The Killing Fields...

[KyuZo]

I think vengeance is in order.
What bait have you been using? Stickier stuff like peanut butter may help. Maybe borrow someone's cat.

If vengeance is what you are seeking and you have that many mice crawling around, then may i suggest something fun?

get yourself a few shots of caffeine and set up a small tent somewhere close to your bait.
go ahead sacrifice another roach, tie her against a pull or something and have your bb gun ready.
see how many mouse you can take out with your gun that night (altho, i would recommend that you practice first).
the caffeine might not be necessary because the excitement alone will keep you awake.

 

[Sabatta]

Buy a couple of adult T Blondi's and let them loose in your place for a bit.

 

[funnylori]

My parents always put out plaster of paris on bread... They never were humane about things... What they didn't know was that the mouse problem was my fault... Bars designed to keep mice in apparently don't work.

That is terrible that your colony has suffered such a major setback. I hope you were able to recover enough to at least keep it going.

 

[Taceas]

Have you tried a bucket method trap, CM? I too have had "Ghost Mice" that could eat all the bait out of a live trap, and steal it from snap traps and never get caught. But what did them in was a broomstick up a tall slick trash can with dry dog food or peanut butter crackers in the bottom. They crawl up the broomstick, fall in, and can't get out.

In all likelihood you're just getting the same mice again and again. If you're going to release them, do it a few miles away. Otherwise, I'd cull the suckers for a while. Otherwise you're liable to get a female looking for high protein to raise a few broods of babies who'll learn her tricks and then you'll be in trouble.

I also agree, glue traps are horrendous. I remember my mom using one once and the poor thing squeaked in the trash can till it got filled up and taken out, she couldn't be bothered to put it out of its misery first. Tape worms are nothing like rodents and don't technically deserve the same sort of respect.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

A variation on Taceas trap:
http://byteshuffler.com/rospo/blog/uploaded_images/BucketMouseTrap-789229.jpg

I've seen wooden analogs with rollers that stick into the center of the bucket (so no axel that spans the entire bucket) and on the end of the roller wire was a piece of bait. Works very well.

 

[Nikos]

They at least delivered!
Afterall they are feeders anyway

Always look on the bright side of life man!

 

[Goliath]

That is too bad to see Eric. We had some ghost mice to around my house. The trick we used with the snap traps is to tie loops of butchers twine where you would put the bait and then smear the peanut butter into the twine. They cannot rip the bait off without setting the trap.

mike

 

[arrowhd]

Wow, never even considered mice as a possible threat. My B. dubia colony is taking a long time to establish. I would have no problem in setting out 20-30 snap traps. Mike is right, peanut butter does work pretty good.

 

[Andrew273]

When I had a mouse problem my parents forgot to put a plastic bag in the trashcan. They would fall in to eat the leftovers and wouldn't be able to get out. The trash can trap accidently. I honestly used to be all animal rights, humane treatment activist but in this case I think glue traps are warranted. If mice ever got into my dubia colony they'd be looking at alot worse treatment. I wouldn't feed them to the T's just in case of diseases. Mice are gross.

 

[Code Monkey]

In all likelihood you're just getting the same mice again and again. If you're going to release them, do it a few miles away.

The few catches were released far enough away that if they made it to anyone's home, it wasn't mine

I own a vacant lot adjacent to my property. It's a fantastic wildlife refuge with all the good and bad that brings. Good is having squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, birds, newts, two species of garter snakes, etc. all nearby. Bad is one billion field mice who try and find better housing than the great outdoors in the middle of winter in Albany.

I've been considering a bucket trap of some kind, that spinning coke can with the peanut butter looks entertaining

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

The Killing Fields..

Dear Mouse-Plagued People:

How do your mice get in? That is also how they can get BACK in.
If you block THAT,they will not come back.
In the meantime,you might mouseproof your roach bins.
You need mouseproof storage for EVERYTHING that they are eating.
Remember...If you do not FEED your mice,they cannot BREED.

You only need to stop feeding them.

And they will defertilize.

Yours very truly,

Louise Esther Rothstein.

 

[Code Monkey]

Some small "justice" for the improperly departed cockroaches: first night with the snap traps and two of the perps have been "apprehended", one at the scene of the crime

 

[padkison]

Snap traps work great. Mouse is killed instantly. Glad they're working for you.

 

[ShadowBlade]

one at the scene of the crime

They say the killer always returns to the scene.

-Sean

 

[Cirith Ungol]

This is reputed to work also


And here is probably all you'll ever need to know about mouse traps.