Learning how to catch a mouse requires a different approach than simply devising a way to kill off a rodent infestation. While simply poisoning these creatures may be convenient and quick, there is much to be said for catching mice rather than killing them off with insecticide. The latter method of mouse control may leave you with problems that are worse than mice. If you want to avoid the violence involved in catching or killing mice, then you can also find humane mouse traps that will reduce the suffering involved and even allow you to set the mice free at a location distant from your home.
How To Get Rid Of Mice
Before learning how to get rid of mice, there are a few steps that you should take in order to ensure that you mouse problem does not simply happen again. It would be a waste of time, money and effort to catch mice while you are simultaneously encouraging them to infest your home with some bad habits that are easily changed.
Take your house cleaning methods more seriously. Having mice in your home does not mean that you are messy. It really does not take much to attract these creatures into your home. The slightest bit of carelessness with food crumbs can bring them running from a distance.
Furthermore, these hardy rodents are also capable of surviving on the smallest scraps of nutrition. Once they have made a home inside your home, they can be hard to expel. They breed prolifically, so trying to catch them while they have easy access to food is hopeless. They will just keep replacing their numbers unless you affect the ease of their existence.
To prevent them from enjoying themselves in your home, clean up all eating surfaces after using them. Spray them with the most powerful cleaner that you are willing to use. If you have children, take extra steps to ensure that you have removed all traces of food from underneath tables and chairs.
Most people with rodent problems do not take good enough care of the food in their pantry. They leave open cereal boxes and bags of chips lying open or merely clipped shut. These are not good defenses against mice. They can smell the odor of food escaping through these apertures. Once they locate these boxes and bags, they will chew right through cardboard if they know that there is food inside.
After you open a food container, pour the food into another container that you can seal or firmly cover. Even if mice encounter the food, thick plastic or glass will prevent them from getting at it.
After sealing all your food containers, seal your house. There is no point in catching and expelling all the mice in your house if you are going to let them return. Mice can squeeze through cracks that are just a quarter-inch wide. This means that they can creep under doors and through the gaps in your windows. Seal these areas with rubber or repair them so that mice are prevented from getting back inside your home.
How To Catch A Mouse With Traps
Once you have improved the sanitation in your house and a ready to live mouse-free, get some traps to catch the stubborn rodents that are still present. You will need to do more than simply leave the traps lying around while you hope to catch some mice. This is a dangerous ploy because you or your loved ones could step into traps that are carelessly laid. Also, this approach will be ineffective if it is not strategic.
- Find places that you think the mice are frequenting. This would include both food storage locations and areas where you do not keep any food. These rodents will often choose unused areas to make their dens. Lay multiple traps in these areas because catching them one at a time will probably not solve your problems.
- Bait the traps. You may want to spend money on special baits made by pest control companies. However, many experts say that a small scoop of peanut butter will do the trick just as well as any scientifically prepared concoction.
- Check the traps regularly, at least once a day.
- When you hear or see that a mouse is trapped, put on thick gloves and a breathing mask before approaching it. You do not want to risk being bitten. Breathing near these rodents has caused the Hanta virus in the past, so you also want to avoid that risk.
Humane Mouse Traps
If you want to know how to catch a mouse with the least violence possible, you can either look for humane mouse traps on the internet or make your own. Most schemes involve leaving the bait inside a container that shuts itself after the mouse enters. This later allows you to free a mouse that has not been injured in a trap.