Peanut butter decision—struck me funny (re:🐭🐀 and now also 🐶)

[Pen]

I’m trying to decide whether peanut butter should be chunky or creamy and with or without sugar

...

 

for catching mice!

 

I feel like a mouse servant.

 

🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭

might be my fault for having once named a cute mouse I caught in a live trap and set free .  

She probably told all the other mice and all her children who in turn told all their friends, neighbors and progeny about our home as a great mouse haven .  

🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀

Edited December 14, 2019 by Pen

[TheReader]

LOL! I get it. Dealing with mice makes you want to really get everything right. 

[City Mouse]

For mice, I say the cheaper the better. They won’t care.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I use the mouse hotels (that don't kill them) and they love the nutter butter style cookies a lot.  They don't even care if it is a generic version ✌️

[Kassia]

DH thinks they like crunchy better (based on his own experience).  

[Pen]

About 90% of time now it seems I have to re sign in even if I checked “remember me.”   When I see the site with ads the ads typically relate to something in the thread topic .

so the banner ad this time showed mice and was an ad for an ultrasonic plug in repeller.  

And then something about peanuts popped up.

 

Strange New World.

 

What's with the ads?

 

[Tanaqui]

6 hours ago, Pen said:

She probably told all the other mice and all her children who in turn told all their friends, neighbors and progeny about our home as a great mouse haven .  

🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀

 

Joking aside, yeah probably. Mice will come back even if they're relocated as far as six miles away, so long as they like the first spot better. And even if you relocate them further away they still have to be a good distance from other people's houses or they'll just go pester those folks instead.

[Pen]

5 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

 

Joking aside, yeah probably. Mice will come back even if they're relocated as far as six miles away, so long as they like the first spot better. And even if you relocate them further away they still have to be a good distance from other people's houses or they'll just go pester those folks instead.

 

Probably came “home” and talked to all the mice on the route.  

If someone relocated me and I knew the way home that’s what I’d do too.  

 

[Tanaqui]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

Probably came “home” and talked to all the mice on the route.  

If someone relocated me and I knew the way home that’s what I’d do too. 

 

And you know, if these were pet cats or dogs or rabbits or turtles we'd make inspirational movies about the devotion of a pet to its home and family. But because they're pests and not pets, it's just such a freaking hassle.

I get it, I do. And ultimately you need to shore up your home so mice can't get in to start. But when they're already in, the best solution is probably a snap trap. Because if they do NOT come back to your home, either they went to somebody else's home or they got eaten by a predator or they starved and then got eaten by a scavenger. You might as well get it over with fast.

(Don't talk to me about glue traps.)

And to answer your original question, I don't think they care about chunky or creamy, but I know that my dogs like peanut butter EVEN MORE if I mix in some nutritional yeast. Maybe mice do too.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Tanaqui

[Pen]

11 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

 

And you know, if these were pet cats or dogs or rabbits or turtles we'd make inspirational movies about the devotion of a pet to its home and family.

 

Lol.  

 

Maybe I should be making them their own wonderful mouse house in the yard where they can be happy .   Elsewhere than in the house.  

How do mice normally keep warm and dry in fall / winter anyway? 

 

———-

TRAPS 

I have 24 snap traps out, some peanut butter baited, some granola bar baited.  No mice catches.  

The peanut butter was what I had—no sugar, creamy.  

I got peanut oil and chocolate chips while at store yesterday.  (And a sugary chunky peanut butter!) 

Speaking of dogs (and cats) liking peanut butter etc.  I’ll have to be careful where I put the oil.  

 

Dap foam stuff for trying to better seal them out is on the way.  

 

I would never use glue traps either.  Maintenance used them one place I lived in NYC and I recall a mouse caught by one leg and screaming! 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Pen

[NotSharon]

On 10/10/2019 at 4:57 PM, Pen said:

Ш have 24 snap traps out, some peanut butter baited, some granola bar baited.  No mice catches.  

The peanut butter was what I had—no sugar, creamy.  

I got peanut oil and chocolate chips while at store yesterday.  (And a sugary chunky peanut butter!) 

Speaking of dogs (and cats) liking peanut butter etc.  I’ll have to be careful where I put the oil.  

 

Dap foam stuff for trying to better seal them out is on the way.  

 

I would never use glue traps either.  Maintenance used them one place I lived in NYC and I recall a mouse caught by one leg and screaming! 

So no luck with traps I guess. Sorry for bumping this, but have you tried any repellents? I mean not only substances, both chemical and natural ones, but also ultrasonic devices. I heard a lot about it and even tried one to repel squirrels from my backyard. As far as I know, the devices like this should work with rats and chipmunks as well. Here's I guess you should try it too, here's guide on wikihow.

[Pronghorn]

If your mice are more occasional than chronic, the natural, all-peanut peanut butter can go bad before it gets eaten. In that case, discerning mice may avoid it.

Ultrasonic devices have not worked for us. I think the mice learn to tolerate them.

[alisoncooks]

Talking about mice with discerning tastes, my dad use to insist that the mice he caught preferred toasted pecan. As in, he took a fresh pecan and toasted it. 

[Pen]

I am still having troubles.

@NotSharon I have electronic things plugged in-can’t tell that it helps. 

I have more than one rolling log: nothing

3 types of snap traps: caught a few, but not all and now they are wise and get the bait without getting caught  

peanut oil got a couple, but now they are wise to that

cats are on friendly basis with mice apparently  (a neighbor with similar house advises a Jack Russell Terrier would do better, in their experience) 

Im working on blocking holes to outside, also helpful for keeping winter out, but house is really old and that’s hard! 

 

 

[sweet2ndchance]

I don't pamper the mice and rats we have around here. They get whatever the Dollar Tree has for their last meal. Or if they are really stubborn, they get d-Con mouse block baits. When we use them in the house, we have the little traps that make it so curious pets and children can't get to the poison but mice can squeeze their way in to get it. We've sealed up most of the ways they can get in the house so we don't see them in the house much any more. Steel wool and caulk are great for that.

[Scarlett]

50 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

We had our first experience ever with mice this year when people started building next door and cleared out acreage that had been uncleared for 40+ years-  and they were a much bigger PITA than roof rats in the attic, which is all we had dealt with before.

I'd never had anything get into the actual house, and I'll be honest, it freaked me the F out. Honestly the only thing that worked was exclusion- we hired a company and they came and blocked every single place- even the weep holes- with mesh, and then they kept coming back every week to check the snap traps (they used slim Jims). We actually had the mice that were trapped in the attic eat through the SHEETROCK by one of my water heaters and then come into the house. It was excessively eventful. My dd17 caught a glimpse of one running down the hall into the hot water heater closet and OMG, no one slept for days. The floor of my hot water heater closet was literally covered with snap traps side by side. We set up cameras all over the house to track it. A tiny mouse caused so much havoc and excitement LOL. And of course the kids wanted to tell EVERYONE about it. 

Luckily we have a dog who eats anything living that is not supposed to live in her house (inside or out) and she actually is who took the one out that made it inside, while the cats totally slacked. I have never been so happy to see nature red in tooth in claw in my life. About two weeks after the exclusion was done, we saw no more evidence of activity and after 3 more weeks of clean traps, the Pest Company pronounced us rodent free. But I hope that's a once in a life experience. I vote hire someone if at all possible.  

You are hilarious.  I do hate mice too, but your reaction had me LOL....

Dh goes overboard with the traps.  If we see one he sets up 10 traps.  

We haven't seen any since we got our cat.  Oddly enough the first night we had her she caught one....I had not even realized a mouse was in the house!  I went looking for signs and found nothing, so I wonder if he unluckily got into our house the first night we had a cat.

Edited December 13, 2019 by Scarlett

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Had you asked me before this happened, I'd have never thought a dumb mouse could make me panic so much- I thought I would be so calm and collected.  I mean, I'm the one who kills the snakes, spiders, wasps-  skunks, possums in the chicken coop- you name it. (Except for tree roaches- terrified of those too.)  I've warded off bobcats and packs of coyotes.  But one tiny little mouse and I totally lost all composure and was ready to burn the house down. 😂

The best part of how we realized we had them, is that my oldest saw mouse poop on the top of the stacked cans of canned cat food. It was like the mouse was flipping off the cats, LOL. 

That is hilarious.  It can really mess with your mind...thinking of them crawling all over your dishes and all over your counters.  

[EKS]

I recently found that cheese whiz works better.

[Pen]

3 minutes ago, EKS said:

I recently found that cheese whiz works better.

 

Okay.  I’ll try that next.  

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

We had our first experience ever with mice this year when people started building next door and cleared out acreage that had been uncleared for 40+ years-  and they were a much bigger PITA than roof rats in the attic, which is all we had dealt with before.

I'd never had anything get into the actual house, and I'll be honest, it freaked me the F out. Honestly the only thing that worked was exclusion- we hired a company and they came and blocked every single place- even the weep holes- with mesh, and then they kept coming back every week to check the snap traps (they used slim Jims). We actually had the mice that were trapped in the attic eat through the SHEETROCK by one of my water heaters and then come into the house. It was excessively eventful. My dd17 caught a glimpse of one running down the hall into the hot water heater closet and OMG, no one slept for days. The floor of my hot water heater closet was literally covered with snap traps side by side. We set up cameras all over the house to track it. A tiny mouse caused so much havoc and excitement LOL. And of course the kids wanted to tell EVERYONE about it. 

Luckily we have a dog who eats anything living that is not supposed to live in her house (inside or out) and she actually is who took the one out that made it inside, while the cats totally slacked. I have never been so happy to see nature red in tooth in claw in my life. About two weeks after the exclusion was done, we saw no more evidence of activity and after 3 more weeks of clean traps, the Pest Company pronounced us rodent free. But I hope that's a once in a life experience. I vote hire someone if at all possible.  

 

Thanks.  I will look for someone to do exclusion.  

I think part of problem here is something happened to the hawk population so there’s a mouse surplus. 

Also we did used to have a hunter dog. She preferred coons, but likely also dispatched smaller animals. It was our Dobie mix.  Is it your Dobie who got rid of mouse?  Maybe I want another Dobie.    

.  

It is also possible that these mice mice are so small they aren’t causing the traps to go off... 

 

“Slim Jim” like the meat treat type thing? 

 

I want a varmint dispatcher dog. 

 

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

It was not the Dobie. She looked for it, but she was always a few steps behind it. It was our mutt that is like a Greyhound/Pit Bull mix that I swear has Jack Russel in her too.  She's wicked smart. She about took apart a room going after it, but she caught it! 

And yes- Slim Jims like the faux jerky things. We've always used Truly Nolen (I don't know if they are nationwide or just TX) and that's what they bait with. They also wear gloves when they set the traps- not for hygiene but rather he told me to keep the human smell off the traps. I don't know if mice are as smart as rats, but maybe that will help? Idk. I think without the exclusions we'd never have gotten rid of them. Our chicken coop is a good acre out, but it's like a mouse hotel haven- we can't really get rid of the chickens spilling feed, so the mice have a built in food source, and they nest under the coop where they are safe from the Bobcats, Falcons, Coyotes etc. People swear that chickens kill mice, but ours don't seem that motivated. But better the chicken house than my house! 

 

I don’t think of myself as a terrier person, but might have to change that. 

I wonder if Beagles would deal with mice...

The Cats need to be fired. Useless or worse I think they bring mice home... 

 

[MercyA]

I always had very good success with live traps (the green plastic type found on Amazon). No one should use live traps unless they can check them twice a day and take the mice to a safe(ish) place over a mile away. Snap traps are more humane than letting a mouse starve to death in a live trap.

Obligatory soapbox to anyone reading this thread: Don't use glue traps. They are outlawed in some countries due to their inherent cruelty. Mice have been known to chew off their own limbs in their panic to escape. 😞 Poison causes a slow death by internal bleeding and can also harm wildlife who eat the poisoned mice.

We had no trouble with mice while we had an outdoor (with a very nice room in the garage) kitty. But to be honest--I loved that cat but hated how he tormented and played with mice. A dog is much more humane and efficient. A shake and snap of the neck and it is done. Terriers are of course wonderful mousers but a family member had a dachshund who also excelled at the job. 

[katilac]

7 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I had flashbacks to a thread here long ago where someone mentioned having one run across their feet while they were cooking at the stove-- I was like ACK!! They're going to run up my leg while I'm doing laundry or something, LOL.   

We share a cabin in the woods with my sister. We were up there one weekend and she showered and put on her robe. Relaxed for a while, just hung out, then started walking to the kitchen and casually stuck her hands in her robe pockets - one of which was housing a mouse mama and babies! She always has stuff in her pocket, so when she felt something she pulled it out, looked, screamed, and threw the poor thing across the room. I mean, I guess it was a quick death, and rather horrifically funny. 

I still don't understand how a person doesn't notice a family of rodents in the pocket of their robe. 

[Pen]

17 minutes ago, katilac said:

We share a cabin in the woods with my sister. We were up there one weekend and she showered and put on her robe. Relaxed for a while, just hung out, then started walking to the kitchen and casually stuck her hands in her robe pockets - one of which was housing a mouse mama and babies! She always has stuff in her pocket, so when she felt something she pulled it out, looked, screamed, and threw the poor thing across the room. I mean, I guess it was a quick death, and rather horrifically funny. 

I still don't understand how a person doesn't notice a family of rodents in the pocket of their robe. 

 

That rodent family was probably playing dead, scared to death!

 

[RootAnn]

Our latest adopted stray cat is still inside/outside. He is lethal to small creatures, but, like @MercyA said, he does play with his food first.

The only mouse I remember in the house was before we had a cat. We had just moved in. The house had been empty for several months & we are close to the farm fields. I think DH used a snap trap baited with Jiffy creamy peanut butter but it was a long time ago...

ETA: I know about thinking you will be calm & finding out you are a mess. Our creature-killer was being let in one day when I realized he still had a live animal in his posession. I screeched & closed the screen door so fast I almost caught my own toes in it. Eek!

Edited December 14, 2019 by RootAnn
Added story

[Tap]

On 12/13/2019 at 7:38 AM, Pen said:

I am still having troubles.

@NotSharon I have electronic things plugged in-can’t tell that it helps. 

I have more than one rolling log: nothing

3 types of snap traps: caught a few, but not all and now they are wise and get the bait without getting caught  

peanut oil got a couple, but now they are wise to that

cats are on friendly basis with mice apparently  (a neighbor with similar house advises a Jack Russell Terrier would do better, in their experience) 

Im working on blocking holes to outside, also helpful for keeping winter out, but house is really old and that’s hard! 

 

 

I put the trap in a large can or bucket. Set it on its side, but tipped back at a slight incline and make a bridge to it.  That way they can get in easy, but when they try to get out, they fall backwards into the trap.  I don't like to touch the dead mice (or used traps) so I just toss the trap and mouse into the trash by using the  bucket as a carrier. I don't even have to touch them this way. 

[Pen]

35 minutes ago, Tap said:

I put the trap in a large can or bucket. Set it on its side, but tipped back at a slight incline and make a bridge to it.  That way they can get in easy, but when they try to get out, they fall backwards into the trap.  I don't like to touch the dead mice (or used traps) so I just toss the trap and mouse into the trash by using the  bucket as a carrier. I don't even have to touch them this way. 

 

I also get rid of snap traps that successfully catch a mouse (with gloves on). 

I could try putting the snap trap in a can to try to catch mice who seem to get the bait with out being caught.

Maybe I should take photos of my current traps that aren’t working and people would have ideas...  

[Tap]

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

I also get rid of snap traps that successfully catch a mouse (with gloves on). 

I could try putting the snap trap in a can to try to catch mice who seem to get the bait with out being caught.

Maybe I should take photos of my current traps that aren’t working and people would have ideas...  

Another thought is...how much pb you are putting on. I barely put a smear on, and it is only on the trigger. They have to lick it off. I also try to put some under the trigger. You don't want bits they can lift off and still eat. 

[Pen]

Maybe too much PB.  

 So far my few successes have been with a chocolate chip firmly wedged in place in snap trap.  And a couple of catches in peanut oil.

 

[sweet2ndchance]

Yes, just a smear. You want them to have to thoroughly investigate the trap to get it, not play chicken with it. Too much PB is usually the issue when they are obviously around but not springing the traps. On the the cheapie traps that we get, I try to get as much of the pb as I can inside the little curl of metal at the end of the trigger. They can smell it but they can't just carefully swipe it and try not to set off the trap. It's very likely they never get to eat the pb before they set off the trap looking for it.