opinions on live catch mice/rat traps
 

I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.

Are there any that have worked successfully for you ? Any I should avoid ?

This is all out war all suggestions welcome. About the cat, there is
already one in the neighbourhood that sits on our roof and looks longingly
down at our windows!

Thanks
anita

In article , anita wrote:
I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.

Why?

Are there any that have worked successfully for you ? Any I should avoid ?

You should avoid anything that live-traps either mice or rats, but especially
rats. They're vermin. They carry diseases that harm humans. They harbor fleas
that carry worse diseases. Live-trapping and releasing them only shifts these
problems to someone else's neighborhood (or perpetuates them in your own, if
you're so foolish as to release them close to home).

This is all out war all suggestions welcome.

Forget live-trapping. This is war, remember?

Conventional spring traps work very, very well when baited with a raisin.
Smush it down onto the bait pan good and tight, and the mouse will tug at it
to try to get it off, and SNAP! Minus one mouse.

About the cat, there is
already one in the neighbourhood that sits on our roof and looks longingly
down at our windows!

If you have mice in your home, a cat will do a good job - just take care that
you don't feed the cat too much Purina Kitty Chow. You want to keep him just a
little bit on the lean and hungry side, so he has more incentive to go after
the mice. You don't want another Garfield. Also make sure to set the mouse
traps in places that the cat cannot possibly get to, because you don't want
broken paws.
Thanks
anita

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

"anita" wrote in message
...
I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.

Are there any that have worked successfully for you ? Any I should avoid ?

This is all out war all suggestions welcome. About the cat, there is
already one in the neighbourhood that sits on our roof and looks longingly
down at our windows!

Thanks
anita

While a cat is good at getting the mice it can see, the mice in the walls
will remain there. Nervous mice will be the result and they won't go away.
Most house cats don't know how to kill a mouse.

Best to seal up all holes that lead to the outside/inside. Check around the
foundation and the sill plate. Don't forget they can climb so look at other
places. If successful there will be an odor as the mice die. Mice can live
there entire life without a sip of water. If you don't feel like doing it
yourself, get an exterminator to catch the mice/rats and seal the entry
ways.

I had a tenant that had two cats that were regularly catching mice. Most of
the time they weren't dead. But the point is the mice kept coming in.

Rats are another issue. And I've heard stories where they've chewed through
concrete, probably just to widen a hole.

anita wrote:
I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.


Are there any that have worked successfully for you ? Any I should
avoid ?

This is all out war all suggestions welcome. About the cat, there is
already one in the neighbourhood that sits on our roof and looks
longingly
down at our windows!

Thanks
anita

Forget about live-traps. What are you going to do with the vermin
after they are in the trap?? Not release them causing problems for
someone else I hope.

Harry K

On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 01:19:22 GMT, someone wrote:

I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.

If you do this, all you will do is teach the mice to avoid the traps.
Your house will still be infested.

Kill them.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

No no! I have no intention of letting them go.

I've read that the traps that kill teach the live mice to quickly
become "trap shy" thats is why I'm looking at live traps. I'll probably
give them poison bait or something - but definitely no releasing far
away. I do have that much of a civic sense to not to make it someone
else's problem! thanks for the warning anyway!

Besides I dont like having to clean up blood and gore, electric zap-its
are out too because they pee all over the trap when they die and here I
am trying to avoid any contact with their body fluids.

If there was some way to lure them all into one place, and chloroform
them or something that would be good. (I feel like a horrible thing for
plotting thus, but yer right- its them or me)

Still waiting for the magic rat/mice trap solution.

As for the comment about rats chewing through concrete- please please
say its not true, I'm going to have to get a STONE-SEALED house!

Thanks
Anita

In article .com, "an" wrote:
No no! I have no intention of letting them go.

I've read that the traps that kill teach the live mice to quickly
become "trap shy" thats is why I'm looking at live traps.

My experience indicates that they're not that smart...

I'll probably
give them poison bait or something - but definitely no releasing far
away. I do have that much of a civic sense to not to make it someone
else's problem! thanks for the warning anyway!

Besides I dont like having to clean up blood and gore,

There's normally no blood at all from a spring trap. The bar breaks the
mouse's neck, and it dies instantly.

[snip]

As for the comment about rats chewing through concrete- please please
say its not true, I'm going to have to get a STONE-SEALED house!

It's not true. The person who wrote that has no clue what he's talking about.
Rats can't chew through concrete.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

As for the comment about rats chewing through concrete- please please
say its not true, I'm going to have to get a STONE-SEALED house!

It's not true. The person who wrote that has no clue what he's talking
about.
Rats can't chew through concrete.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Doug,

Though my statement "chewed through concrete" *may* have been incorrect,
they will gnaw on anything. Rats must continuously gnaw on anything as their
incisor teeth grow over two inches per year. Try googling "rats concrete",
you may be in for a surprise.

Clark

In article , "Clark Griswold" wrote:
As for the comment about rats chewing through concrete- please please
say its not true, I'm going to have to get a STONE-SEALED house!

It's not true. The person who wrote that has no clue what he's talking
about.
Rats can't chew through concrete.

Though my statement "chewed through concrete" *may* have been incorrect,

It's more than "incorrect" - it's laughably absurd. *You* try chewing on
concrete sometime, and see what gets scratched and broken, the concrete or
your teeth.

they will gnaw on anything. Rats must continuously gnaw on anything as their
incisor teeth grow over two inches per year.

Right - and the constant gnawing wears down the incisors. Hard substances such
as concrete obviously will wear them down faster than softer substances such
as wood.

Try googling "rats concrete",
you may be in for a surprise.

I'm certainly surprised at the amount of bull**** that's on the internet.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "Clark Griswold"
wrote:
As for the comment about rats chewing through concrete- please please
say its not true, I'm going to have to get a STONE-SEALED house!

It's not true. The person who wrote that has no clue what he's talking
about.
Rats can't chew through concrete.

Though my statement "chewed through concrete" *may* have been incorrect,

It's more than "incorrect" - it's laughably absurd. *You* try chewing on
concrete sometime, and see what gets scratched and broken, the concrete or
your teeth.

they will gnaw on anything. Rats must continuously gnaw on anything as
their
incisor teeth grow over two inches per year.

Right - and the constant gnawing wears down the incisors. Hard substances
such
as concrete obviously will wear them down faster than softer substances
such
as wood.

Try googling "rats concrete",
you may be in for a surprise.

I'm certainly surprised at the amount of bull**** that's on the internet.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

While quality control is non-existent on the net, some of the hits for "rats
concrete" is from reputable sources.

Take a good look at what you comment on before you reply "The person who
wrote that has no clue what he's talking about" and "It's more than
"incorrect" - it's laughably absurd".

And if you take a *good* look at those reputable sites you'll find ways to
mix concrete correctly so the little *******s won't break through.

In article , "Clark Griswold" wrote:

And if you take a *good* look at those reputable sites you'll find ways to
mix concrete correctly so the little *******s won't break through.

Like I said - they can't chew through it.

If the concrete was made improperly, all bets are off: poorly mixed concrete
isn't worth much of anything, for any purpose.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "Clark Griswold"
wrote:

And if you take a *good* look at those reputable sites you'll find ways to
mix concrete correctly so the little *******s won't break through.

Like I said - they can't chew through it.

If the concrete was made improperly, all bets are off: poorly mixed
concrete
isn't worth much of anything, for any purpose.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Obviously our thread is going nowhere. So we'll leave it at this: we agree
to disagree.

anita wrote:
I'm looking at getting live catch "wind up traps" to catch mice/rats.


Are there any that have worked successfully for you ? Any I should
avoid ?

This is all out war all suggestions welcome. About the cat, there is
already one in the neighbourhood that sits on our roof and looks
longingly
down at our windows!

We used lived traps before. Dumped the mice we caught during the night
into an old fish tank, figuring we'd relocate the mice in the morning.
Well, by morning, the fish tank was the scene of utter carnage: the
mice had cannibalized each other overnight!!! Disgusting.

My advice:

1) Figure out how they are getting into the house, and plug up those
holes. Admittedly, this can be hard to do. We lived in an old house
with a basement that had far too many holes to plug for this to be a
successful strategy. We did have some luck closing up the holes around
the pipe in our kitchen sink, which was one way the mice were getting
into our apartment. But there was not much to do once they figured out
they could climb up the radiator pipes.

2) More importantly, don't leave food or even crumbs lying around the
house!! Don't let family members eat anywhere except the kitchen or
dining room. Don't leave loaves of bread out on the counter - put them
in a bread box or in the fridge. Put pantry food such as cereal, rice,
oats, etc in sealed metal storage containers. Take your trash out
nightly. No food=no reason to visit your house. We did all of this and
it made somewhat of a dent; unfortunately, our neighbors at the time
kept their root veggies out in the back hall, and this continued to
attract vermin despite our best efforts.

3) Get a cat.

4) All else fails, use poison. Put it where you see mouse poop.

5) If poison fails, move. (This is what we finally resorted to, after
the Thanksgiving dinner in which a mouse decided to come join us in
broad daylight).

jen

On 9 Apr 2005 12:47:04 -0700, someone wrote:

If there was some way to lure them all into one place, and chloroform
them or something that would be good.

To lure them all into one place: Pied Piper of Hamlin?

To chloroform them - seems like even more handling and chance to have
contact with them and get hanta virus from their droppings or bubonic
plague from their fleas.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.