Best mouse trap?

[Spade_Cooley]

I left my travel trailer at a repair shop for a couple of weeks in order to fix some scrape marks I put on the left rear side. When going into my compartments I found evidence of Mice, Turds and a couple of broken wild nuts. We never leave any food in the trailer when not in use. I have had bad luck using glue traps because I've never been able to get them to work. A neighbor came by with the larger rat glue trap and said this is the way to go. He told me the small glue traps are too light and they will not get the job done. Just put one tiny dab of peanut butter in the middle of the rat glue trap, that's all. I baited two of them along with two more regular traps baited with peanut butter. Two days later I have not caught anything but after cleaning up I do not see any turds. I know others who swear baiting with a small bit of flower. Now all I have to do is figure out how they got in. The weather warmed recently and I figure they left the
trailer no doubt looking for food. What do yo use?

[Gdetrailer]

Airstreamer67 wrote:
The bucket-of-water idea won't work for me because I live in a wet climate, and the enemy of my trailer is moisture. I won't do anything that encourages more humidity inside the trailer, so having exposed water in a no-no.

As noted earlier, I use spring traps with a dab of peanut butter. It's a tried-and-true way to get the job done.

Exchange water for non alcohol RV antifreeze, not as cheap as water but no freezing or humidity issues.. It will over time evaporate but not as much as water.

As was mentioned before, peanut butter also attracts ants.. That is the absolute last thing I want to attract into a RV..

Use dried things like raisins, will still attract mice but ants not so much..

The trap I wished I could buy more new ones of that really worked 100% of the time was a Victor "4 hole choker trap".. Best darn trap ever made.. Sadly no longer manufactured..

I have a couple of the 1950's designed version originally made with Bakelite, bought them back in the 1990s and bought out what the little corner hardware store had.. Only have a couple working ones left as the Bakelite gets brittle with time..

Mine looks like this example..



That Victor 4 hole choker actually started out as wooden traps in the 1920s..



You can find used Bakelite ones for $30-$60 which is not a very realistic price to be a usable trap.. I think I paid $2-$3 each and thought that was crazy price..

[Airstreamer67]

The bucket-of-water idea won't work for me because I live in a wet climate, and the enemy of my trailer is moisture. I won't do anything that encourages more humidity inside the trailer, so having exposed water in a no-no.

As noted earlier, I use spring traps with a dab of peanut butter. It's a tried-and-true way to get the job done.

[Gdetrailer]

wopachop wrote:
The 5 gal bucket looks great!! Has anyone come up with a clever way to keep ants from climbing up the side? During the summer i found the ants will clean the peanut butter off my snap traps.

Use something dry like raisins, hot glue a couple of those to it instead of globbing PB on it.

I have some 4way snap traps that I only use a raisin on each lever, if I notice a mouse in the trap fast enough, I can get several yrs out of those raisins.. Wish I could buy new 4 way traps to replace my old ones as they are breaking apart from age.. Can't buy them any more..

BUT, the best trap is it plugging the holes they are using.. Every single hole larger than a dime is like super highway for mice to get in..

I plugged every hole through the floor in my current TT, have not had even one mouse dropping inside in the last 11 yrs..

[wopachop]

The 5 gal bucket looks great!! Has anyone come up with a clever way to keep ants from climbing up the side? During the summer i found the ants will clean the peanut butter off my snap traps.

[Veebyes]

Good old fashioned spring trap. WHAP! Gotcha! Humane & mice don't go together.

Take trap & dead mouse outside & flip it in the bushes somewhere. Easy meal for some other critter.

[udidwht]

Traps that have to be fed? Not good.

The bucket?

Leave it and forget it.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

If you have a rat issue, few things are as awesome as a Jack Russel versus a rat. We have tomato eating rats down here and they can grow to around one pound in weight. The dog is probably too slow for mice. But a siamese female makes a determined anti-mouser in my opinion.

[udidwht]

I use the 5gal bucket method as well. Works great. And best of all...no having to reset the trap. It catches over...over...over...

[Airstreamer67]

I used to poison them. It worked well. I found a big rat dead in the back yard tangled in some vines. They generally do leave after being poisoned.

Then one day I began smelling a dead rat inside the trailer. I looked everywhere for it, but no luck. I suffered the smell for months. It gradually dissipated, but every time I turned on the air conditioner, there it was again. Finally the smell went away, at long last!

Years later, I was doing some renovation inside the trailer and pulled back some insulation and there it was, a big rat skeleton.

Nowadays, I use traditional spring traps with peanut butter. They work well.

[mobeewan]

coolmom42 wrote:
Please do not use poison. Eating a poisoned rodent is one of the main causes of death for raptor-type birds. It might also be found by a dog or cat who is someone's loved pet.

I prefer the snap traps.

Possibly the mice are long gone. Just keep an eye out.

Yep, 6 to 17 days for an owl to die after eating poisoned mouse.

[hughesjm21]

I used to trap when I found evidence in RV. Poison worked until one decided crawl under inverter and die. Our minature poodle sniffed that one out. Now we try to keep them out by spreading bay leaves around the RV. Apparently mice do not like the smell. Works for us.

[wa8yxm]

I ask my housemate Alex what the best mouse trap is and he said

MEOW... I am (he's over 16 pounds of Maine Coon Cat)

[Bobbo]

vermilye wrote:
I use one of these in my garage. If you can check on it every couple of weeks, it should do the trick in an RV... 5 Gallon Bucket Mouse Trap

I use one of those for chipmunks. After 3 or 4 days it begins to stink.

[vermilye]

I use one of these in my garage. If you can check on it every couple of weeks, it should do the trick in an RV... 5 Gallon Bucket Mouse Trap

[Bobbo]

My sister used to breed Akitas. She had a barn with kennels for her dogs. Mice infested the barn, so she got some cats. After a few months, the cats started disappearing, and she couldn't understand why. One day, after feeding the dogs, she stayed out in the barn to do some chores, and noticed that one of her dogs didn't quite finish its kibble. There were 3 or 4 pieces left in the bowl. She thought that was strange, so she watched. About 10 minutes later, mice came out and started feeding on the kibble. The dog just watched. A few minutes later, a cat pounced on the mice, and the dog pounced on the cat. She quit leaving kibble in that dog's dish.