Mouse season is here again and I am fighting the battle at my house. It all started about a week ago when I got home late and was confronted, almost at the doorstep by the most un-afraid mouse I have ever seen. We had sort of a mini standoff. The mouse, unmoving, looked up at me with his defiant little beady eyes. It stared at me for a few seconds before it sort of squeeked and slowly went behind the stove. I knew I had a problem. If you see one you can be sure there are many more.
We sell every mouse and rodent control product imaginable. I have experimented with all of them.
Poisons
I am not a big fan of poison. We have always had pets and almost all rat poisons will hurt animals if they eat the dead rat or mouse. Every time I have ever used a poison I have had an odor problem. I know they all say they have ingredients that will prevent odors but they have never worked for me.
Sonic Rodent Control devices.
We used to sell these in the store and we will order them if someone really wants us to but I don’t think they work. We sell a lot of bird seed and have fought the mouse battle for years at the store. When the sonic devices first became available I set them up all over. One night I came in and a mouse was sitting on one. I guess he liked the warmth. That pretty much ended sonic traps for me.
Live Catch Traps
I am sorry. The logic of live catch traps just escapes me. I dont want to catch them, I want them dead. Rodents have been the enemy of humans since the beginning ot time. A pretty tough enemy too. Remember the plague. I just saw a show on the History channel talking about rats attacking babies. No thanks. I want them gone.
Snap Traps
These work Pretty good. I have found that the best bait is a snickers bar. I don’t especially like snap traps since they are messy. I had a rat once that did’nt die right away and had a BIG bleeding problem on a snap trap. That was not fun to clean up.
Glue Traps
These work. I dont like them though. Last time I used one I walked in the door and heard a pitiful squeeking sound. There was this little mouse completely stuck staring up at me with his sad little black eyes. What do you do with a mouse on a glue trap. There aren’t any good options. I mean, do you just throw it away. How long will it live – until it starves to death. That doesn’t sound like a good option. One of my neighbors drowns them. It worries me a little bit. He seems to enjoy it too much. I eventually just started putting them in a zip lock bag and throwing it away. That seemed to be the most humane way to do it.
Victor Electronic Rat Trap.
This is my favorite of all rodent remedies. It takes 4 C cell batteries. You put a little bait (A small piece of snickers bar works best) in the back of it and sit it next to a wall. The rat or mouse will go in to get the bait and be electrocuted. A light flashes to let you know there is a dead mouse inside. You just dump it in the garbage and put the trap back in place. I caught five this week.