Is there an inconspicuous way

[Ginevra]

…to humanely remove a mouse from your sunroom? I’m sitting in my sunroom, doing artwork and I saw a mouse scurry from the chair to under my plant stand. I can hear him under the plant stand. 
I heard this critter a few days ago but I thought it was inside the vent, which is also in that corner. But apparently not. 
If I tell dh, he will immediately set (non-humane) traps. He will not abide a mouse in the house.
 

Is there such a thing as a humane mousetrap? A small, unnoticeable one? 

[PeterPan]

I know somebody who keeps pest deterrents that you plug in your outlets. They make a noise only the pests hear. I don't know if they work for mice but you could see. 

If you set out something *very deep* that the mouse can't climb out of (slippery) and put food in like p-nut butter, you'll probably have him by morning. 

[WildflowerMom]

Here's a DIY humane trap using a coke bottle.

just, for the love of all that is good in the world, don't use a sticky trap.

[WildflowerMom]

Amazon has a green one for around $15.  It's more inconspicuous than the coke bottle.

I specified 'green' because there are several, but the green one has more reviews.  Also, I couldn't figure out how to share the link from the app.  I just typed in 'humane mouse trap'.

Edited October 10, 2021 by WildflowerMom

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

Here's a DIY humane trap using a coke bottle.

just, for the love of all that is good in the world, don't use a sticky trap.

That’s pretty slick!

[mathnerd]

There is. I bought one, set it up in my garage and nothing happened for months. I forgot about it and then one day I heard a huge bang in the garage. I could find nothing wrong and later I saw a mouse jumping crazily around this humane trap. His friend (another mouse) had been caught inside and he was agitated and trying to rescue it. I took the trap in an amazon cardboard box and released the mouse on a hiking trail 8 miles away from my home (no harm done to the mouse).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YFA7HW

If it is a larger animal (rat) then this one works:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0154F09I8

Good luck!

PS: use PB&J on a piece of cheese! or a cheese sandwich cracker.

Edited October 10, 2021 by mathnerd

[gardenmom5]

do you have a habitrail type cage?  I caught a gerbil that was loose in my unfinished basement by setting the entrance at the top, having something for him to climb up - and putting his favorite food inside.  It also had shavings/etc as a cushion for when he fell down inside.  He was fine.

a shallow (but at least a few inches tall) bowl with peanut oil.  Only needs to be 1/2" - not enough to drown it, just enough to cover it in oil so it can't climb out.  (it can't jump in those conditions either.)  

a rolling log mouse trap baited with peanut butter on a five-gallon bucket.  You can put a couple inches of shavings in the bottom and it is an effective live trap.

[Terabith]

Acquire a cat?  

[Condessa]

These ones are humane.

A cheaper option is the glue traps.  If you take the glue trap with the mouse on it a few miles away from your home and spray some vegetable oil on the sticky surface, the mouse will come loose and can just run away.  Just check the glue traps frequently, so a mouse can't get left stuck there for too long.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Condessa

[marbel]

I worked in a building that had a mouse problem, and the facilities folks used glue traps. I am actually pro-deathtrap (prefer the rat zapper which, as you might guess by the name, electrocutes the mouse) but after one time walking into a room and seeing glue traps with live mice trying to escape.... no glue traps ever. 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Acquire a cat?  

I have a cat. That’s not humane, though. 
 

Actually, we have avoided most mouse issues for 27 years because of having cats. 

[Tap]

I have used a ramp and a bucket, but not sure if you can do that without raising suspicion. 

[Terabith]

4 minutes ago, Quill said:

I have a cat. That’s not humane, though. 
 

Actually, we have avoided most mouse issues for 27 years because of having cats. 

Depends on the cat.  I've had some that were cruel and played with their food, and I've had some that dispatch their prey quickly with a single bite to the neck.  

[PeterPan]

11 minutes ago, Tap said:

I have used a ramp and a bucket, but not sure if you can do that without raising suspicion. 

I've seen it work with a side table beside the bucket/deep thing. The mouse skitters up the furniture and down into the depths. But I like the ramp idea in this case, lol. 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Depends on the cat.  I've had some that were cruel and played with their food, and I've had some that dispatch their prey quickly with a single bite to the neck.  

Well, given the number of times I have found just part of a torso, I have to say none of my cats were fussed about humanity. 

[ScoutTN]

An elderly black lab was the best mouser my family ever had. Whacked them with a paw (like little rabbit foo-foo) and left them by the back door for us.

[Selkie]

Thank you for being kind to the wee mousie.❤️

[Tanaqui]

There are humane traps.

However... mice are clever animals. You need to release them pretty far from human habitation or they'll either a. make a beeline straight for your house again or b. pop back into the first human residence they see. And who knows if that human thinks glue traps are evil or not!?

And... there's a reason they're called "house mice". They *can* survive in the wild... but not for very long. Their fate is to end up in some bigger animal's belly. Plus, as social animals, being rehomed far from their home and all their friends is... well, it doesn't help them survive longer.

With that said, the most important thing isn't to catch this mouse, but to keep any more from getting in. You need to go around your house, remove all brush and scrub from around the exterior so that clever mice can't hide on their way in and are less likely to consider it a haven, and carefully fill up all holes you see (even teensy ones!) with steel wool before caulking them up. You also need to make sure you have no drippy pipes - everything is tightened and insulated, so mice have nothing to drink - and that you don't have any food left out for even a little bit. If a mouse can eat it, it needs to be in an airtight jar or the fridge or the garbage, which is removed immediately to the outside.

[Danae]

We have had excellent luck with this one, and you could easily place it behind the furniture where it wouldn’t be noticed.  Unless your DH happens to be in the room when it’s triggered— then he’ll hear the door close.  Spicy food worked better than cheese or peanut butter as bait when we had mice.

[Wildcat]

10 hours ago, marbel said:

I worked in a building that had a mouse problem, and the facilities folks used glue traps. I am actually pro-deathtrap (prefer the rat zapper which, as you might guess by the name, electrocutes the mouse) but after one time walking into a room and seeing glue traps with live mice trying to escape.... no glue traps ever. 

Those are horrific and should be outlawed.

 

We had luck with one like this: https://www.amazon.com/Release-Outdoor-Mousetrap-Catcher-Capture/dp/B07PDPVZBP/ref=sr_1_7?crid=2QO1L56EGM3ST&dchild=1&keywords=humane+mouse+trap&qid=1633871179&sprefix=humane+mouse+trap%2Caps%2C525&sr=8-7

As mentioned upthread, they are smart. We had a mouse who had babies (ugh) and were only able to catch three or four mice in the humane traps before they learned to avoid it, so we had to resort to the snap & kill ones for the last few, which we hated but was necessary.  

I also agree with using PB on a cracker. Not a single mouse went after the various cheeses we tried (cheddar, Swiss, brie, and a couple more), but once I put PB on the cracker, we had a 'customer' within an hour or so.