Humane Rat trap | The Humane Mouse Trap Buyer’s Guide

The Humane Mouse Trap Buyer’s Guide

While most of the information on this website focuses on catching rats and other animals of similar size, I thought it would be good to provide some information on catching mice as well.  Although rats and mice are so much alike in many ways, they have one big distinction – size.  Mice are a lot smaller than rats, which means they can find their way into much small spaces and hide more easily.  In addition, mice are a much larger problem for homeowners and businesses usually, since they are a lot more common than rats are.  In fact, in some places nearly every home has had mice in it at some point or another.  A humane mouse trap is a quick, efficient, and safe way to rid your home of mice without hurting them.

Catching mice alive is pretty much the same story as with rats, except the traps used are a lot smaller.  Humane rat traps are big and bulky, but those meant for mice can be quite small.  In addition, they tend to be cheaper as well, since many live catch mouse traps are simple little plastic contraptions.  Pretty much all of these mouse traps can be used over and over again.  It is probably a good idea to wash your traps out in a little bleach water to disinfect them after you have let one go.  Here are the most popular types of humane mouse traps:

mice cubeThe first one is the Mouse Cube.  The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was how ridiculously simple the design was.  It is pretty much a small plastic box with a door that swings inward.  You put a piece of cheese, nuts, or peanut butter on a cracker in the trap, set it down, and wait.  The mouse will push the door open with its nose, go inside for a snack, and then the door will swing closed behind him and he won’t be able to leave.  After getting frustrated with one of the other traps that didn’t work at all, I ordered a 3 pack of mouse cubes and caught 2 mice the first night.  These are my favorite – simplicity at its best.  To release a live mouse, all you need to do is set the trap down on the ground and flip it over.  Gravity makes the door fall open, and the little critter will run right out.  Another great thing about the mouse cubes are that you can just order them in a pack of 3 or 4.  Just set them up and check  them everyday.  You can order them online here.

humane mousetrapThe next model is called the Humane Mousetrap.  It is made to look like a little green house, and is big enough to fit a couple of mice in there.  This one has a contraption that shuts the door when the mouse starts eating the bait.  Once captured, you simply open the door and it will run out.  This one gets good reviews, but the only thing I don’t like about it is that it costs more for one of these than four mouse cubes.  Yes, the mouse cubes are simple boxes, but they work well and if you put out 3 or 4 of them around the house you will inevitably catch more mice than if you just have one mousetrap out.  In addition, time is an important factor, since mice can quickly reproduce and your rodent problem can escalate out of control if you don’t get them out of the house ASAP!  Take a look at this trap here on Amazon.

Kness tip trapNext, we have the Kness Tip Trap.  This is another pretty simple plastic trap, although it has a different design.  The mouse goes in the door, walks over to have a snack, and the trap tilts forward.  This type of trap is cheap, and it gets both good and bad reviews.  The negative reviews mostly say that it tips over sometimes by itself, rendering it useless until you set it again.  Since it is made of black plastic, you can’t see the mouse in there.  If you see the trap tipped over, check to see if there is one in there.  You can buy it here.

The next type of trap is the Eaton multiple catch mouse trap
This one is a larger, rectangular metal box with a see through lid on it Eaton humane mouse trapthat can be opened.  You just put the bait in, set it down, and catch the mice.  This trap has two doors, one on each side.  Although it gets lots of great reviews, I need to give my opinion of it here.  I had mice running around my kitchen for a while a few months ago.  This was the first trap that I bought, mostly because it was the only humane mouse trap they had at the hardware store near me, so I got it.  I baited it, set put it on the ground in the corner, and sat and watched.  Nothing, nada, zip.  I work at night on the computer from the kitchen table, and I could actually see mice scurrying around the kitchen, running right past the trap.  I’m not sure what the problem was, but I didn’t catch anything, even after having the trap out for a week.  My hypothesis is that the door is a little too hard for the mice to push open.  Anyway, I ended up returning it to the store and promptly ordered the mouse cubes from Amazon.com. (free shipping), and started catching mice within hours!

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