mice help! at my wits end!! they are outsmarting me

10 years ago

I need some help. I lived in Las Vegas nearly all my life but this is the first time I have dealt with such an extreme problem. I live in the SW portion of Vegas and our community is bordered by the desert. I have a horrible problem with field mice. They have utterly destroyed everything from my tomatoes, melons, lettuce, greens squash, everything! I put out the spring board traps in both rat and mice size and they managed to eat the peanut butter right off the trap with out setting it off. So yesterday I went and put of both a hands free bait along with more spring board traps and glue traps (both sizes) (I know they are inhumane and if they worked I was planning on killing the mice humanely immediately so they don't suffer) but of course the managed to eat the bait off of it and just moved the glue traps to wherever they wanted. I even got this really heavy duty plastic spring trap that had an inserted cup for bait and gnarly teeth and they took that trap with them! I don't know what else to try. Theres one that will sit up on my wall and mock me while I set the traps! I am probably going to try the electronic one but didn't know if it is worth the $50. They aren't living in the garden (not that big of one) but there are tons of them visiting frequently. Thanks all!!

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Comments (4)

zzackey
10 years ago
Can you reset the traps somehow? It sounds like they are too small to trip it. Havahart makes a tiny trap. When you trap them, you can drown them. Sad to have to kill anything, but I understand!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
talk with your county extension and/or Ag office...

when i had them licking off PB .. i resorted to stripping the paper off a twist tie... filing down a peanut/almond ... and wiring it to the trap ... the filing to give the wire a way to grab it ...

you might also put the PB .. on the UNDERSIDE of the release ... and mush it into the crevice ... so they have to work a bit harder ... to get it all ...

it never fails to amaze me.. how they get it 99% clean.. and ... well you know the rest ....

also.. you need a time perspective ... if this takes all summer.. so be it ...

ken
spj1017
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks all! No these are not small mice at all at least tip to tail at least 8 inches. My black spring trap came back 2 days later with a mouse attached. So we have gotten one so far. I'll try the paper trick. I have put only the slightest hint of peanut butter on the traps and done so on underneath and somehow they are still getting to it but maybe tie it to it will make them pull on the trap to set it off. Thanks once again for the ideas!
spj1017
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks all! No these are not small mice at all at least tip to tail at least 8 inches. My black spring trap came back 2 days later with a mouse attached. So we have gotten one so far. I'll try the paper trick. I have put only the slightest hint of peanut butter on the traps and done so on underneath and somehow they are still getting to it but maybe tie it to it will make them pull on the trap to set it off. Thanks once again for the ideas!