Mouse bait?

[Deleted member 26715]

Thanks for the reply but i find it hard to believe that the average mouse would find its way back to me from two miles away. I will however take any future ones further past at least 20 houses.

Do you have any Tippex, put a mark on his/her back before you release him/her to see if it's the same one tomorrow

 

[Blue Hills]

Do you have any Tippex, put a mark on his/her back before you release him/her to see if it's the same one tomorrow

Will do. Will also accidentally on purpose let it catch sight of an envelope with a false address on it.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Will do. Will also accidentally on purpose let it catch sight of an envelope with a false address on it.

Or leave a trail of breadcrumbs to next doors air grate

 

[Reynard]

Mice I've had have always gone mad for grain bait.

Last deployment was behind the cooker - I heard mouse activity within a minute or two of putting down the bait.

I know you are after a humane solution, but a few grains would likely do the job and also not do the mouse any long term harm, just give it a poorly tummy.

The instructions say the mouse may need to take several doses of bait before it's killed.

Curiously, it also says rats will be killed with fewer portions - one might think the bigger animal would need more to kill it.

Various brands available, but the stuff I've had has always been greeny blue so may have been made by the same manufacturer.

I avoid gain bait.

The reason is this.

A mouse or rat who has taken it will be an easy target for anything that likes snacks-on-legs. Be this a cat, a fox, stoats, owls etc. Introducing a poison into the food chain is quite frankly irresponsible.

 

[12boy]

I agree with the second hand poisoning thing as well. Also, the little desicated mouse mummies can turn up in odd places much later since they crawl away to die of dehydration.

 

[Reynard]

I get the flat dried out mice under the carpets if the girls have brought one in and I haven't realised. Oddly, they never seem to smell...

 

[12boy]

Basically mouse jerky.

 

[Reynard]

Well, that's a succinct way of putting it.

 

[Pale Rider]

I get the flat dried out mice under the carpets if the girls have brought one in and I haven't realised. Oddly, they never seem to smell...

A decomposing body will smell for a few days, but then cease to do so.

The smell of a decomposing rodent, to a point, is not unpleasant - it has been described as like moth balls.

Wasn't too bad when it happened in here, although I imagine the small body of a mouse means its smell is not too strong, so it may be possible not to notice it at all.

I've been to a couple of inquests relating to someone who died in their flat and was not discovered for weeks or months.

In both cases the neighbours gave evidence to say they noticed an unpleasant smell on the landing, but it died down before they got around to doing something about it.

 

[Reynard]

Well, thanks to chronic sinusitis, my sense of smell is less than stellar... I'll have to take your word for it.

 

[slowmotion]

Our mouse smelled really gross for about ten days. It's mortal remains are still resting somewhere unknown in a floor cavity upstairs. Even after a month, there are still traces of it. Rats can stink for weeks on end. Use poison at your peril!

 

[classic33]

Do you have any Tippex, put a mark on his/her back before you release him/her to see if it's the same one tomorrow

Animal markers?

 

[Blue Hills]

Thanks for all the help and advice folks.

Update.

My trap has now caught two mice, though in two instances the cunning critters managed to take the bait and not trigger it.

It is possible as per upthread that I have caught the same adventurer twice.

But more progress.

I have discovered that the trap I acquired for a fiver is a professional bit of kit retailing for around £60.

This:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt608TESMmA


and


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w2stGYtzNc


and have realised from those vids and othe research that I have been using it in the wrong way - you are supposed to slide one bit out of the other when deployed - this very probably increases the chances of the trigger lever being triggered and you not giving a mouse a free feed.

It also means that you give the mouse substantially more room to sit things out - in this space you are apparently supposed to supply the critter with bedding, more food to keep its spirits up, and for all I know some suitable reading matter. Will consider this and other furnishings.

Apparently the trap was designed by Oxford academics - good to know that something other than Oxford set politicos has come out of that place.

Both mice were unharmed - the second one was taken some distance away and this time I had time to look at the rather cute thing.

Thoroughly recommended - to relieve yourself of a nuisance or, in these restricted times, catch yourself a new pet.