Using the best mouse traps is the only way you can get them in just one night; sometimes you might even catch them in just minutes. Of course, you can’t just place them anywhere and expect to get that kind of result. You have to know the tricks to using and placing those traps. Don’t worry though, I won’t leave you in the dark. I’m here to tell you exactly what to use and how to use it. Just be ready to toss them out in the morning.
Types of Mouse Traps
If you’ve already started looking at which mouse traps work and are worth buying, you already know there’s a bunch to choose from. It can be a little overwhelming trying to decide which one will be worth your hard-earned money.
Don’t let the number of traps overwhelm you. Traps designed for mice can be simplified into just two types:
- No kill traps
- Kill traps
No Kill Mouse Traps that Work
No kill traps, also known as humane mouse traps and live capture traps, are designed to catch mice alive. The idea behind them is you catch them alive and then you release them outside; hoping they never find their way back in.
Humane mouse traps will never beat kill traps, but if killing them is something you’d like to avoid, then this one is the only one worth using. There are quite a few options out there, but in my personal opinion, there isn’t really a lot of no kill mouse traps that work. The only that I have found to really work is the Victor Tin Cat Live Mouse Trap, or others that are identical in design.
Before you get too excited and run off to figure out which one I’m talking about exactly, read these little warnings first. Make sure you close all the possible entrances to your home though. Unless you release them far away (like at least over half a mile away), there’s a good chance they’ll make their way back in. Closing all those openings is a topic on its own, so it won’t be covered on this page. If you’d like to learn more about live captures traps, I do have a page dedicated to teaching you how to get mice alive.
Victor Tin Cat Live Mouse Trap
If you don’t feel like snapping their tiny little necks, the Victor Tin Cat is probably one of the best live capture traps available on the market. In fact, it is the only one (not the brand in particular, but the design of the trap) that I can honestly say works. It’s quite affordable and you can reuse it over and over again (you’ll probably want to wash or sanitize it after each use).
It’s quite sturdy being made out of metal (tin). It can catch and hold up to 30 mice. Although, if you’re serious about their well-being, you’ll want to check the traps every 24 hours and release them to avoid any deaths from starvation, dehydration, or cannibalism.
To get the most out of this trap, make sure you bait is generously. Place bait in all four corners of the trap. However, don’t place the bait too close to the vent openings. You want to lure the mice into the trap with the bait, not provide them with a no strings attached meal. Another trick is to thinly spread a little peanut butter on the entrance ramps.
You’ll want to place these in areas where there is easy access to food. Otherwise, if you notice any particular spots in the house with a large amount of mice droppings, that’s where you’ll want to place it.
Best Kill Traps
If you just want them gone and you don’t care whether they live, or die then kill traps are truly the best options. There are a number of different kinds of kill traps including:
- The classic spring traps (snap traps)
- Glue traps
- Electronic traps
There are other kill traps out there, but these three are the most common. Of these three, I can only recommend spring traps and glue traps if you’re looking for the best results. Electronic traps work, but they’re too expensive and in my personal experience, they’ve never really worked as well as spring and glue traps.
Spring Snap Traps
Any of the spring traps made by Victor, Catch Master, or Harris are great choices. In fact, they are the best choices if you’re looking for something that will catch and kill them quickly and on the spot. You will find both plastic and wood spring traps, but the best are the ones with a wood board as the base, a metal spring, and the metal wire that will snap down to kill mice.
The plastic traps are nice because you can wash them and reuse them. It’s much easier to wash mouse guts off plastic than wood. But to be honest, that’s a hassle I don’t want to deal with. Plastic traps are also considerably more expensive, so using them as disposable traps is not really a wallet friendly option. But if you don’t mind having to clean the traps once in a while, then it can be a little friendlier on your bank account.
My personal preference and the ones I nominate as the best are the classic traps with the wood base. They’re cheap and are basically disposable. You can reuse them if you choose to, but with the cost being so low for each trap, I find it way more convenient (and worthwhile) to just toss the trap holding the dead mouse. I don’t have to deal with the hassle of prying out the dead mouse, applying more bait and then resetting the trap.
Among the wood base traps, you’ll find they either have metal or plastic triggers. Either one of them will work well, but I like to use the traps with the larger and flat plastic trigger. These allow me to adjust the sensitivity of the trigger for smaller, lighter mice. They’re also great for mice have become a little craftier after having escaped instant death a couple of times.
When baiting these traps, my favorite bait is peanut butter. Solid baits such as nuts, bacon bits, etc. are too easy to steal off the trigger plate. Peanut butter can’ be snatch away; and if they did try to snatch it, they would have to pull on that trigger. The secret to peanut butter is applying a thin layer to the trigger plate. Too much will give them a chance to lick it away without triggering the trap. To find out about more baits you can use, check out the best baits for mouse traps.
If baits aren’t working, or they stop working after a while, switch things up. You can try different baits until they start taking interest in them again. You can also switch to nesting material instead of food. They often like cotton balls, but if you happen to have some spare insulation material collecting dust, try them. Mice love ripping through your insulation, so they wouldn’t mind picking up easy pieces for their nest.
Place snap traps against the wall. Face the trigger facing towards the wall. Mice like to run along walls, so if they don’t take the bait, there’s always the chance that one will jump or run into the trap and trigger it. The inside corner where two walls meet are great places for placing these traps.
Another key point to making snap traps work is quantity. Placing a dozen traps along the wall will drastically increase your chances of catching them. That’s why I like to order a box of them every time because in the long run, it’s cheaper to buy them in bulk.
Glue Traps
Glue traps are highly effective. If used correctly, they are even more effective than spring traps. I’ll let you in on the secret to getting the most out of them in a bit. But before I do, you need to know they aren’t without problems.
The biggest problem with glue traps is they usually won’t kill the mouse on the spot. You have two choices when you catch a mouse using glue traps. You can just toss the glue trap into the trash and let it die. However, this is a very cruel way to kill it. It dies slowly and suffers a great deal from pain, starvation and dehydration. Some of you may not be ok with this.
I personally don’t have a problem killing unwanted mice, but for me, there’s no need to torture it (by letting it die slowly in a glue trap). If I’m going to kill it, I might as well make it quick so it doesn’t suffer. That leads us to the second option; kill it before tossing it in the trash. If the mouse is alive, you might have kill it quickly and toss it out.
With that out of the way, let’s get to making sure those glue traps catch them. The first thing you want to do is buy the right traps. You can find glue traps in two forms: the tray filled with adhesives, and the cardboard treated with adhesives.
The adhesive trays work, but they’re too expensive if purchased in large qualities. You might be thinking you’ll just buy less, but that will be a mistake. Remember what I said about quantity with the spring traps? Quantity is key to successfully catching mice.
The glue traps you want to buy are the cardboard glue traps. You can buy them in bulk for considerably less. Plus, the perforated sides and top can be removed to have a flat trap; making it much more likely and easier for a mouse to enter the trap.
Place them along the walls in areas where you’ve seen them running through. You can also bait the traps as well. Glue traps are easier to bait with solid food. You can sprinkle on some bacon bits, or crushed peanuts. Otherwise, if you don’t want to deal with baits, there are glue traps that come pre-treated with a peanut butter scent to attract them. You can find more details about glue traps here.
The best mouse traps are the ones listed here. But the best for you is the one that fits your needs; whether you’d like to catch them alive, or dead. Another thing to consider is if you’ve already been trying one of these traps and it has not produced the results you would like then it’s worth considering another trap on this list. Don’t forget, traps are a great solution to try, but there’s a whole lot of other things you can try to get rid of them.
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