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O/T the great mouse trap mystery

N

Nancy Howell

Well-known Member
Some of you will probably remember my post about a month ago about the missing mouse trap. I did find it with a partially consumed mouse.

I disposed of the partially consumed mouse and reset the trap. After catching a few more, the trap disappeared again. I looked around the tack room and couldn't find it.

Decided it must be a rat to be able to carry off the whole trap and set the much larger rat trap. Whatever it was ate the bait, but didn't spring the rat trap.

Sooo, back to the mouse trap. Set another mouse trap and it disappeared and is nowhere to be found.

Bought some "new, improved" mouse traps. The bait holder is about an inch square (which I don't like). Sunday evening I set the new fangled trap and tied a piece of bailing twine around it to keep it from disappearing. Monday when I checked it, it had been sprung and dragged to the end of the twine, but all all it had in it was a pinch of grey fur.

Soooo, back to the rat trap. I took a twist tie and tied it through the bait holder, clipped off the ends to where it was about 3/8 of an inch long and put some bacon grease on it and on the bait holder. Tied the bailing twine to it and set it. Checked it this morning and the bacon grease had been eaten off, but the trap wasn't sprung.

Sooooo, back to the mouse traps. I think the bait holder on the new traps is too large and the trap springs before the mouse is really on the trap. Since its plastic, tonight I'm going to cut the bait holder down and see how that works.

Sooo, the great mouse mystery continues.

Hmmm, maybe I'll move the refrigerator I have in the tack room. Bet I'll find the missing traps.
 
is this the white plastic ones that use 1 hand to set it like pulling the hammer on a gun? they work great maybe you need to get the larger version to catch the RAT.
 
Don't mess with any new fangled mouse trap get some of those old fashioned wood ones that bite at least once every time that you set them. I have used all kinds and like they say you can't invent a better mouse trap.
Walt

PS besides there cheaper
 
I used to have mouse traps disappearing too. Then I began screwing a larger piece of wood under them, like the same width and maybe 8 or 10 inches long. Also makes it easier to handle when you're setting them. With the cats I have now I didn't catch any mice last year in the traps.
 
Any chance your mouse/rat is a opossum?? Try a small leghold trap or, if you are opposed to that, a box trap. A #0 or #1 leghold will catch a rat too if that's what it is.

Anyhoo, good luck. I can't wait to see what you end up with.

Tim K in NW Ohio ~ In the process of trying to get opossums out of the hog barn.
 
These are wood. The "new fangled" is the bait holder which also holds the metal piece down that holds the spring loaded bar down (if you"ve set mouse traps you know what I mean). Its a piece of plastic about 1 inch square instead of a piece of metal about 1 1/2 long x 3/8 wide.

I"m hoping when I move the refrigerator that"s out in the tack room, I"ll find my old traps which work.
 
I generally use a piece of dry cat food jammed tightly into the bait holder. Works great on the mouse trap.

Used the twist tie and bacon grease because bait holder on the rat trap wasn't shaped the same as the mouse traps and the bait is not held securely. The last time I set the rat trap and used dry cat food like I do with the mouse traps, the bait was gone, but the trap wasn't sprung.
 
This's a bad sign...
Just like antibiotics kill off the weak germs and leave the stronger ones to replicate, we're catching the dumb mice and leaving the smarter ones to breed...
Pretty soon they'll be all around us...just waiting...LOL
 
its james, he is swiping the traps and selling them on craigslist. he told me about it the other day when we were sittin in the tavern havin some brewski's.
 
I find the plastic baitholder ones work better, load em with peanut butter.

I didn't have some troubles with missing traps, so I went to rats traps with the plastic paddles. Sometimes have to bend the wire or deburr the end. Test it with a piece of straw.

I find now I don't even need to bait them, I just put them along the edge of a wall, and in corners. The mice run along walls and will go over the trap onto the paddle.
 
Nancy here is yet another foolproof mouse trap. Take a solid metal trash can or barrel (empty) and just run a board at an angle from ground to top of can. Put some peanuts or a dab of peanut butter in the bottom. The rats or mice jump in but can"t jump out. YOU have to kill them though. I have even caught a possum this way.
 
I"ve been a big fan of the glue traps recently. I run a screw into a board so they can"t walk away, but they have been very nice to work with. Wife grabs a pair of pliers to carry out the "live" ones, but chipmunks can"t seem to get away. A pellet gun works also once stuck. Little more expensive, but you never have to guess if he was in there at one time.
 
Well I can only add my experience but maybe it will help. As someone else posted I have never had better luck with any other bait than peanut butter. I hate the new hippie traps with that big plastic thing so I found some of the old style at the dollar store and stocked up on them. Carefully smother that trigger with pb and set the trap. If youre having them walk off on you just screw em to a bigger board. I did once catch one so big that it just caught his front leg/shoulder and he was flipping that thing all over the tack room when we went in there. Best of luck, with the price of a bag of feed I cant afford to share it with critters!

Caleb in TX
 
Aww come on now, you gonna try to hide like the Rat in the topic see your hidin in names again.

But you will be found, so don't go far I think This old Pa Turdbird dog just might send you a Christmas card if you behave.
 
oh crud... now you got me thinking about somekind of monster in the tack room... Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the water again.



We put our feed, and cat food in large full size garbage cans.. so the cats have to eat in the same room as the horse food. but it is self serve as we just leave the lid off the cat food. no monsters in my tack room. but do have a lot of happy fat cats sleeping on the horse blankets...

Nancy.. dont keep us in suspense,,, let us know... Bill and Sheryl..
 
I agree with the others about the old style wood traps and peanutbutter, that"s what I used for years. Last year I bought a couple of those electronic mousers and have been pleasently surprised. We were catching 2-3 mice a month and in the last year we haven"t seen any sign. We bought 2 more for the house on the river and got one for my Mom. So far so good. We live in the hills of Arkansas so critters are a problem.
 
bit more expensive and smelly but put a bowl of beer out there the rats and mice will drink it but they cant burp fart or puke so they will bloat up and die
 
I too have not had good luck with the ones with the plastic bait pans. Back to the old ones with the metal tabs. Also have had little luck with the plastic clam shell type traps. All I have been able to buy lately are Victor traps. Their bait tabs are on a separate staple. I used to buy a different brand where the bait tab swiveled on the hinge pin across the middle of the trap. Those were even better! Wish I could find them again. Have been tieing a 8" or so string to the rear of my traps, fasten a 2 or 3 ounce wheel weight to other end of string. Had a couple wander off in the barn recently. Then I caught a small RAT in a replacement trap. Got him right on the head! No wonder traps were wandeing off.
 
My cat will turn up his nose to fresh caught mice unless they're found sitting on top of his cat food in the bowl!
 
Might not work if the glennster and I have to sleep in the tack room when we bring "their" horses down - probably goin to need a fair sized bowl to keep us in line.
Guess we'll have to bring our "mouse" cat along as well for protection! Had one mouse delivered this morning in front of my wife's chair - hope it was from the basement.
Jim
PS: glennster didn't make the run already - did he?
 
No, we haven't sent [b:654c4848f0]glennster[/b:654c4848f0] the "new" map.

All Nancy's horses are now at the farm in East Texas; except the ones y'all are bringing her.

She moved them last weekend.

She sure did a good job on the electric fence; I won't even go near it!
 
Nancy, Put a couple of gal. of water in a 5 gal bucket. Smear some peanut butter around the inside of the bucket about an inch or two from the top. Lean a board on the top of the bucket as a "catwalk". Mice fall in and can not get out.
Steve
 
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