Yearly reminder to install your mouse traps. Lost ~15 kg of dry food.
Posted by Native136@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 30 comments
It's that time of year again; I caught 4 mice in the same trap since last night. I went to check my stocks this morning and found that they got into my rice and pasta bags that I hadn't put in buckets yet. 15kg of food wasted.
Unlikely-Ad3659@reddit
I have 6 cats, the only mice I ever see are inside out.
Academic_Win6060@reddit
Year round mouse traps 👍
Never_Really_Right@reddit
We had an infestation at a prior house when they started a bunch of new homes close by. Our (indoor only) kitty would be waiting for her morning food, then after we went back upstairs to get ready for work, would place her catch at the bottom of the stairs for us in return. She wanted, and got, much praise for her work. We could often her here at night. It was the grosset and funniest few months ever. 🤣
We also had lots of traps where kitty could not go.
YetMoreSpaceDust@reddit
What mouse traps have you found that actually work? I've set them out but never caught a mouse with one.
Rec4LMS@reddit
I love the glue traps. I’ve had little luck with the bait on the snap traps. But I put a glue trap in their path and it takes care of them quickly.
Verisimilitude_20@reddit
This one works for me as well.
YetMoreSpaceDust@reddit
Ugh, what do you do when you catch one though?
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
That’s my go to as well.
Native136@reddit (OP)
I use those plastic easy-to-set ones. These ones specifically.
YetMoreSpaceDust@reddit
Those are the ones I've been using that never caught me a mouse, but I'm going to try /u/Never_Really_Right s paper bag trick and see if that helps.
gonyere@reddit
I swear by the old victor snap traps.
Desperate_Set_7708@reddit
With peanut butter
Never_Really_Right@reddit
Those cheap wooden snap traps. The key is to cut a paper luch sack lenght-wise, place the trap at the far end, opening on the top, and use peanut butter. Put them along baseboards where mice like to scurry.
The bag prevents them from doing anything other than tripping the trap as it's the only way to the PB, no going around the trap. easy disposal too.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
Sticky pads never fail.
Kenpoaj@reddit
I have black plastic snap traps. I tried every humane way, and the mice chose to starve and cannobalize in an empty 5 gallon bucket, so i decided snaps were the most humane I cound do. I set them wherever i know there is a chokepoint in mouse activity. Between fridge and counter. In the basement where they cross above a doorway. Where one was chewing a hole through spray foam. Ive got 6 around a block of ramen noodles against a wall. Caught 3 with that one so far. I catch the most mice in un baited traps that are just in an area they cant avoid though. I caught 7 with the one by the fridge before sealing the kitchen off from the basement.
hzpointon@reddit
Mouse was just prepping
DeafHeretic@reddit
1) Where there is one mouse, there are a dozen more.
2) Eventually you will find that there is one or more mice that can take the bait and not trigger the trap. Use poison for those mice.
3) Always put your perishable items inside a hard container.
4) Mice can and will make nests out of clothes, or anything else they can chew; cloth, paper (including books), whatever.
HappyCamperDancer@reddit
Just FYI. Mice and rats HATE to chew steel wool.
Yes, galvanized metal is the only thing to keep them out, but if you have a tiny hole in a garage door, a tiny hole where pipes come in or out of your house, use steel wool.
I use it around my RV, garage, around the foundation vents, under sinks, you name it. Steel wool stopped the parade of critters.
And the old wooden snaps traps. Kills quick and painless.
The glue traps are awful. I found mice stuck and screaming on them. Oh! They are cruel!!
sfbiker999@reddit
I found out about my mouse infestation when I went for an oil change for my car.
The service rep came to the waiting room and asked me to come look at something unusual -- I thought they were going to upsell me on some engine cleaner or something. When we got to the car he gave me a flashlight and told me to look in the airbox behind the air filter. The entire airbox was full of dog food - there was probably 5 pounds of dog food in there. They vacuumed the food out and said they didn't see any other signs of mice or damage.
When I got home, I checked the brand new unopened bag of dog food on the garage shelf and sure enough, there was a 1" diameter hole and half the bag was gone.
I brought in an exterminator that sealed a couple entry points along the outside of the house and set some traps. Ended up catching 7 mice. When he was in the crawlspace he saw a couple old untripped rat traps (that were apparently left there by the previous homeowner) - he said I was lucky my problem wasn't rats because they are much smarter and harder to trap.
Ok_Masterpiece5050@reddit
Exterminator here. Exclusion to prevent mice from being able to enter wherever you are storing all this food is far superior to constantly putting out snaps.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
So an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?
Ok_Masterpiece5050@reddit
Can’t tell you how many times I’ve quoted this to clients.
IGetNakedAtParties@reddit
I feed my mouse traps daily 😺
Efficient_Wing3172@reddit
How did they get into the buckets?
gilbert2gilbert@reddit
Why wasn't it in a solid container?
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
They never get into my plastic bins or buckets. They only get into things if I leave them out.
apoletta@reddit
Found my hole where they were getting in. Try around any garage doors. Poke around with a pencil.
BallsOutKrunked@reddit
I had 6 months worth of grain sitting in plastic buckets and while there were no problems I knew that I was one rat and 30 minutes away from doom. I bought \~6 \~30 gallon metal trashcans, and put all the mylar grain bags (that were in the buckets) into the metal cans. The only things that have food now are galvanized steel trash cans with tight fitting lids or metal cans (#10, canned butter, etc).
I re-used the buckets for other things like baking soda, soda ash, lye, bar soaps, etc. If a rat wants to get into that I suppose that's their business.
Sorry you lost stuff, OP.
My house is sealed up like a drum but mice and rats are everywhere outside (I live on a ranch).
Happy_Raspberry_6299@reddit
That sucks!! I keep anything dry or bagged like that in the black and yellow tubs. Everything thing else is in glass. So far, no mice have gotten into any tubs. But I see evidence of them on top so I put out more traps this week. They like to lick the peanut butter off the traps without getting caught. Jerks!
Quiet-Scientist2313@reddit
You gotta use a bucket trap. They can't get out!! Found em in my garage, caught six in one night in a bucket. The cats got another one behind the washing machine. That was the end of that...