Update: I caught a mouse humanely

[Ginevra]

Last night I set up two of the humane traps recommended here and this morning, one had a cute little (live) mousie in it. I know it’s a small matter but I feel much better about this than standard traps, which dh is planning to set because he noticed droppings. I’m not telling him about the live traps yet, or maybe ever. 
 

Im sure in the grand scope of life, one humanely caught-and-released mouse is pretty insignificant, but I feel good about it anyway. 

[CTVKath]

I like the humane traps too. And my husband prefers the standard traps. LOL. Whenever we notice droppings, I try and get the humane traps out first. If we catch a critter, my kids are more than happy to take him across the creek and release. They are soooo cute!!!

[DawnM]

My understanding is that if you set them free anywhere near your home, they come back.   

Our school used the sticky traps and I thought that was horrific, so I bought the snap traps to kill them immediately and used those in my office.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, DawnM said:

My understanding is that if you set them free anywhere near your home, they come back.   

Our school used the sticky traps and I thought that was horrific, so I bought the snap traps to kill them immediately and used those in my office.

They might come back, but I live on ten acres in the woods; getting the *same* mice back inside is probably not the likeliest problem. We do have a cat and that is a pretty good déterrant actually, but there are bound to be places mice get in that the cat doesn’t patrol. (<<<clearly a reason I need more cats…) 
 

I have a sneaking suspicion that the “they will come right back” argument has been perpetuated by people/companies selling kill traps and poisons. Not saying it’s a lie; just saying the people who started that rhetoric are most likely people who want you to buy kill traps and poisons and not to have a heart for a little animal. I mean, was there some scientific study done, in which live-trapped mice were painted with a colored dot, entered in a database, and then found to be the same mice coming back in the house over and over again? Doubtful. 

[vonfirmath]

9 minutes ago, Quill said:

They might come back, but I live on ten acres in the woods; getting the *same* mice back inside is probably not the likeliest problem. We do have a cat and that is a pretty good déterrant actually, but there are bound to be places mice get in that the cat doesn’t patrol. (<<<clearly a reason I need more cats…) 
 

I have a sneaking suspicion that the “they will come right back” argument has been perpetuated by people/companies selling kill traps and poisons. Not saying it’s a lie; just saying the people who started that rhetoric are most likely people who want you to buy kill traps and poisons and not to have a heart for a little animal. I mean, was there some scientific study done, in which live-trapped mice were painted with a colored dot, entered in a database, and then found to be the same mice coming back in the house over and over again? Doubtful. 

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/23753/can-mice-find-their-way-back-to-your-home-from-1-miles-away

 

Quotes a study by CDC where just this was studied for mice.

[MEmama]

Mice are smart though, like rats. Rats learn very quickly even by watching each other, and they never forget a trick. I wouldn’t be surprised if mice are similar—if they have already successfully entered a shelter, it seems they are likely to remember where it was. All our neighbors who trap squirrels and chipmunks take them miles away in a vain hope they won’t return. We do it too, but I doubt they forget where their winter stashes of acorns are. 

We had a house that had *rats* (shudder) in the garage. I discovered them when I moved the compost bin out to the curb and one scurried right over my foot ((double shudder). We had exterminators out, but even they told us that rats are nearly impossible to permanently get rid of. After winters spent cursing the unattached garage, I was suddenly very thankful they didn’t have direct access into the house. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/23753/can-mice-find-their-way-back-to-your-home-from-1-miles-away

 

Quotes a study by CDC where just this was studied for mice.

Fascinating! I guess that proves one thing: everything is studied on govt funds, lol. 
 

If I were to debate anything about that study, I would zero in on the term “infestations.” Are two field mice an infestation? Is their “homing instinct” triggered to drive them back to my house when they have been there for just a few weeks, when the weather cooled? *shrug* I don’t know. 
 

If it turns out that, months from now I’m still catching live mice, again and again and again, then I will re-evaluate. 

[DawnM]

13 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/23753/can-mice-find-their-way-back-to-your-home-from-1-miles-away

 

Quotes a study by CDC where just this was studied for mice.

17

 

In the "Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal" issued by the CDC, there is a report of a trial that involved one pinyon mouse (P. truei) and 19 deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus).

The trial apparently demonstrated that when removed from the location of the infestation and dislocated at to different distances ranging between 50m and 1200m (0.03 miles to 0.75 miles), adult deer mice made their way back almost every time.

Other age groups of deer mice took a longer time to return (up to two weeks) but many of them were found near the original location within 24 hours of release[[2]].

[Guest]

PS.: If I do have to re-evaluate live trapping, it wouldn’t be the first time I had to concede that the less humane practice was superior. Case in point: de-beaking chickens. I thought this was a horrible practice until I acquired two chickens with intact beaks who murdered my older hens. 

[catz]

I don’t  know.  We have live released a dozen mice over the past years.  4 late this summer actually.  And none ever came back.  It’s more like they accidentally got in.  This last bunch was a mom and babies.  We do have 2 cats too. The cat did get 1 baby when they were tiny this time but really aren’t actual killers.  It took us a couple days to trap the mom and give her the boot.  She was a mouse savant and deserved her freedom.  😂💕  If they are smart enough to return, they are smart enough to know they don’t want to reside with an actual predator.  

Edited October 28, 2021 by FuzzyCatz

[catz]

Oh, one thing I was going to mention that a house inspector told me once is if you have a basement, check your foundation for cracks, etc and double check your door seals.  We rarely get mice compared to our neighbors and when we do we double check that and we rarely have a mouse again for at least a year or 2 if we find an issue.   We have a 3 season porch at the back of our house without a foundation, we've done some hole filling in there too.  You can buy certain caulk to fill in cracks.

Our next door neighbor whose house is probably less than 20 feet from us has killed a couple dozen mice in just the last few months in his basement!  Which is absolutely crazy town. This mouse family we just had (and it was very clear it was one family) was the first mice we've had in ages and it's been a couple months since we evicted them.  I'm sure having cats makes it less likely too.  

[gardenmom5]

if you want to release them - they have to be released a long way away from your home or they will come back.  Like - TWO MILES away if you don't want them to come back.  Otherwise, you'll be catching the same mouse over and over.

considering the thousands (not exaggerating) of dollars in damage we've had caused by mice - I have no sympathy for them.  We feed their corpses to other wild critters.  And I've found dead (and desiccated) mice in the garage that trapped themselves in boxes.  

now - kitty loves prowling around outside, and leaves them on the deck.

eta: we had an infestation in our garage - never in the house.  after changing our trap method (from glue, poison, and snap, which hardly caught any) to rolling log baited with peanut butter and a bucket (which you can do as a live trap if you prefer) we caught 30 over a three- four month period.  now, we rarely see any, and usually right after they've found their way into the garage.  (and before they can do damage.)

Edited October 28, 2021 by gardenmom5

[catz]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/23753/can-mice-find-their-way-back-to-your-home-from-1-miles-away

 

Quotes a study by CDC where just this was studied for mice.

This may be true. But it would be interesting to see how it went for people who had a cat or dog in the house.  I suspect that is a good deterrent.  Like I said, we've released mice many times and we just take them down to the park a few blocks away and have never had a reinfestation within a year.  Our cats make it obvious when we get a mice in the house.  

[MEmama]

We once lived in a house (divided into two apartments- one up, one down) that had mice. They lived in the wall behind our bed separating our sleeping space (the former dining room) from the kitchen. We heard scurrying about all night, and ofc there was plenty of evidence in the kitchen. When we moved we discovered they had been living under our bed as well. Ewwww.

Our landlord who lived in the upstairs unit had 3 cats and we had a hunter dog. Little good any of them did on the mouse population. 
 

Edited October 28, 2021 by MEmama

[WildflowerMom]

Which traps did you try and which one worked?    
 

 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

Which traps did you try and which one worked?    
 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Release-Outdoor-Mousetrap-Catcher-Capture/dp/B07PDPVZBP?pd_rd_w=lCbw0&pf_rd_p=fa602f5a-9bb2-4470-9137-ba5fba954279&pf_rd_r=DNJE6B61J3XHCG2C14J4&pd_rd_r=b1d50b74-520f-47e4-b547-35592ba5704b&pd_rd_wg=RcI64&pd_rd_i=B07PDPVZBP&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_m_rp_7_sc
 
This worked. I baited with a peanut butter cracker. 

[Danae]

3 hours ago, Quill said:

Fascinating! I guess that proves one thing: everything is studied on govt funds, lol. 
 

If I were to debate anything about that study, I would zero in on the term “infestations.” Are two field mice an infestation? Is their “homing instinct” triggered to drive them back to my house when they have been there for just a few weeks, when the weather cooled? *shrug* I don’t know. 
 

If it turns out that, months from now I’m still catching live mice, again and again and again, then I will re-evaluate. 

When we had an actual infestation we could tell we weren’t catching the same one over and over because they got smaller and smaller each day.  We trapped and released 11 increasingly smaller mice, and then none and no more footprints or droppings.

We released them in the woods directly behind our yard.

[livetoread]

FWIW, the snap traps don't always kill them right away either. My parents used to put them out in their vacation cottage and I was quite traumatized by some of the things I saw right after we heard the snap and went to investigate.

[katilac]

I read a post by an animal welfare person, and they said it's ideal to leave a bit of nesting material and some food when you catch and release. It gives them time to get over the stress and to figure out where to find food and shelter. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

13 hours ago, Quill said:

Last night I set up two of the humane traps recommended here and this morning, one had a cute little (live) mousie in it. I know it’s a small matter but I feel much better about this than standard traps, which dh is planning to set because he noticed droppings. I’m not telling him about the live traps yet, or maybe ever. 
 

Im sure in the grand scope of life, one humanely caught-and-released mouse is pretty insignificant, but I feel good about it anyway. 

We've been using these for years in our aged farmhouse. They love the nutter butter style cookies. They fall for those bad boys every single time. 

I already hated the other style traps and wanted something different but then we had some especially smart mice that learned to avoid the snap traps or somehow would lick them clean but not set them off. So DH caved and let me switch and he's been happy with the change. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

If you're worried about them returning, find woods in a nature preserve or park that is more than a mile away?  

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

If you're worried about them returning, find woods in a nature preserve or park that is more than a mile away?  

I could do that - just take the guy on my way to work - but I think it’s beside the point. I’m sure there are several hundred mice on our property (woods backing to fields) and if one mouse can get in, another can. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m not that fussed about it. 

[Guest]

BTW, I caught another last night. Peanut butter crackers for the win!

[Junie]

Mice also like Snickers.  One found my secret candy stash several months ago. 😞

[Junie]

Quill, I just want to say that I admire your effort to catch mice this way.

[BlsdMama]

On 10/28/2021 at 8:49 AM, Quill said:

They might come back, but I live on ten acres in the woods; getting the *same* mice back inside is probably not the likeliest problem. We do have a cat and that is a pretty good déterrant actually, but there are bound to be places mice get in that the cat doesn’t patrol. (<<<clearly a reason I need more cats…) 
 

I have a sneaking suspicion that the “they will come right back” argument has been perpetuated by people/companies selling kill traps and poisons. Not saying it’s a lie; just saying the people who started that rhetoric are most likely people who want you to buy kill traps and poisons and not to have a heart for a little animal. I mean, was there some scientific study done, in which live-trapped mice were painted with a colored dot, entered in a database, and then found to be the same mice coming back in the house over and over again? Doubtful. 

I actually suspect it's true that mice will seek a way back into a house. Each year, as the fields are cleared here, the mice find their way into places that are warm and where they know there is food - into homes.  

Our front door has a seal at the bottom of the door.  It is SO odd to me that they manage to find their way to that door and gnaw that gasket in an effort to enter the house.  We've caught them in the act or I don't think I'd believe it myself. That said? I hate sticky traps.  There is no reason to torture any animal.  Catch and release or kill it quick, but sticky traps ought to be banned.  They are horrific!