Mouse Facts

Although they may live up to two years in the lab, the average mouse in the wild lives only 3 months, primarily due to heavy predation. Cats, wild dogs, birds-of-prey, and snakes prey heavily upon mice.

Mice can be harmful pests, damaging and eating crops and spreading diseases through the parasites and feces. The original motivation for the domestication of cats is thought to have been for their predation of mice and their relatives, the rats.

It is believed that mice cannot see colors, but they can see shades from black to white.

Did you know that mice sing? In 2006, Scientists at the University of Washington discovered that male mice and rats actually make high-pitched songs to attract females of their species for mating. There is no word yet on the scientific benefits of this knowledge, but it is interesting nonetheless.

In fiction, mice are popularly portrayed as loving cheese, but in reality most mice do not particularly like cheese, and prefer foods in their natural diet. Too much cheese may cause digestive problems and strong-smelling excrement. How cheese became famously linked to mice is because it smells strongly and has a good texture for being placed onto a spike in mousetraps.

Another common stereotype is that elephants are afraid of mice. This would seem to be nothing more than a myth, because elephants, being large, would naturally be unafraid of mice. But in an episode of the MythBuster’s, they found that there seems to be some truth to this myth.

The average house mouse can jump 12″ high.

Studies have been conducted on deer mice where the mice routinely found their way home over a mile away.

On average mice live for about 1.5-2 years, although they can sometimes live up to 3 years. This short lifespan is one of the biggest drawbacks to keeping mice as pets.

Humane mouse traps

House mice have always had close associations with mankind .... hence the name house mouse (!) but wood mice may also seek warmth and food in your house during the winter months.These enable you to capture the mice alive and release them in a suitable location remote from other houses. Note:- These are hobbyist pages, not commercial reviews, but they're based on practical experience and I hope you find them useful.

Trap-Ease is inexpensive, as it's basically a square section plastic box, angled to act as a counterbalance. The far end of the trap (the yellow section in the picture above) is baited with mouse attracting food such as peanuts or chocolate. The trap door is opened and the 'Trap-Ease' is placed parallel to a 'mouse run' such as skirting boards. Note:- If you place it in the middle of a floor it can spin round and trigger before the mouse is inside. After some experimentation we managed to catch two mice on two successive nights, but the third mouse eluded capture.

For the next three nights our furry friend managed to get the food without tripping the device. I still don't know how he did this. Maybe he had a heavier accomplice on the outside acting as a counter balance? On the fourth night he simply chewed his way in after the door had prematurely 'tripped' He then ate the food inside and crawled out through the hole he'd made earlier. That was the end of the 'Trap-Ease'. If you're lucky and maybe only have one mouse, and your mouse is not as quick witted as ours, this may well be all you need in the way of a humane mouse trap.

As mice only weigh a few grams and the 'Trap-Ease' is made from opaque black plastic you can't necessarily tell if you've made a successful catch until the trap door is opened the next morning. I advise that you do this outside the house, with the mouse trap placed inside a deep sided plastic storage box and make sure that the box has a secure lid. You will be truly amazed at how high a mouse can jump.

Additional tips:- Make sure that all other food in the immediate area has been removed. The mice are then much more likely to be tempted into your humane traps. Place the traps where mice will normally run i.e. close to and parallel to a wall. You must check traps regularly to avoid causing the animals any distress and turn the trap upside down when it's not in use. Release your mice in a remote location, away from other houses. Mice have a homing instinct and if you release them in your garden they will probably soon find their way back inside your home. Check to see how the mice are gaining access to your home. Although mice can squeeze through very small holes, do not consider blocking up air bricks as these are needed to ventilate your home and floor joists. If you take the mice in your car to release them, make sure that they're in a rigid (not cardboard) box that has a secure lid. If they escape inside your car and start to nest in there, then you have got real problems. You have been warned! Good luck.

Mouse trap

• The SNAP-E is truly a "better mouse traps." Easy to bait. Easy to set. Easy to release. Escape proof and you never touch another mouse. The mechanism is smart, the materials are rugged. SNAP-E mouse traps are easy to use and made to last. Use them year after year. They're safe, simple and sanitary.

• Steel and durable polystyrene materials make them tough. Smart engineering - including a larger trip paddle and strike bar - makes them work every time.

• Place the baited SNAP-E mouse traps near a wall and pull back on the upright bar until it locks firmly in catch. The vertical strike bar travels half the distance of old-fashioned wooden traps. The extra-large trip paddle and strike bar catch rodents from the front, sides and back. To release, simply pull back on the upright bar until mouse is released. Fingers never touch the mouse.

Just push down on the trip bar Until you hear it click

TIP?.Bait traps first and then wash hands. You must avoid transferring any oily residue from fingertips onto tripbar while trying to set traps. This will cause tripbar to slip from trigger.

EASY TO BAIT Place peanut butter in bait cup EASY TO SET

Place mouse traps in a problem area, preferably near a wall. With trap in a flat surface, pull back slowly on upper bar until it locks firmly in catch. Trap is set when colored bar is in upright position.

EASY TO RELEASE MOUSE

To dispose of mouse, simply pull back slightly on the upright bar until the mouse is released.

Catch a Mouse whithaut killing him

Not everyone wants to catch the mouse or rat in their house and kill it. Many animal lovers even like mice and don't feel right killing them with a trap. There are dozens of ways to catch a mouse that is a nuisance in your home. Many are homemade trap ideas that only catch the mouse but don't harm it leaving you the ability to release it into the wild. One well thought out idea was written up here with diagrams and everything. Seems pretty simple to carry out and catch the mouse without too much effort. These "no kill" traps are great ideas if you have a place to dispose of the creature, but there is no sense in trapping a mouse only to release it in the alley behind your apartment or in the woods across from your house. It will only get back into someone elses house. You can visit Havahart.com for their entire line of products that allow you to trap live animals and release them back into the wild.

How to catch a mouse without a mousetrap

Here's how I caught the critter:

1. Get a toilet paper tube and crease two lines to form a flat sided tunnel.
   
2. Put a treat on one end of the tube: A cracker and dab of peanut butter works great.
   
3. Get a tall (at least 20 inches) bucket. A trash can works well.
   
4. Balance the tube precariously on the edge of a table or counter with the treat hanging directly over the tall sided receptacle.
   
5. The mouse will scurry to the treat (they like tunnels) and fall into the trap.

Set the fella loose at least a mile away from your abode.

It worked within the hour.

Also, folks have asked how this could work if you don't have a counter or table. Simple: get a piece of cardboard and crease it to make a ramp up to a small trashcan.

If you have a mouse or mice roaming around the garage or attic of your house or apartment it can be a little unnerving. No one likes to hear the sound of a rodent scavaging through drawers or knawing on insulation while you are trying to sleep. I grew up in a more rural setting with a 10 acre orchard behind our house so mice were a common occurence in our house. Usually we would find them laying dead in our yard after the cat had caught them, but more often than not we would have to put our mouse traps in our attic to try and catch them before they multiplied and created real havoc. My dad used to use all different types of traps to catch the mice - traditional wooden traps with cheese, glue traps, and even electronics traps that zapped the mouse before he ever knew what happened. Some traps are considered "no kill" mouse traps where you essentially catch and release the rodent.

Mouth mousetrap

A mouth-type mousetrap.

This lightweight mousetrap consists of a set of plastic jaws operated by a coiled spring and triggering mechanism inside the jaws, where the bait is held. The trigger snaps the jaws shut, which can kill many rodents.

Live-catching mousetraps

A live-catch mousetrap. Uninjured mice can be released.

Other trap designs catch mice alive so that they can be released into the wild. It is important to release the mouse promptly – as mice can die from stress or dehydration – and at some distance, as mice have a strong homing instinct. Survival after release is not guaranteed, since house mice will tend to seek out human buildings, where they might encounter lethal mousetraps or may be eaten by predators. In the wild, house mice are very poor competitors, and cannot survive away from human settlements in areas where other small mammals, such as wood mice, are present.