How to stop mice pinching the traps?

[Jonm]

I have a fox (a family at times), a hedgehog or two and several species of mice and rats living at the bottom of my garden in an area I've let go wild. There's also a visiting badger occasionally. Not bad for an urban garden. I have the occasional furry visitor in my garage workshop but there's nothing edible in there and they've done no damage in 20 years, so live and let live I say.

The fox keeps the rats and mice in check and the cat keeps the house clear. Nature at work.

It is the “no damage” bit. I have a henry hoover where the thread for the vacuum hose is partially chewed by a mouse, still works but only because I saw it in time. They can cause a lot of damage to some things so I think it depends on what is being stored.

 

[julianf]

I suspect, as has been mentioned, that your missing traps are attached to mice that were not killed on location, but, instead, scurried off with a mashed up leg and a trap attached to it and slowly died somwhere else.

 

[deema]

Every car has had its electrics nibbled over the years, they are also fond of the cable in the workshop if they get a chance. I have a Schnauzer whose a dab hand at killing small fury things, so I’m not fully onboard with the live and let live. I don’t want the workshop going up in smoke.
Moles, foxes, millions of rabbits, Pine Martin, stoats, badgers, Mink all make my garden their home.

 

[deema]

I suspect, as has been mentioned, that your missing traps are attached to mice that were not killed on location, but, instead, scurried off with a mashed up leg and a trap attached to it and slowly died somwhere else.

I don’t believe that’s the case. The traps are two big to get around the roller shutter door which is were they ingress. There are 40 missing traps…. That’s a big pile. I’m sure I’d come across them if they were still in the shop.

Just bought another 6 traps!!

 

[niall Y]

Many years ago a group of us lived in a rented house, surrounded by fields and had a mice problem. Someone put down a trap, it went off and there was a mouse, badly injured dragging the trap across the floor. Had to hit it with a shovel so decided not to it again.

I then arranged a large wooden box with hinged lid upside down on floor. I removed spring from trap, cut slot in arm, screwed trap to inside of lid. Then piece of string with loop placed in slot, string then went up through hole in box to hook in ceiling then down and attached to top edge of box. Length of string adjusted so gap between lid and box. The string then pulled up on the arm, Mouse then went in to the box, activated the trap, arm lifted, loop came off arm and box dropped, trapping the mouse. We then drove the mouse to a derelict building about a mile away and released it.

I once had a strange request, when working in a customers house, which was - could I take a field mouse that they had caught in a live trap and release it far away from their property, when I made my way home. They explained ,that they had tried doing this themselves, locally , but the mouse kept coming back. When asked how they knew it was the same mouse, they said they had marked its ear with Tippex, which confirmed their suspicions.

 

[Phill05]

On the farm we had a "Chop shed" where all the cattle feed was stored in hessian bags and always had a lot of mice with one hand I would pull a bag towards me and with my right hand dive under and make a grab and could come out with a hand full of mice and just squeeze them dead, then one day I found a rat under and the s*d bite me, the farmer's wife showed Yorky's so I went and got one of them while she was out, put it in the chop shed and wow it was manic there was screaming and banging and I looked round the door to see the little dog covered in blood and five dead rats scattered around, I cleaned up the dog but found a rat had bitten the side of her face so off to vet with her.

When farmer came back I told him what had happened he patted me on the back and said well done lad, then farmers wife saw her little dog and chased me with the broom, but little dog always made a fuss of me.

So don't be a "soft lad" there only one way for mice to go and it's not back to the fields.

 

[Qwercus]

Could be rats being caught by one leg and dragging traps away. This also accounts for some empty sprung traps that definitely have tufts of rat fur in them.

 

[okeydokey]

Galvanised wire attached through a hole you will drill in the trap. The other end wrapped around a brick

 

[Suffolkboy]

Couple of ideas.

Mice and rats generally run along the edge of the room against the wall, usually if the run is well used you will see staining. If you set the trap with the catcher against the wall, square against the wall you will catch them across the back of the neck and the nape of the back. You don't even need to bait them. Sometimes you may need to place something to funnel them. If you catch them in this way the will not be able to move the traps as they will be too dead. It sounds like, either your traps are poor quality or you aren't setting them correctly somehow.

Mice are great climbers so traps can be set high and low.

Maybe try setting up a cheap trail camera looking at your traps? Might help you see what's going on...

https://uk.apemans.com/products/apeman-trail-camera-h45

 

[trvlr]

Sorry about long link but get one of theses:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B083SSDW4S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
it works perfectly and is very humane. Only tip… occasionally it might be useful apply a trace of something like silicone lubricant or possibly trace of WD40 to the hinge pivots if they seem a little stiff.

I put a strip of duct tape in the bait tray and out the bait on thst. Often the wee visitors will try to take that too and their increased activity does ensure they trigger the trap… Easy to release visitors elsewhere; and to clean.

This bait is very effective and one needs only a drop or two.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00B2KMSFW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[xmetal]

This bait is very effective and one needs only a drop or two.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00B2KMSFW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a few traps in the garage and I wondered for a while why the traps were losing their bait of peanut butter. I found out it was slugs entering under the garage door. I rigged up an electronic trap and found a fried slug. I use the bait in the link now and the slugs don't bother with it, only the occasional mouse.

 

[trvlr]

Electronic trap… what is that?

 

[throbscottle]

Electronic trap… what is that?

Electric fence for slugs. There was a thread on ETO a while back about making one. Copper tape also deters molluscs.

 

[xmetal]

Electronic trap… what is that?

These.

 

[Adam W.]

If you kill all the mice, they won't lift the traps.......Just saying.

 

[baldkev]

Fix long string to the trap and tie the other end to a bench leg or something. The next little bugger to get caught will drag the trap out the hole and you will find the hole by following the string..... then whack the mouse with a shovel.

 

[Yojevol]

Fix long string to the trap and tie the other end to a bench leg or something. The next little pipper to get caught will drag the trap out the hole and you will find the hole by following the string..... then whack the mouse with a shovel.

Or he'll find the bench jammed up against the escape hole

 

[TRITON]

My sister this very evening managed to get bitten by a mouse.
The cat brought it in and it made a run for it, eventually and Ironically hiding in the cats toy box. Instead of placing a cloth over the box, taking it outside and turning it over so it could run off, she decided to try to pick it up and it bit her

I've obviously told her to visit the A&E tomorrow, get whatever shot they recommend.

 

[Keith 66]

Many years ago i worked in a boatyard, a nearby wharf was sheetpiled & this resulted in hordes of rats being made homeless, they came our way. A varied selection of traps were brought into operation, large mousetrap types & an old gin trap, illegal i know but we set it in a run & its kill rate was 100%, one small rat was caught by its nose at one end & backside the other. Made us all wince that one i can tell you!

 

[throbscottle]

My sister this very evening managed to get bitten by a mouse.
The cat brought it in and it made a run for it, eventually and Ironically hiding in the cats toy box. Instead of placing a cloth over the box, taking it outside and turning it over so it could run off, she decided to try to pick it up and it bit her

I've obviously told her to visit the A&E tomorrow, get whatever shot they recommend.

I'll raise a shrew bite to your sister's mouse bite!