One day recently, one of our customers was watching birds and squirrels feeding at her bird feeder when she noticed something shocking. There was a huge rat making its way towards the feeder.
Because the rodent was outdoors, she didn’t want to take the plunge and call out rodent & wildlife control immediately. She decided to opt for mouse trap instead. But weeks went by, and the trap was always empty. She thought the rat was frightened away and didn’t think any more about it. Until she saw the rat again!
Rodents will gravitate towards food sources and shelter.
The sight of a rat or mouse can be rather unnerving on many levels. The truth of it is, in Texas, mice often find their way into our homes (or backyards) in search of dry nesting spots and easy food sources. Because we know some homeowners in the Corpus Christi area may wish to deal with small rodents on their own, we’ll look at some of your best options.
Mouse Traps vs. Poison
We at ABC Home and Commercial Services recommend mouse traps over poison as the option that is safest, most efficient and most environmentally-friendly. After all, the woman just wanted to rat gone, not the birds she was hoping to attract with her bird feeder. Poison can harm other wildlife, your pets, and even your children.
When a rodent consumes poison, it can wander off to die in walls and crawl spaces, leading to terrible odors and flies as the rodent decomposes. Meanwhile, traps are quick and immediate.
The Best Mouse Traps
Mouse snap traps.
Consisting of a simple board and spring-loaded bar, these are the first kind of trap that usually comes to mind. While these traps have been around for decades, there are some downsides to them. The sound can be disturbing for many homeowners, along with the fact that they often injure, but do not kill the mice, which is not the most human route to take. Furthermore, depending on where the mice are nesting, it can be difficult to set them out away from pets and children. Your best bet is to put these traps under furniture and inside cabinetry, away from pets.
Mouse cubes, aka live traps.
These are small boxes that are set with bait like snap traps, but instead of killing the mice, they simply capture them in an escape-proof cage, and then the mice can be released outside a distance away from the home. Because there is nothing to harm larger animals or children, these are safe to use in most households and very animal-friendly.
Glue boards for mice.
Arguably, glue traps are the “easiest” of all mouse traps, but they are also the least humane option. Unlike physical traps or poisons, glue traps do not kill mice quickly. Instead, they immobilize the mice that then die due to lack of food and water.
Electronic mouse traps.
Of all of the kill traps, these are the most effective. Both enclosed and baited like live traps, these traps kill mice immediately with a shock of electricity, meaning the animal doesn’t suffer.
In our opinion, the best traps for the majority of situations would be either electronic mouse traps or live/cube mouse traps.
How to attract a mouse to the trap
Regardless of which kind of trap you use, it’s important to locate and bait mouse traps correctly to capture mice.
- Use more traps than you think you might need. Even if you only think you have one or two mice or rats, you might want to use as many as a dozen traps.
- Bait with a pea-sized amount of bait. More is unnecessary.
- The best baits for a mouse trap are peanut butter or commercial mouse baits. Believe it or not, cheese really isn’t any more or less affective.
- Place traps where you have found mouse droppings or around food sources or nesting areas.
- What if the mouse traps aren’t working?
Like our friend with the rat in her yard, many of people don’t have luck with traps the first time they try. It can be tough to get rid of mice in a home once they’ve become established. Mice can live within floors, walls and crawlspaces, and can have multiple nests as well as several different access points into your home. Unless you locate their sources of food and block all of their access points, trapping may have little effect. Mice reproduce quickly, so killing a handful of mice may not resolve the issue.