How does a mouse leave with a trap?

[7.62 Precision]

I was away for a while, and as is common this time of year, mice moved in. When it starts getting colder, they like to be warm, just like us. Doesn't even need to be food available - they'll bring seeds in from outside.

So I set traps, and for a while I was catching several an hour. Then one trap and another quit working, and I was left with one. Also, I saw less of the mice, and sometimes didn't catch one all night. I know they are still here though, because they make an awful lot of noise. Im using the bulky plastic traps that look like a little toilet.

So last night, the trap snapped. I was going to get up and reset it, but drifted off. Then an hour or so later, I heard the trap make noise again, almost like another snap. This was followed by some movement and some bumps, a sound like the trap hitting something, then silence, which intrigued me, but no so much that I got out of bed. I thought maybe I had another trap I had forgotten about.

In the morning, I went to reset the trap, and where it had been there was a small glob of peanut butter and no trap. Ok, so it got it by the tail of a foot and it dragged the trap. Keep in mind that these are tiny mice.

So I looked around, expecting to find it close. Nothing. There was nothing in the kitchen it could fit that trap under, but I checked anyway. The only way out of the kitchen is up or down stairs. Upstairs was out of the question, so I looked down. Nothing. The mouse and the trap have completely vanished. How does a tiny mouse make off with a trap that weighs twice as much as it does?

[flatnose]

Tie the trap to a chair or table leg or some other object. A rat probably dragged the mouse with trap. Seen it many times before.

[TDF]

Have had it happen so many times with mice that I had to change my approach. Sometimes I would find the trap some time period later, often times quite a distance from the original placement, always with a dead mouse in it. I was thinking rats at first also, till I started finding the traps. Some mice just have a lot of fight in them.

What I did to combat this, and I'm using the standard wooden mouse snap trap, is to screw (with a wood screw) a pair of them to a short 2x6, lenghtwise along an edge, with just enough space between the two to place a bait block. You have to pre drill a hole for the screw or it will split the thin wood. Then set the 2x6 with the traps on it against the wall with the traps tight up against the wall. Then set a 2X4 standing on it's short edge up agains the two traps. Think about it like a little funnel. If a mouse is tracking along the wall and wants to get by or get to the bait he has to pass over one of the traps. Haven't lost a trap since, and started nailing mice with better regularity.

Went into triple digits last year, total, running six traps (three pairs), not looking like as a bad a year this year, but really to early to tell. Wish their little hides were worth something. My trap line would be making me some real coin.

TDF

[TedH]

Sounds like you need to put together one of these.


http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=buc ... 7AFE38725D

[Pete44ru]

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No traps. No mice. Cat's sittin' pretty (burp !) .


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[1894c]

are you sure it was a little MOUSE? ... :)

[Ji in Hawaii]

Maybe it was one of these cute little buggars...


These are easy to make, and difficult to walk off with once caught: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDgAuVK1Br0

[Rusty]

I worked at a place 35 years ago that had a bad rat problem. We would set traps and they would just disappear. Finally I took one of the wooden traps and tied it to an angle head grinder via a steel cable. The next morning I found the rat with the trap and the grinder about 25 feet from where I had set it. They were tough.

[Griff]

Un gato flaco va a curar problemas del ratón.

[AJMD429]

I fasten four traps (different kinds since some mice seem to master de-baiting some types) on a chunk of 1x4 and leave them on the floorboard of my car. The "trapline" gets about 1-2 mice per week, despite the car having no rust-holes, my never leaving anything edible in it (even crumbs), and parking out in the open where three dogs constantly patrol.

Every vehicle I've had has had mice...

[M. M. Wright]

I keep an almost 7 foot black snake in my shop. There are still a few mice but no rats who used to eat the lube off my carefully sized and lubed bullets. Their teeth prints pretty much ruin the bullets and of course no lube left.
Her name is Isabella and about a month ago I evicted her boy friend Frank who is only a little over 5 feet. Bet I have a bunch of little snakes come spring. What's the gestation period for a black snake?

[Pete44ru]

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Black snake egg-laying is about 5 weeks after bliss; hatching about 9 weeks later (+/-).


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[jnyork]

We keep a 5th wheel trailer on our place in the hills, it's our getaway. We always have a mouse problem, I keep a "trapline" around the perimeter of the house. After losing several traps, I now nail them down to the blocks I use under the trailer struts and jacks, along with a couple pieces of 2x6. Problem solved, except that every so often something makes off with the peanut butter without springing the trap.

[FLINT]

We had the exact same thing happen several years ago in a little house we rented. We couldn't believe that it had actually happened either, but from the sound of the replies you've gotten, it must not be uncommon. In our case, it was in I think whats called a cape cod house - the kind where the top floor really should be an attic - and on either side of the 'room' are little storage or attic like areas where the ceiling drops below standing height. each side had a little access door. we had a trap in each side. Somehow a mouse flipped the trap on one side and then made it to the other side attic and flipped the other one. it was a horrible racket. the end result was a mouse literally caught in both traps. we have a picture of it somewhere. I still can't imagine how it got from the one side to the other, dragging the trap with it.

my dad has always done what you guys have been recommending though. He screws several traps to a 2x4 and sets it under the house.

my parents had a rat problem one year around the sheds. I set some traps, I think one did catch a rat, but I eliminated the rat problem in one evening by standing up on a ladder with a benjamin pellet rifle.

[7.62 Precision]

I doubt there are rats right where I am. But we do have . . .

[7.62 Precision]

. . . a better mousetrap!

He came bouncing across the living room while i was sitting on the couch. Mystery solved!

Its fun to watch him hunt through the house.





Not sure where he left the trap, but I'm sure the mouse was well disposed of.

[milton]

Does he belong to you or is he wild?Beautiful animal!

[gamekeeper]

I see no black tip to the tail, so not a Stoat/Ermine, is it a Least Weasel (Mustela Nivalis) ?
Cute little thing and useful too..

[7.62 Precision]

It is wild, but they get tame quick. It is an ermine (short-tailed weasel) and it does have a black tip, just not showing in the photo.

[M. M. Wright]

He's adorable and I need one. But then Isabella would just eat him too.

[Griff]

So, in other words, the ermine was having Mouse Takeout!

[JNG]

With comments from here I tied the bait (peanut butter and raison to the trap. I also drill a hole into the mouse trap and tie her down. Works like a charm. Thanks for the idea guy and gals. But the little mouse is now in heaven with all the cheese he can eat.

Joe

[spaceman spiff]

. . . a better mousetrap!

He came bouncing across the living room while i was sitting on the couch. Mystery solved!

Its fun to watch him hunt through the house.





Not sure where he left the trap, but I'm sure the mouse was well disposed of.

Oh, those are badass, like tiny wolverines



spaceman

[7.62 Precision]

He's adorable and I need one. But then Isabella would just eat him too.

As much as I admire snakes and respect their hunting prowess, Isabella would have to be plenty fast and determined to eat this guy.

It would be like grabbing a tiny chainsaw!

[Streetstar]

. . . a better mousetrap!

He came bouncing across the living room while i was sitting on the couch. Mystery solved!

Its fun to watch him hunt through the house.





Not sure where he left the trap, but I'm sure the mouse was well disposed of.

LOL ! --- Cute little guy to boot ! Hope he sticks around for ya if he displays solid utility value