opinions on live catch mice/rat traps

 I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.

Are there any that have worked successfully for you ? Any I should avoid ?

This is all out war all suggestions welcome. About the cat, there is
already one in the neighbourhood that sits on our roof and looks longingly
down at our windows!

Thanks
anita

  wrote:

You should avoid anything that live-traps either mice or rats, but especially
rats. They're vermin. They carry diseases that harm humans. They harbor fleas
that carry worse diseases. Live-trapping and releasing them only shifts these
problems to someone else's neighborhood (or perpetuates them in your own, if
you're so foolish as to release them close to home).


Forget live-trapping. This is war, remember?

Conventional spring traps work very, very well when baited with a raisin.
Smush it down onto the bait pan good and tight, and the mouse will tug at it
to try to get it off, and SNAP! Minus one mouse.


If you have mice in your home, a cat will do a good job - just take care that
you don't feed the cat too much Purina Kitty Chow. You want to keep him just a
little bit on the lean and hungry side, so he has more incentive to go after
the mice. You don't want another Garfield. Also make sure to set the mouse
traps in places that the cat cannot possibly get to, because you don't want
broken paws.

Regards,
        Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

 
While a cat is good at getting the mice it can see, the mice in the walls
will remain there. Nervous mice will be the result and they won't go away.
Most house cats don't know how to kill a mouse.

Best to seal up all holes that lead to the outside/inside. Check around the
foundation and the sill plate. Don't forget they can climb so look at other
places. If successful there will be an odor as the mice die. Mice can live
there entire life without a sip of water. If you don't feel like doing it
yourself, get an exterminator to catch the mice/rats and seal the entry
ways.

I had a tenant that had two cats that were regularly catching mice. Most of
the time they weren't dead. But the point is the mice kept coming in.

Rats are another issue. And I've heard stories where they've chewed through
concrete, probably just to widen a hole.

 
anita wrote:

avoid ?

longingly

Forget about live-traps.  What are you going to do with the vermin
after they are in the trap??  Not release them causing problems for
someone else I hope.

Harry K

 On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 01:19:22 GMT, someone wrote:


If you do this, all you will do is teach the mice to avoid the traps.
Your house will still be infested.

Kill them.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.