[sarahsweets]

We live in a semi rural area and very often as the seasons Change we get mice.I managed to find the best mouse traps ever very simple you push it down and it traps the mice and they use peanut butter as bait. If I wasn't so worried about the germyness of mice maybe I would just take them outside. But they always come back if I'm not vigilant. The thing is I'm conflicted. I don't like killing anything but it's necessary.

Possible trigger:

Last night 1 was trapped by the head. It was thrashing around and moving and I felt so bad.In a situation like that is it something where I should end it's life so it doesn't suffer? I can't imagine what I would do crushing it or killing it. It just sound so terrible. Is it more humane for me to" help" it along? My daughter was up to and she started to cry I just don't know what to do. We used to get groundhogs in our yd and my dogs are hunters. Very often my little dovg would catch 1 and start to slowly play with it and it was a long suffering death. I sent my husband out one time to sort of end it sooner so the animal wouldn't suffer but even that seem traumatic to me. Am I wrong to feel bad about killing mice? There's no doubt they contain all sorts of germs they are bad for food and their fecal matter is absolutely lethal.But at the same time I'm such a soft hearted fool I'm not really sure what I should do or how I should feel about it. What do you all think? Anyone have experience with this? We don't have an infestation we just get a bunch every so often and we set traps and kill a bunch and then they don't come back for months.

[Raindropvampire]

We used to live where there was a huge field and woods behind our house. You are right when the seasons change they are buggers. We'd always get a few especially when it got cold.

We got some buckets that were too deep for the mice to jump out of. We would put some peanut butter in them after making sure the mice had a way to get to the top of the bucket. Every day we'd check the buckets and if any were in the bucket my dad would drive it out about 20 miles from the house and let it loose in a cornfield. We did have cats but they mainly stuck to the garage where the cats didn't go. My dad started this after I had a blue fit because he put down some glue traps and yeah never use glue traps they are horrible. My mom had to kill one because there was no getting it out of the glue in one piece but it's head wasn't in the glue so it couldn't suffocate. And that was it we instituted the buckets. Did my dad think it was stupid to drive 20 miles away with a bucket of mice? I'm sure he did but it beat killing them.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[lizardlady]

My suggestion is similar to what Rainbow's father did. Release the mouse a long distance from the house. That's what I've done in the past. There is a wooded area at the back of my house. I turn them loose in the woods.

As for the one that got its head caught, could you open the trap to let it go?

[eskielover]

I also always used the bucket catch & then drove to a corn field OR the vacant unfinished house on the other side on the creek 3 farms away.

However since Gabe Kitty adopted my farm, my house & me last year I have only been able to rescue one mouse before he plays with them to death. I had a mouse running around my family room the other night. Gabe was in the basement. Found it dead in the basement yesterday. I would rather catch & release but can't control Gabe's kitty nature. (He also catches little skinks/lizards) I try to rescue those too....but just put them back outside without relocating.

I have a 10 acre farm....most is woods , a stream through it & a creek behind. Change of season & lots of rain brings inside all kinds of critters. Last year I had a 3ft black snake find it's way into my upstairs bathroom. Heard early morning crashing of stuff off the counter & back of the toilet.
I was surprised when I found a snake was making all the clatter

I just moved into a new apt. They have had mice problems before so I'm anticipating. My mother opened a bottom drawer in the kitchen and it has copious amounts of mouse feces in it. Like it was horrifying. I have to contact the my landlord tomorrow.

I understand feeling bad about killing mice. I don't have an answer for you, I'd feel the same way. I wouldn't put them in a bucket and drive with them, myself. Unless there was a secure lid in it. Its not a bad idea. But yeah.

[mugwort2]

I use one of those electronic pest devices. The sound repels them without harming them. IMO its a good investment, worth the money.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by mugwort2

I use one of those electronic pest devices. The sound repels them without harming them. IMO its a good investment, worth the money.

Lol....those never worked on my farm in my house. Mice would take over anyway.....& I got the expensive electronic ones in every room & my attic & basement. No luck with them

[*Beth*]

I have owned 26 rats and several mice as pets. Rodents are incredibly intelligent, intuitive beings. They keep their nests clean and amazingly well-organized. They are so loyal to each other, and to their owner. Mouse traps, glue traps, rat poisoning, etc. - are inhumane, vicious ways to kill rats and mice. When you kill a mouse, you might very well have killed the mother of a litter. So mom is dead, leaving the babies to slowly starve to death.

It makes me sick to think of that mouse getting it's head caught like that. It must have been in excruciating pain and terror.

Please do some research and find out kind ways of keeping mice away from your home.

I will also suggest that this thread should have a trigger warning on it.

[LuvsHorses]

When a snaptrap works properly, it's an instant kill so the mouse feels nothing. I use them as I get the occasional one in the house. Years ago, in a different place, my super gave me glue traps. After killing one because it was trapped live, I had nightmares that I was killing children, so the next one, I managed to free and took outside. I threw the glue traps out after that. I will never use them again.

They say a cat is the best way to keep mice out, but I'm not a cat person.

Buy bars of Irish Spring soap. Also, look for the nest. Mice tend to create nests underneath kitchen sinks or inside kitchen cabinets or in laundry rooms or bathrooms.

Irish Spring soap bars repel mice 100%. Along with those Wood Mouse Traps w/a smidge of peanut butter you should be able to get them all. But you need to turn the lights off after you set the traps. Or else, the mice won't come out. I once set 10 Wood Mouse Traps in the kitchen. An hour later, after I was in bed reading, I heard the snapping sound of the mouse traps. I was so excited, I ran into the kitchen and saw that all 10 traps had killed mice successfully.

Do you have Orkin spray your house every summer? You may want to have a pest control company come out to your house and do an exterior/interior spray and also look for holes that mice create as a way into your house.

It's ok to feel empathy for the mice and not want to kill them. They are cute but they are disease carriers so that negates their cuteness for me, personally.

If it's too difficult emotionally for you, then just ask your husband to deal with your fall mice invasion.

[eskielover]

Lol... @Motts.....the mice on my farm run around my house even in the daylight & definitely at night even with the lights on. Maybe they know I am mice friendly....it's just my cat that isn't. I have sat in my recliner & watched them run around. Yeah, if I didn't have my cat who adopted my farm last summer I would be back to catch & release into the corn fields way down the road. Gabe is a good mouser but he always leaves them for me to trip over & see what a good mouser he has been

[sarahsweets]

I'm happy to share that I let that 1 mouse go. I think I got it before it was damaged in any kind of major way. I took it outside. So far I haven't seen any others. Usually we will either have 1 or a lot and I'm hoping this was just a fluke. When we have my dear franny cat she would catch all of them. We had to put her down about 5 years ago because she was so sick and it devastated me. I have 2 dogs and when they go I'm getting more cats.