OT- bait for mouse traps?

[DrHook]

Use the fresh rats caught yesterday as bait for today's adventure....

I have found half eaten mice in traps many feet away from where I set them, and no cats in the building.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

Since we have crossed the line from bait to cruel and unusual punishment. A friend told me about a deficiency in Victor rat traps with Texas rats. They could pull out or carry off the trap after springing it. Small nails were suggested to keep them from pulling out. Stainless safety wire was used to keep them from hauling off the trap and keep them from chewing through a string. One last deficiency was noted if they went to the bait from the spring bar side they would be launched clear of the nails instead of being trapped. Thus the 2 long nails in the middle to make them get the bait from the kill zone. From the discussion so far, I see that the rats from the northeast talk tough but Texas rats are tough.

I've had rats carry a Victor trap off in the Boston area. Maybe they immigrated in from Tx, stowed away on a big truck. I screwed the trap down to a small plank, making it too awkward to carry off. I've also caught Red Squirrels in that trap, using peanut butter for bait.

 

[eKretz]

I've had even mice carry off traps too. If they get just a foot or something caught they can tug the trap around with 'em. In the attic I have a couple fastened to the floor via small steel chain. Don't want 'em falling anywhere I can't find 'em.

 

[david n]

All this mouse catchin talk.............I have 12x20 storage shed that I recently noticed with a bit of mouse droppings...........I just got one of those bucket lid traps. Haven't put it out yet...............we'll see..................

Linky:
Flip n Slide

 

[FredC]

I've had rats carry a Victor trap off in the Boston area. Maybe they immigrated in from Tx, stowed away on a big truck. I screwed the trap down to a small plank, making it too awkward to carry off. I've also caught Red Squirrels in that trap, using peanut butter for bait.

There are probably tough rats all over. Really did not think they are just Texas tough. Screwing the trap down is also a good idea. In my case we were in a mobile home at the time and room was limited, tying the trap to something heavy outside was the best way when trapping under the floor. Since pulling out of the traps is not just a local problem, on all those nails in my trap I predrilled the holes and pressed the nails in so as not to split the wood base.

QUOTE "All this mouse catchin talk.............I have 12x20 storage shed that I recently noticed with a bit of mouse droppings...........I just got one of those bucket lid traps. Haven't put it out yet...............we'll see.................."
Hmm,...... live food for the CATfish in the irrigation reservoir. What is not to like about that. I did that many years ago. The mice dog paddle with not much more than their noses out of the water till a fish gets them.

 

[michiganbuck]

Someone set up a camera at the big shop to watch the shop cats and a couple of raccoons that came to the set-out food...One bug old rat would come up the food bowl and all the cats and raccoons would run in haste.

 

[DDoug]

You think you got problems....

 

[tnmgcarbide]

+1 for the bucket traps . they just have one moving part . much less chance for error
than the spring wire traps.

for a wire trap- i like to tie a piece of tough meat gristle
with a needle and thread through the pedal...

 

[Trboatworks]

We are still no go on the mice- I have just about tiled the kitchen with sticky traps- still have baited snap traps out.
The mice are still just having a party.

It is just weird.
During the great rat shootout years back the mice would just wander up to me as I was sitting stock still rifle raised for hours on end waiting for the wary rats to show a bit of nose I could shoot off.
I'd be looking down at the mice and telling them to scoot, I was after bigger game.
Just incautious critters the mice- drop a trap and first night without fail.

Now....

 

[eKretz]

May be time to borrow a mean ornery cat.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

May be time to borrow a mean ornery cat.

Worked for me!

 

[david n]

May be time to borrow a mean ornery cat.

Can't feed the cat too much either........keep 'em a bit hungry and gives 'em more incentive to kill.

 

[FredC]

There is a lot to be said about having a mean onery cat. The cat that I have now is very territorial. I saw an almost full grown bobcat walk between the house and garage on the sidewalk, Goofball took out after him! I was expecting him to come back with a bunch of cuts and stuff. Not a scratch showed. Coons are different story some guests here had access to free deer feed and put a lot of it out. Goofball was all cut up for several weeks. He did not heal up till I started taking out the coons that all that feed brought in. Anyway a mean and onery cat will kill and eat mice even when he is not hungry. Just part of their nature. It takes this one about a minute to chew and swallow a mouse and about 5 seconds to hack it up when he is so full he cannot keep it down. Keeping him well fed means he hunts close to home. Seems like most cats sleep during the day. Since I have gotten the thermal monocular, I see him hunting up and down the roads near the house all the time at night. Just seems lazy if you see him only during the day.

 

[Trboatworks]

This is getting surreal.
Three big retrievers me and the wife all watching the tube and I see something out of the corner of my eye.
The mouse is six inches from my elbow on the armrest standing on its hind legs and staring right at me.
I am trying to decide if I should swat it and it runs off.
Much more of this and we will have to get a really small place setting for dinners and all of us just settle right in.

 

[DDoug]

This is getting surreal.
Three big retrievers me and the wife all watching the tube and I see something out of the corner of my eye.
The mouse is six inches from my elbow on the armrest standing on its hind legs and staring right at me.
I am trying to decide if I should swat it and it runs off.
Much more of this and we will have to get a really small place setting for dinners and all of us just settle right in.

He wanted to ask you to change the channel......

 

[jackal]

I haven't read all the posts, but maybe have some help here.
Back in the 80s my Dad raised cockatiels, parakeets, and finches for a local pet store.
We had problems with mice in his bird rooms ( outside next to garage).
For a while he would get individually wrapped cheese, and take a needle and thread and sew a small piece to the trigger on the trap.
This worked for a while . Then they got tired of cheese.
Lots of bird feed falling everywhere.

He started putting peanut butter on the traps.
Some of the mice were so slick they could clean the PB off the trap and not trigger it.
My Mom had the idea to cut up some old pantyhose into small squares and put the PB in it, then take the needle and thread to it. After the trap got used, you could just take a plastic spoon and wipe the PB on the piece of nylon.
He did this for probably 10 years.
We probably caught 2 or 3 mice a night, the threw them in the alley where the neighbors cats could eat them.

Right now, I set up those buckets with a roller and put the peanut butter on the middle. Then fill about 4" of water in the bottom .

 

[eKretz]

Right now, I set up those buckets with a roller and put the peanut butter on the middle. Then fill about 4" of water in the bottom .

That's how I do it. I made my own rollers from EMT tubing with brass pressed into the ends, then drilled and reamed the brass ends for an ⅛" shaft through with pointed ends. The inside part of the brass was drilled before pressing in so that there's only a short portion toward the outside in contact with the ⅛" shaft to reduce friction. The shaft is about ⅛" longer than the bucket ID so that the pointed ends bite in to the bucket. Couple dabs of light oil on the bushings and in the bottom of the bucket I use a water/antifreeze mix that acts as a sort of preservative so the mice don't start to stink in case I don't find 'em right away.

 

[jccaclimber]

I've had rats carry a Victor trap off in the Boston area. Maybe they immigrated in from Tx, stowed away on a big truck. I screwed the trap down to a small plank, making it too awkward to carry off. I've also caught Red Squirrels in that trap, using peanut butter for bait.

Assuming Texas hasn’t changed since I moved out it might well be the bloody roaches carrying the traps off.
I knew three types of people in DFW. Those who had to use roach poison and admitted it, those who just hid it really well, and those who didn’t realize they had a problem.

As for the mice, the only times I’ve seen traps fail is when they had too many other easy sources of food. Find the dog food bag, box in the cupboard, whatever they are eating from. Seal that up and suddenly the bait on the traps looks a lot better.

 

[jackal]

That's how I do it. I made my own rollers from EMT tubing with brass pressed into the ends, then drilled and reamed the brass ends for an ⅛" shaft through with pointed ends. The inside part of the brass was drilled before pressing in so that there's only a short portion toward the outside in contact with the ⅛" shaft to reduce friction. The shaft is about ⅛" longer than the bucket ID so that the pointed ends bite in to the bucket. Couple dabs of light oil on the bushings and in the bottom of the bucket I use a water/antifreeze mix that acts as a sort of preservative so the mice don't start to stink in case I don't find 'em right away.

I like that idea.
I saw some conveyors at the local scrap yard that had the perfect size rollers. The bearings sounds good.
Before I could ask about them I got sidetracked and bought a couple of gearboxes .
When I went back, they were too deep in the pile to get.

 

[MrStretch]

Go to the local shelter and get a young cat or two. Problem solved.