How to Trap House Mice

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Living with house mice in your house is not just unpleasant, it also poses a health risk as these rodents are capable of infecting humans with several disease pathogens. They generally constitute a great nuisance with their annoying noise and the destructive gnawing on wires, papers among other things. Chewed wires can in extreme cases, lead to a fire outbreak. These potential dangers makes most home owners to abhor the house mouse.



When your home has been infested by these sneaky rodents, the most effective way to get rid of them is by trapping them. Whether live traps or lethal traps, they are much more likely to give you good results without adverse effects than any other method.

Note the following in order to trap house mice successfully:

• Study and locate where the active holes of the animals. You can do this by observing their droppings and listening for the audible but mumbling sounds.
• Set the trap about one foot away from these active holes.
• Set more traps than you believe you need to increase your chances at success.

Live Traps
Box trap - this trap is one of the most humane ways to get rid of these rodents. It comes in a box or cage form and is baited with small bits of food to lure in the house mice. As soon as a mouse enters, it gets stuck and cannot leave. The trap should however, be checked regularly so as to not restrain a caught mouse for too long, lest it starves.

Transport the mouse to a location that is at least 10 miles away from the house, so it cannot return. A good example of the box trap is the Havahart brand cage, which has a small opening through which air can enter, thereby making it comfortable for the mouse while inside the trap.

Glue Trap - although the glue trap does not kill house mice, it is a torturing ordeal for any mouse caught and glued to it. The mechanism of this trap involves a really strong adhesive to which mice get stuck by their paws. A house mouse can stay stuck to the glue trap for hours, days or even weeks until it dies inhumanely of hunger and thirst, if it is not set free by the trapper. While using this trap, the trapper must be alert and check it frequently, so as to act fast when a catch has been made. This action could be either to kill or relocate and set free.

Glue traps are safe for use around children and pets. A handy trick is to set two traps side to side; this is because a mouse may be intelligent enough to jump a single glue trap, but the second one would trap it.

Lethal traps
Unlike live traps, lethal traps are designed to kill house mice the moment they are caught. Neck snapping and electronic mechanisms are commonly employed in these traps.

Snap trap – the snap trap features a heavy gauge steel spring bar and it has been commonly used for years in killing house mice due to its high success rate and affordability. Once the trap is triggered by a mouse stepping on its pan, the spring system snaps and kills the mouse instantly. It needs to be baited just like other traps.

Electronic mouse traps. These traps discharge electric current to shock and kill house mice quickly. Each electronic mouse trap has an internal plate which provides the electric shock. House mice will be lured with the help of bait to step on this internal plate, which sends electricity all over its body and it will instantly die of electrocution.

They are easy to use but expensive to procure compared to the snap trap. An example is the Victor electronic mouse trap that is battery charged.

The next step after killing a house mouse is to deal with the carcass. This must be done carefully and knowledgeably, bearing in mind that a dead house mouse as well as its droppings is a potential biological hazard.

Baits and Lures
The best bait for trapping house mice is peanut butter. Others such as crumbs of foods, meats, fruits and vegetables can also be used.

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