Best mouse bait?

One of our tenants called last night, practically hysterical, because she saw a mouse in the apartment. (Hubby's reply: "Didn't you say you wanted a pet?" )

DH got some humane mouse traps today, and set them up in the apartment. He used children's chocolate (low cocoa, high milk content) as bait. Isn't chocolate poisonous for mice? I know rats can eat it and survive, but they're much bigger than mice. I suggested bird seed, as mice are always climbing one of our bird feeders outside to get to the seeds. He thinks chocolate would be more attractive.

The clichÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] is cheese. Does anybody have a "fail-safe" suggestion, that won't harm mice? I'm not about to lend these people Jamie or any other cat, as they live on a busy street and aren't used to keeping doors and windows closed so cats can't escape, and would prefer to get the mouse/mice out alive.

My father always uses peanut butter. Don't be fooled by all the cartoons where they use cheese...The mice love the Skippy.

I've never had a mouse in my house, but I too have always heard that Peanut Butter was a great bait for traps.

peanut butter works really well they go crazy for, we bought a home that was infested, the only thing that worked quickly was peanut butter

They say mice like peanut butter a lot

And THANK YOU for using a humane trap. The sticky pads should be banned as totally inhumane even if you don't like mice!

My old pet rats and mice used to love peanut butter. Only you should water it down a little bit because they can choke on it cause of how sticky and thick it is.

The way I once found out an apartment I lived in had mice was this: I discovered a big pile of TINY bits of tin foil underneath one of the pillows on my bed. Then I discovered what it had come from: Mice had been stealing Hershey's Kisses from my chocolate stash, unwrapping them on my bed and eating them.

Chocolate works as bait. So do sticky traps. But then again, I see pet mice and VERMIN as two different things. I have no compassion for rodent invaders.

Thanks for the quick replies! Peanut butter it is!

Yup, peanut butter it is... my grandpa used to put a glop of it on those sticky traps and it always worked.

My BF's Aunt always tells a story about how one time she was visiting their house (my Bf's) Upstate and went to make a PB&J sandwich. She took a jar of peanut butter out of the stairway/pantry thing and started to make a sandwich when she was informed by Jon that that was in fact the "mouse peanut butter." They started labeling the jar after that

To tell you the truth, I'm not familiar with the "sticky traps". The ones my husband bought are miniature versions of the ones you use to trap feral cats. He got them at a local DIY store, which also sells ones for martens (they look like ferrets/weasels, and are related), which are a big problem here.

I was going to suggest peanut butter too.

We rented an apartment years ago that had a loose (probably pet) mouse. We tried to trap him, but the cats got him. He outsmarted our traps too. I think Peanut butter was in the traps the night the suicidal mouse ran out on the open floor. WHY he was hanging out in the only apartment with 2 cats, we still don't understand.

Originally Posted by jcat

To tell you the truth, I'm not familiar with the "sticky traps". The ones my husband bought are miniature versions of the ones you use to trap feral cats. He got them at a local DIY store, which also sells ones for martens (they look like ferrets/weasels, and are related), which are a big problem here.

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If your looking to trap them humanely then the traps you have are the way to go. Sticky traps are just basically a glue pad and they get glued to them. Sometimes they won't even trap the mice because they will chew off a leg to escape. It's sad but they are a pest I guess. I'm not advocating it or anything though.

http://www.victorpest.com/gluetrays.htm
http://www.idausa.org/facts/gluefacts.html

The second link basically talks about how inhumane they are. The first one is just a company that makes them.

Sticky traps are the kind with glue on them. Basically the mouse is alive just stuck and cant get away. Not the nicest way to die in my opinion.

These look more like the ones hubby bought: http://www.victorpest.com/live_mouse_traps.htm

Our tenant has already called to tell us that the mouse hasn't gone into any of the traps yet. Ummm - it's evening, and you and your DH are still up. I couldn't resist telling her that rodents eat bugs, so at least she wouldn't have a roach or silverfish problem. I know that was nasty, but I can't fathom how anybody can be so afraid of a tiny mouse. We have a whole colony of them living under our garage, and with a good mouser in the house, don't worry about them getting in.

I wonder how she'd react if I told her the house is built on top of a cemetery that was closed in the Middle Ages, or that there's a "secret" underground passage that leads to a wine cellar located under the street (which I bet has rats, as my f-i-l insists on storing his potatoes there)? I'd better not - these tenants pay their rent on time, and don't cause any trouble.

Originally Posted by jcat

These look more like the ones hubby bought: http://www.victorpest.com/live_mouse_traps.htm

Our tenant has already called to tell us that the mouse hasn't gone into any of the traps yet.

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Those traps are much better (and nice and humane)! And geez, talk about impatient!!

Believe me if you EVER see a live mouse trying to get off a sticky pad (no matter how much you hate them) you will never use them. They put them around at work. I saw a guy taking one to the trash can - the poor mouse was still alive and was trying to pull his little feet off and his belly/chin off the pad. It was HORRIBLE. It was INHUMANE.

I was going to suggest PB too!

We used to get them at my old job - the body shop - and we always used peanut butter to get them too, and then just released them back into the wild

Originally Posted by jcat

I wonder how she'd react if I told her the house is built on top of a cemetery that was closed in the Middle Ages, or that there's a "secret" underground passage that leads to a wine cellar located under the street (which I bet has rats, as my f-i-l insists on storing his potatoes there)? I'd better not - these tenants pay their rent on time, and don't cause any trouble.

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How cool! Of course, your right, she probably wouldn't appreciate the history of it...

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Believe me if you EVER see a live mouse trying to get off a sticky pad (no matter how much you hate them) you will never use them. They put them around at work. I saw a guy taking one to the trash can - the poor mouse was still alive and was trying to pull his little feet off and his belly/chin off the pad. It was HORRIBLE. It was INHUMANE.

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I did a Google search, and apparently those sticky traps aren't sold in Germany. I couldn't find any links. That's odd, because I've seen the "snap" ones in stores. Although I grew up in the U.S., and lived in an old house, nobody in my family ever got upset about "rodent sub-tenants", as we had dogs, cats, reptiles, rodents, and, and, and, so never used traps.

DH and I are now discussing where to release the mouse/mice should the traps work. Our yard is kitty city, thanks to all the catnip there, not to mention mice and rats, so not the best solution. A nice field, perhaps? Or our garage.

I've always heard that peanut butter works best, too. I've tried the humane traps with peanut butter every time we've had a mouse, but, unfortunately, Tailer's faster than the traps.