What's the best way to humanely catch a mouse in my flat ?

Question

I don't want to kill it, just catch it to set free. Don't ideally want to buy a humane trap as they aren't easy to find in my area as have tried.
Also, it peanut butter the best thing to bait the trap with ?

Answer 1

Try a bucket with a bit of wood or something to act as a ramp for the mouse to get in. Put bait in the bucket. The mouse will be able to get in but wont be able to get out again.
Anything will do to bait the trap as mice will eat anything.
Be sure to release it far from your house or it may come back!

Answer 2

I had a problem with mice some years ago but managed to get rid of them in as humane way as possible. I bought some humane traps in B&Q. Most good hardware stores should have them.

Place the trap in a corner where you have seen the mice. They tend to stick to cover along skirting boards and behind furniture. If you can find where they are coming in from, it's good to put a trap there too. I found that Milky Way was the best thing to use as bait. As it's sticky you can put it on the back wall of the trap so the mouse has to go right in to get it and then the trap will definitely close.

Make sure you check the traps regularly as the mouse will die inside the trap if you don't release them. Here's the trick to stop them coming back in again. Mice have a home range of up to 4 miles so I used to lift the trap, place it in a sealed plastic bag (with some air holes) and drive 5 miles to a nice forest where I released them. When I just let them out in the garden they came back in again.

Also, mice dont like the smell of mothballs or teabags so place some around where you think they are getting in and it should deter them from entering. Mine were getting in through a gap in my wall at the boiler.

Hope this helps - Good luck!

Answer 3

the easiest way to catch a mouse humanely:

get a large glass bowl and a drawing pin or a nail

get a used match and tie it to a piece of string which is long enough to reach the middle of the bowl and has an extra inch

put some bait on the end of the string.. (its worth trying different types)

push the drawing pin into the floor with enough of a gap to loop the string around once, prop one side of the upside down bowl with the match, pin/nail are in the centre of the bowl and the string has been looped once around the pin with the bait an inch away.

when the mouse grabs the food, the string looped around the pin/nail will pull the match inwards, the harder the mouse pulls, the more the string will pull, until the bowl drops, trapping the mouse....

to get rid of the mouse, slide a piece of cardboard carefully underneath and take outside, walk quite far as the pesky buggars come back quite easily.

Answer 4

There is a trap that is safe for the mouse that you can get from an exterminator/pest control. It is a rectangular shaped box that you put food in, the mouse goes in to get the food, but there is a trap door that closes so he can't get out. It doesn't hurt it. Then you can pick the box up and set the little guy free. Peanut Butter is a good way to attract them.

Answer 5

catching it in a humane trap is the only humane way to catch it I'm afraid. What sort of area do you live in where pet shops and the like do not stock them? You could always buy one off ebay if you live on such a remote desert island with no pet shops or other shops which sell them.
Bait the trap with chocolate or bacon rind.
After you catch it, you ned to look at how it got into your flat in the first place as either it, or another, will get in again.

Answer 6

There is a live trap called a Tin Cat that works well you should be able to order one on line. I've had very good results with peanut butter.

Answer 7

Buy yourself a child's fishing net. Turn all the lights out. Shut the door and be patient.

Then after a short while, burst through the door with your fishing net a blazing.

He/She will think you are the devil incarnate, or a totally messed up version of Yosemite Sam.

Works every time!

Either that or buy yourself a reticulated python!!!

Have the best of days,

James.

p.s: Do you know what the phrase, 'no flies on me!' means?

Very curious!

Answer 8

You tried and set a trap with food the mouse eats see if that works.

Answer 9

There are some traps like cages, and the door closes and shuts them in when they enter, without killing them. Cheese is the best bait, I guess.

Answer 10

If you set the mouse free it will come back, where do you think it came from in the first place if not from outside your flat, a normal mousetrap breaks the mouse's back in an instant so they don't know what hit them it isn't cruel, unlike poison which can take hours.