# Field mice revisited: unsolved case.



## Dancingdoe (Dec 13, 2015)

I posted a little while ago about field mice. There is a new problem. I have some wood traps in the basement (where there is no food that I know of) baited with tootsie roll. On three separate occasions (and twice upstairs with the same kind of trap), the trap has been set off with no mouse. Once I did catch one, and I barely caught it behind its eyes... Clever girl.

So, I bought the black Tomcat plastic snap trap (looks like a clothespin) baited it with peanut butter and put it where I caught a mouse prior. I also put a wooden snap about three inches away from it. This morning I found the black snap missing and the wooden snap set off. There was also blood on the floor.

After a search, I found that the Tomcat had been wedged under a pipe near where there is a large hole under the wall. There was poop all around it. So, I reset the trap in the place where the mouse dragged it.

Can I have some pointers? What kind of mutants are these? Should I just poison them?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Next time use CHUNK peautbutter, and jam a nut in tightly. After the mouse has gently licked the creamy part off he will probably try to take the peanut chunk by force, which will be enough to trigger the trap. 

The fittest to survive have all the babies: modern mice are all descended from mice who are able to remove soft bait without triggering the trap, so by now most of them are dainty and gentle eaters by preference. It takes a chunk they cannot lick up to get them to use force and spring the trap


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Have you tried the bucket method? You put water in a bucket, a ramp up to the edge of the bucket, and a dowel across the bucket with peanut butter set in the center of the dowel. When the mouse attempts to cross over to the PB, it falls into the water and drowns.


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

Terri said:


> The fittest to survive have all the babies: modern mice are all descended from mice who are able to remove soft bait without triggering the trap, so by now most of them are dainty and gentle eaters by preference. It takes a chunk they cannot lick up to get them to use force and spring the trap


Hadn't considered that before.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

I use peanut butter to bait regular mouse traps. Had a few clever ones lick the peanut butter off. I put the peanut butter UNDER the BOTTOM of the trigger.
Really makes them have to work for it then. And yes, use chunky if you have it, and jam a peanut in tight.


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## homebody (Jan 24, 2005)

Never thought of using chunky and wedging a nut. I have put a few sunflower seeds on top of pb. But have seen many cleaned still set snap traps.


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## homebody (Jan 24, 2005)

Also have screwed the mousetraps to a flat board to keep them from carrying it away. Have wrapped sewing thread loosely around the trip and baited. Theory is that mouse teeth get caught in it and set trap off. Didn't seem to help.


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## farmerdan (Aug 17, 2004)

Had the same thing happen to me. Turned out it wasn't a mouse it was a chipmunk! I'm hoping one of my barn cats got him when he was on one of his outside trips.


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## Chief Cook (Apr 24, 2011)

OK I got this, everybody chill! Hope this works for you. We got tired of the misses around here and went way hi tech. Tom Cat makes a white snap trap with a well in the business end. Got those, then got the Tom Cat Mouse Attractant. Can you believe they make a mouse attractant. It comes in a bottle. Squeeze a little in the well and set the trap. They cannot leave this stuff alone! It has never failed us, even with those snap wise mice! Works great! Be sure and keep it in a closed cabinet that mice simply cannot get into. Good luck and Happy Trapping! And oh yeah, stuff that hole up with steel wool, or cement!


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

A couple of late night I-can't-sleep musings for ya.

First, I wonder if those are are actually mice. Mouse traps would do what you describe if it were a rat, squirrel, ect. Blood on the floor but no kill? What did the last one you caught look like, and how big? Species ID can be important, out here in the woods I have trapped a few different kinds of rodent. The right tool for the right job and all that fun stuff.. rats by nature can be more wary of traps and it takes them awhile to get used to a trap and start hitting it. Better than mice at stealing bait, too!

Second, I agree on above postings about using chunky peanut butter or a harder bait to get the little pests to spring the trap. I personally like to take this a step or two further. It takes a little more time to set up, but I can usually reset the trap a few times with little if any rebaiting this way.

I take a mini marshmallow and tie it onto the bait tray of the trap with dental floss, then coat the whole shebang in peanut butter. My kill rate went WAY up when I started doing this! You could probably just melt the marshmallow to the trap trigger too, if you prefer. Reminds me of fishing, lol

Good luck!


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## ticndig (Sep 7, 2014)

I like to set the trap in a shoe box . cut a small hole up high on the side of the box for the mouse to enter , bait the trap and set under the hole so the mouse lands on the trip pan when he comes through the hole . it's a little twist for trap wise mice


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## donrae (Nov 13, 2015)

I'd also wonder if it's really mice. 

but regardless, I'd go to poison. I get tired of fooling around with traps, etc.


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