thanks, Elizabeth. I didn't see those at my Walmart, where I bought the other Victors. I don't worry about injuring my fingers, though, as I keep them on the safe side of the trap once it's set, handling it very carefully.

I just "unset" the PIC trap. That's the one that looks like the cheap Victors but has such a strong spring. The bait was gone and droppings were left on the trap. I think I'll toss it--not so much because it was ineffective this one time but because of concerns that if it does catch a mouse the wicked spring might end up making a mess. I gave my son a couple of these to use in the barn; I'll have to ask him if he got any results.

Oh, dear. I just saw Maire's post about the owl. So sad!

Yes, with our commercial agriculture and other practices, humans already poison wildlife to an alarming degree. We shouldn't add to it.

I think that you're going about it the right way, Alisande. I was going to suggest that you use something sweet as your bait, and place a little of it next to the trap so that the critter can learn how delicious it is. Let them eat cake, lol!

Joyful, i think you've said you're a renter. A rodent infestation is a human health danger and likely a violation of tenant rights that exist under local law. It should be your landlord's obligation to remedy promptly after you let them know.

Are you addressing me, Elmer? I haven't been a renter since I left Manhattan in 1970.

No, joyful. I clarified it.

Mouse Trap Bait for the ordinary Snap Trap with bait treadle.

When I was a young lad, I lived on a farm during hard times. We tried several things, but what I am about to describe is simple and the best bait we found. Put a small piece of bread (made with wheat flour) in your mouth. Chew lightly or barely at all. The object is to moisten it with saliva. When the saliva starts to convert the starch, remove, mold a suitable sized wad and stick on the bait treadle. It will dry and stick on the treadle well enough that it can not be removed without tripping the trap. For some reason, mice love this bait. It is very effective.

Thanks, handy jem dandy - what an easy system to arrange!

I'll have to try it.

ole joyful

Whole sunflower seeds. We wedge them into a snap trap.

At the house with my parents I had mice and rats galore and at first they got trapped and it was great and then over the years as they went by, it got so hard to trap them but the thing is many of them were pregnant and thrilled when those were caught as didn't want babies all over. I had bought tupperware everything but then the rats came and poured into my place they can chew through it all and talk about destruction and cost they were doing in my place.

Yes, make sure there is nothing food they can get at, remove everything, do you have snacks or anything, get rid of those and wash everything down.

you realize too that their droppings make you sick so again really scrub it all down and anything they touch.

And when releasing live you must take them far away or they will keep coming back in all the time.

I had a cat that went after but would bring live and dead ones inside the house.

I fastened some chocolate, which some recommended, on my rat trap last night.

Didn't check it this morning.

ole joyful

I was impressed with the chocolate results, Joyful. For the last two nights my chocolate-baited mousetraps have been ignored, so I'm hoping I'm done with this . . . for now.

Chocolate, albeit Smuckers fudge topping, worked! Thank you!

However, I had to put on the tip of a cotton swab, inserted into the bait area to work. When I just smeared it on the metal bait piece, the mouse had 3 meals of chocolate - without it being triggered.

Had mouse in house back in summer?? Not terribly unusual to find evidence of one once it's cold, but in July?? Cat lost her mind but didn't catch it. I went out and bought SIX of those "no see um" traps. The old-fashion snap traps are CHEAP, so am I, but I DON'T want to see the results at all.

I used peanut butter as bait... traps had little compartment. Old-fashioned cheese is sort of cartoon-y... you have to tie it on or it's frequently just swiped by the mouse.

Caught (more liked scooped up in a paper bag) mouse when it just meandered across the floor?!?

Another who says DO NOT use poisoned bait traps. Sister was heading to her mountain place and last thing she planned to do before heading back home was put those things out. Unfortunately, one/both of dogs got into the bait. VERY expensive weekend at emergency animal hospital. Stomach pumping, many blood draws to check clotting. She would have been probably no less than half hour drive to nearest vet. Was told by the time dogs (large ones... lab & collie mix) had started acting sick, would have been as good as dead!

After rounding up mouse, put remaining, baited traps in garage... had to be iinitial entry pount. About a month ago was first time out there and P-U... what a stink... definitely caught something.

My "pantry" used to be in garage. EVERYTHING was in some sort of container... NO boxes/bags on shelf... all jars/cans or heavy duty plastic containers. Around this time last year, went out into garage to check out what I had in the way of baking stuff. Didn't want to buy more flour/sugar for cookies if I already had it. Had 5 lb bag of flour in one of those clear "shoe box" things. Well, lid had been chewed through and about half of the flour was GONE!!

Last time I had a mouse problem the regular traps didn't do the job. I got the Victor Quick Kill Traps ElizabethR suggested and they got the job done in a hurry. I used Peanut Butter in mine.

It seems to me that drowning causes more prolonged pain/distress to a mouse/rat than swinging it and smacking its head against a stone or other immoveable, hard object - one shot and it's dead.

o j

We started using cotton balls laced with Peppermint essential oil and small plastic shot glasses filled with shavings from Irish Spring. Place them all around the house, inside cupboards, behind and under furniture, and where ever you can find find where mice may lurk. Since doing that a couple of years ago, we have not seen a single mouse nor any of their leavings.

MIce are very careful creatures. Best way to catch them is to first make them feel safe...set the food on a trap that has not been set...do this for 3 days..by than he will be all over that trap and feel safe. On the 4'th day set the trap and wacko you'll get him.