humane way to be rid of mice

[Raven]

We appear to have mice in my teenagers bedrooms....both children have seen the mice, have nibbled carpets & skirting boards & are kept awake at night by their activities. My husband wants to kill them but I can't bear the thought! We had set humane mouse traps in the past with some success & have released them into the countryside. I've put a trap in each bedroom about a month ago but so far no joy. I'm concerned that as time wears on hubby is going to lose his patience & set non humane traps. I've looked into rodent repellants but we have 4 pet chinchillas & you cannot use the sonic repellants when there are pet rodents in the house. Does anyone have any tips at all please? Is there anything else I can put in the rooms that they don't like & is peanut butter the best trap bait (that's what we've used). Incidently we also have 2 dogs. Thank you for any advice!

[Alice]

Hello Raven, you won't like this , but you have a big problem. In my experience the sonic repellants don't work.
Mice are disease carrying, pee and s--t on everything, chew their way through anything and breed like rabbits. I'm surprised your teenagers are prepared to put up with then in their bedooms.
You can try the humane traps - I think you have, but maybe you need them in bigger numbers. Chocolate seems to be a big attractant.
One way or another, you can get rid of the mice, or let them breed into thousands - peeing, sh-----g and chewing all round the house. It's your choice Raven.

[Stacey Steve]

I use Mars bar or Pork Scratchings as a bait but then I kill the things on the allotment. I know that if you use a "Humane" trap for rats and squirrels, it is illegal to release them as they are vermin, so what's humane about that situation I don't know but I would have though that the situation would be the same about releasing mice as well

[peanut]

I had woodmice in my house and caught them using humane traps baited with jam or peanut butter.....but it take time! Like you I released them into the local woods.

Good luck

[Polly Fouracre]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it is illegal to capture a wild animal that is regarded a pest and release it elsewhere.

[HeyWayne]

I used old fashioned traps in my shed. They were eating everything.

Not a great lover of killing anything, but didn't see the humane traps as an option (aside from the legality issue mentioned by Polly, which I wasn't aware of), I'm sure I read somewhere - maybe even on here, that HFW experimented by removing mice from one area, and ended up having to take them over 4 miles away to stop them coming back.

The standard traps are quick, and I'm pretty sure the mice don't feel anything. Happy to have my ignorance exposed though.

Use peanut butter on mine - though I haven't had a bite for a week or so now, so I think it's done the trick.

[Birdie Wife]

Yeah, I use peanut butter too - nice and sticky, so they have to stay to lick it up. I wouldn't have thought it humane to catch and release mice, even if it were legal - it's odds on what you have in the house is house mice, not field mice, so they will look for the nearest house where you release them and go and bother the people there instead. They chew your walls, electrics, food... better be rid. The little nipper traps are the easiest to use that I've found and it's all over in an instant for them.

[Madasafish]

Unless you relese mice miles away, they will come back. They leave scent trails.. and remember food and warmth.

And they will have entrances to the house - probably through ventilation grilles.. you should prevent entry using very fine mesh available in expensive stainless steel for such a purpose.

I'm afraid I am brutal and have killed some 20 odd mice this year in house and garage.. and leave baited traps in garage for new entrants.

Humane non killing if you are within 1,000 metres of fields or woods is imo a waste of time.. al you are doing is training mice how to enter your home and find it again :-(

[areia]

im afraid id use the quickest way of killing them with traps there is some stuff i forget the name but its cruel way of doing it but you get no smell when they die, they calcify and if the mother mouse eats it she passes it through the milk to the babies for which kills them as well, im afraid killing is the only way to prevent them coming back what with the smell of death etc ive used the quick snap traps chocolate and peanutbutter ive found is the best lure, i hate killing things but when you know you and your child could get ill from there germs it somtimes leave no choice

[HeyWayne]

I think the worst things I've seen are these things called glue traps (I think), they are strips of glue I think that the mouse/vole or whatever walks onto, then gets stuck.

Horrible.