I don’t like having mice running around my kitchen, gnawing the bars of soap plus wooden spoons. But I’d rather not kill wild creatures that are just trying to find somewhere warm in the winter. And I really don’t like removing squashed vermin from conventional sprung traps. So I use the method my grandmother taught me, which causes no harm to the mouse plus is surprisingly effective. Usually I manage to catch the interloper on the first night, although sometimes it takes two or three nights. Then I relocate it to a wood on the other side of a road, in the hope it will be happy there plus won’t find its way back.
The other big advantage of this method is it uses things that you will already have around the house. It saves having to try plus remember where you put the mousetrap after its last outing.
All you need is:
A large bowl, such as a mixing bowl, preferably glass
A thimble, or a bottle cap of a similar size plus shape
Bait – chocolate plus peanut butter are good, or go with the old favourite, cheese
A sheet of stiff cardboard big enough to cover the bowl
Flour (optional)
Warning: just occasionally, a mouse will be injured or killed using this method, so buy a humane mousetrap instead if you really can’t bear the thought. You can find them in pet shops where they are sold for re-capturing escapee pet mice plus hamsters.
Step 1: Setting the Trap
The best time to catch mice is overnight, when it’s quiet plus dark plus they feel it’s aman to come out plus look for food. Before you go to bed, choose where to set the trap. It needs to go on a hard, smooth surface where there is evidence of mouse activity – droppings, in other words. If you can figure out where the mice are getting in or are hiding out during the day, then put it nearby. Clear away everything else from the tempat that a mouse may want to eat.
Step 2: Releasing the Mouse
To remove the mouse, slide a piece of cardboard under the bowl. (Slowly! You don’t want to hurt the mouse do you, or you wouldn’t be catching it this way?) Don’t raise the edge of the bowl any higher than is absolutely necessary, because mice can squeeze through incredibly tight gaps.
Then you can pick up bowl, mouse plus cardboard plus relocate the captive to a less domestic environment.
Apologies for the photo quality, taking a decent picture through a glass bowl isn’t easy.