IndianaGirl

I live with 5 other people. We think we have a mouse. One of our roommates is a strict vegetarian and refuses to kill the mouse. I know that, I personally, could not deal with the site of a live mouse, let alone a dead one.

Any suggestions?

stonegrody

There are some humane mouse traps that will trap the mouse without killing it. Of course, you may have to see the live mouse if you catch it.

Here's one that isn't expensive.

Good luck!

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JStrider

that trap that stonegrody pointed out looks pretty good... ive seen others people have made... put a ramp up to a bucket and run string across the top of the bucket... the mouse runs up the ramp... tries to walk on the string to get the food and falls in the bucket...


i think you should catch it and put it in a 10 gallon aquarium (Without water) and now you have a new pet!

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maleficent

Get a cat...

Make sure that all food stuffs, especially in cabinets, is in well sealed containers (especially cereals and such) If the mouse can't feed, it won't stick around.

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Irishsean

No matter what anyone tells you, the sticky traps are not humane! I woke up in the middle of the night to hear that poor mouse screaming, it sounded like someone was skinning a baby!

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stonegrody

I agree! I used to have pet rats and they were very cool. They really aren't as icky as you might think.

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Coppertop

Really simple:

JaySpencer

Bear in mind that mice carry all kinds of wonderful diseases such as Hanta Virus in some, depending on where you are.

Also, one or two mice will become a LOT more and in a very short time.

There is a time to have a heart, and that is not one of them, but if you do,. the humane traps work pretty well, you just have to remember that you need to make sure that you wear gloves and possibly a surgical mask when messing with the trap.

I would recommend a piece of kosher salami, and some peanut butter to trap them. Think aroma, along with high protein and caloric content for the bait.

theFez

I think its much more humane to kill it with a trap rather than kill it by dehydration!

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amonkie

Whatever you do, don't give the mouse a cookie... cause then he'll want a glass of milk to go with it.

In seriousness, you need to either kill the thing, or trap it and take it FAR away, otherwise it'll just come back. And by far I mean like the other side of town, not just the other side of the yard.

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billwood

I tryed every trap I could find at the stor and hardwere store yo no avile. Then one day the SO. and I decided to get a cat....# days latter NO MORE MOUSE...

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flstf

I'm not sure that getting a cat will help much. We recently put in a cat door for ours and she has been bringing in live mice to play with. She will chase them around for a while until they go behind a bookcase or something and then lose interest. The mice have nothing to eat here and in a day or two become so weak that I can sometimes catch them and throw them out. On other occasions we have used a conventional trap but are thinking about getting a more humane one.

Ripsaw

Seal off all of the entry points that the mouse is using. Cracks in cupboards, holes around heating pipes, and behind all of your plumbing. Clean, as well. Make sure there are no dishes left in the sink overnight, no leftovers on the stove, and no crumbs on the floor or tables. I don't really worry about cleaning myself, as I have three cats. No sane mouse would enter my house.

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Coppertop

If you're really interested in catching it and not killing it, it might be a better idea to use something other than food in your trap. Cheese, peanut butter and suchlike can be eaten by other critters (insects, etc.) - not necessarily your mouse. Try using a bit of styrofoam or something similar that the mouse will collect to build/line its nest with. You may be surprised by the results.

Still, I think a cat is the all-time best mouser. Great pets.

magnum_xxxl

The best way I have found to keep mice out is to walk the perimeter of your house, and find any cracks or holes the mice can get into your house from, & fill them with steel wool. If you do catch the mouse and let it go it wont be able to chew threw the steel wool, and will leave.

inharmony

In my experience, if you have one there are several more They do have traps that are humane as some have said. Happy mousing! Oh and I've heard hedge apples work as well at keeping them away.

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Redlemon

I had great success with the Mice Cube in my office desk. Loaded it with a pretzel dipped in peanut butter. Caught about 5 mice over a 2 week period (yes, they were different mice). One had a heart attack or something, but the others survived unharmed. Some of the mice were pretty mellow about it, others were freaked out.

Pyke

If you are interested in trapping the mouse alive, call your local exterminators and see if they rent out live traps. All the ones around where I live usually do, and it is humane to the animal. Just let it go far away, those little guys have an uncanny ability to find their way back to (your) home!

bill96ab

After you catch it, dont just throw it in the backyard, or by the dumpster... it will come back.. take it to a park or somewhere far far away

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Bill

Ctrl-Alt-Del - works for me!

iamnormal

In alot of places it is unlawful to relocate vermin unless it is to another part of your oun property.

Its not right to move your problem to were it could be a problem for someone else.

kazoo

Personally, I'm damned impressed with this mouse, in that he has his own site. Is it mouse.com or what? Holy homonyms, Batman!

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FngKestrel

I had to deal with a mouse in my house at one point. Let me tell you, yeah, you want to be humane and nice and all that, but rest assured, that mouse is doing what he does with no regard for you. You can argue that he's just acting in his nature, but when you find piles of mouse shit, stained carpets, and chewed up papers, it's time to draw the line.

I have used sticky traps, traditional mousetraps, and homemade contraptions. You definitely need to check the traps regularly. I saw a mouse get caught on a sticky trap. It scurried quickly across the ground, took about 3 steps on the trap and realized it was screwed. In trying to free itself, it just made things worse. I ended up taking the mouse outside and killing it. On another sticky trap, I had been lax in checking it, and when I checked on the trap, I saw bits of fur and blood on the trap. The mouse had obviously learned its lesson and the sticky traps were of no use anymore.

When I finally resorted to the traditional mousetrap, I took my friend's advice and used peanut butter. The peanut butter sticks a little better to the mouse and the trap and makes the trap more likely to go off. That finally got the mouse.

Now let me tell you about this mouse. My friends have seen this mouse over a few years and used to call it Rambo. This mouse was brazen enough to climb up onto our kitchen counter top, scurry around for a few minutes, jump off the counter top and, as my friend describes it, give him the finger while running away to his mouse hole by the stove.

The other problem with the mice if you don't take care of them immediately is the reproduction. Yeah, you've killed him, but his children will haunt you equally. In addition, everytime it starts to rain, you have to wonder if more mice are seeking refuge in your home.

The advice about the steel wool is handy. Preventive measures are usually less costly and ghastly.

Your roommate may think that the mouse has a right to life, but you're equally entitled to a life free from things like Hanta virus.

gonadman

I wouldn't worry too much about Hanta virus due to its rarity, but depending upon where you live, remember mice serve as host to the nymph of the tick that causes Lyme Disease. Here in the East, it has been shown that reducing the mouse population reduces the incidence of Lyme Disease.

With that being said, most large hardware stores carry Havahart traps. It is very effective in catching mice without hurting them. I've been using one for years around my house(actually much more successful than traditional mouse traps).

Another reason to get rid of the mice- their nests smell. We had an awful odor in our bathroom for weeks and couldn't figure it out. I was convinced there was mold behind the walls. Until I discovered the cover on an ouside vent was slightly open. This was the vent that exhausted the air from the bathroom fan. I tore apart the 20 feet or so of vent pipe in the basement and found a large mouse nest in it- the smell was permeating into the bathroom via the exhaust fan!

Anyway, whatever you do, make sure you deposit that mouse far away- several miles at least. I don't think you'll get arrested for that!

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Philangicality

My dad taught me to use a simple spring action mouse trap, like in cartoons, baited with peanut butter. They can't resist it.

james t kirk

Just make sure it's a female cat.

The male cats tend to not care less about mice as long as they are fed. That mouse could run right across the nose of a dozing male cat and he won't even twitch a wisker.

A female cat will go nuts till she kills that mouse.

It' s kind of like those mutual of Ohama shows that show the male lions just sunning themselves while the females go out and do the hunting.

kazoo

You can always undertake this as a science fair project. Start with two small pieces of metal mesh. Ensure the upper piece of mesh has openings greater than 10mm square. Isolate the two pieces electrically with some nylon standoffs or other dielectric material. From an old TV, remove the horizontal output or high voltage tripler assembly. Be careful, as the second anode socket which connects to the picture tube has a voltage potential exceeding 20kV. Connect the two sides of the HV assembly to the two screens assembled in step 1. Bait with peanut butter, and wait. When you hear BVVVVVVVT you've proven the effectiveness of your own homemade mouse-zapper. Be certain to de-energize the circuit before removing crisp remains.

The preceding is for humor purposes only. Do not attempt. You could shoot your eye out.

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There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity -Big Daddy

superiorrain

Tools needed: Milk Bottle or someother bottle with a wide opening, chocolate.

You place some chocolate in the bottle then place the bottle against a wall in the place where you think the mouse is. Place the bottle at a 55+ degree angle so when the mouse climbs in then it won't be able to crawel out. Leave it over night and in the morning it should be in th bottle then you take the bottle with the mouse is and release it far away from you're house.

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FngKestrel

Build a better mousetrap?

Justsomeguy

If you have good home insurance, I reccommend a .45. It gets rid of the mouse so none of you will have to deal with a live or a dead mouse. If you want to explain what happened to your "vegetarian friend," tell him that he put on his invisibility cloak and snuck into the apartment next door.

BoltedDown

I caught 12 mice with a trashcan, paper towels, and sunflower seeds.

Lay one or two paper towel squares over the top of the trash can. BTW, the can needs to be tall, as they can jump! Place about a dozen seeds on the towels and let it sit next to a counter or table and check back in the morning. I can almost guarantee a catch!

IndianaGirl

wow.. these are a lot of good ideas.. I would love to get a cat.. but unfortunatly, I'm not allowed a pet according to the lease. I really like the idea about trapping them using everyday stuff. You all helped a whole bunch and I will let you know if I come up with anything!!!!

Not Normal

I accidentally proved superiorrain's bottle strategy. We have mice in the house. I happened to leave a full bottle of olive oil on the counter, next to the wall, one weekend. When I came back, the bottle had turned into Mouse Jonestown. Many mice drowned in the bottle. I thought that was spiffy but my wife didn't.

I started looking around the Web for other mouse control solutions and found a good info source:
http://www.ipmofalaska.com/files/housemouse.html
This was a good site because I was about to buy an "ultrasound" mouse deterrent, but the site said it's a waste of money.

A friend sprinkled essential oil of lavender around and that seems to repel them a little bit but not 100%. But if you have only one mouse, this might be a solution for you.

HeAtHeN

That'd be the Deer Mice. We had them at work... got a cat... problem solved.

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Grancey

We had a serious mouse problem when I was living in Mississippi. Every fall we were invaded. After four years we discovered this...........it worked like a charm, and we never had problems with mice again. It's a no-kill pest control product.

http://www.grfrequencies3.com/items/...rol_deluxe.htm

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MSD

I don't see the problem. You want to kill it, not eat it