How Do I Get Rid Of A Mouse Outside

[Guest Willow]

I had two move into my rabbit enclosure. I used a humane trap from Bunnings to catch them. You can then choose to relocate it, or swiftly kill it.

[sllebasi]

i can highly recommend a glue trap, i had a 'rat' sized mouse that i had been trying to catch for three weeks that found its way inside and made a huge mess. bought glue traps 6 for $30 from my pest man, you place them along a wall with some food on top and it took an hour after laying them down to get it.

mice are apparantly blind so whereever you put the traps it needs to be approx 3 - 5 cm from a wall or line of cupboards.

[persephone]

i can highly recommend a glue trap, i had a 'rat' sized mouse that i had been trying to catch for three weeks that found its way inside and made a huge mess. bought glue traps 6 for $30 from my pest man, you place them along a wall with some food on top and it took an hour after laying them down to get it.

mice are apparantly blind so whereever you put the traps it needs to be approx 3 - 5 cm from a wall or line of cupboards.

Glue traps are the cruellest way of catching mice that I know!!

please DON'T use them.

The mice often don't die .. but instead are held captive by the glue of their feet/fur .. it hurts when they struggle to escape.. and they suffer shock/stress.Those that die do so from shock.. or exhaustion, or suffocation, owing to all the glue pulling on their poor little bodies.

Mice are NOT blind. The reason for placing any trap along wall edges etc is that mice run along these spots so they have some shelter from predators.

For me, the only 'humane' trap is a good new plastic 'snap trap' where death is almost instant in most cases .

There is no chewing/struggling to get out of a cage type trap ..there is no painful stressful hours in a glue trap ...there is no stress associated with being 'released' somewhere else ..and there is no slowly bleeding to death from poison.

I do use poison in one of our houses .. which is not permanently occupied..but in our house it's traps or cat.

Mice may be pests .. but they do not deserve to be tortured.

[Boronia]

Here ya go...a humane cage for sale on quicksales (used to be oztion)

http://www.quicksales.com.au/buy/auction.a...itemid=11552446

once you have caught the little bugger you can let it go waaaaaaaaay up the road in some long grass so it can have somewhere to hide

[Dxenion]

I don't like traps either - I know they're sensible but I'm just too soft to set them.

You can get electronic plug in noise maker things that supposedly makes ultrasonic noises to keep the mice away, my folks have one, no idea how well they work but they don't often get mice at their house.

We bought a few ultrasonic rodent repellers when we moved into our current home. When you first plug them it, it seems like they're attracting the mice but in fact it's driving them out of the roof and walls. Haven't seen either a mouse or the evidence of once in 2 1/2 years. No traps, no chemicals, no risk of hurting the dogs but it does come with an advisory not to use them if you have pet rodents as it will drive them up the wall!

[jackie_a1]

Far too many bleeding hearts from what I've seen.

Personally I have no intentions of catching a mouse to simply re-release it somewhere else so it can continue to breed, cause disease, spread bacteria etc. They are prolific breeders. They are vermin. If you own pets (and understand the basics of hygiene?) vermin species should be controlled an culled (if you're lucky) other wise you are risking your pets health. For example an infestation of rats and mice can cause tape worm in your dog, how you say? The rats and mice carry fleas, obviously fleas are the intermediate host for tape worm, your dogs catch fleas from rodents your dog therefore has a flea infestation and now tape worm. Not to mention they urinate, defecate and ruin your house. Why you would possibly want to release a mouse somewhere else has me dumbfounded? Does that count for cock roaches too?

Personally good ol' run of the mil mouse traps work great use peanut butter they love it. Keep the traps up high (outside) away from your dogs reach and inside my advice to you is of a night set numerous traps around the house and contain your cats to one room so there is no possibility of them getting there noses caught in a trap. Do it over a few nights and always make sure your kitties are locked up if you're worried they will get into the traps.

One mouse means there is usually more mice and if you, capture and re-release you risk a big breeding colony. I respect all animals but I also understand their roles. Feral mice = vermin. Vermin = spread of diseases etc Diseases = possibly sick pets.

Edit to add: I agree that vermin don't deserve torture nothing does. But the old style mouse traps I've used have always killed the mice immediately have never found one still alive but not to say it doesn't happen.

Edited March 27, 2011 by jackie_a1

[jazzy4]

kill it, they spread diseases & are discusting

just sit in your kitchen & imagine what they are running over every night when your all asleep, they will be running over your benches, sinks, any fruit in bowls, & in doing this they will be spreading their diseases

kill them now, as someone said earlier - where there is one there will be loads more

[newfsie]

My newfs catch mice in the barn......HUGE entertainment and they are like bulldozers when they spot one. Knees beware.......They kill and spit. Our Border Collie taught them and they all know how

[Boronia]

If you live in a country area sometimes it is a good idea to use a live-catch cage/trap as you can check if you have caught a house-mouse rather than a little native mouse

Brown Antechinus ----> http://australianmuseum.net.au/Brown-Antechinus/

and these cuties ---> http://www.oceanwideimages.com/categories.asp?cID=448

Dirty Stinkin' House Mouse ---> http://australianmuseum.net.au/House-Mouse

and---> http://www.ozanimals.com/Mammal/House-Mous...s/musculus.html

[Sheridan]

What the mouse world needs is more terriers.

[Henrietta]

My grandma's old GSD x Kelpie (RIP) used to dispatch mice with one crunch. No playing or eating, just one dive and a clean kill. This would be my first preference, but my dogs are useless at this. One is too slow and too busy wagging her tail gleefully at the sight of a mouse, the other finds mice scary.

I would rather get a trap (the ones Perse has described have been successful for us and as far as I can tell as humane as possible) than use poison or a glue trap. *shudder*

[Boronia]

What the mouse world needs is more terriers.

O good...perhaps that means I could get more Westies, though my little guys prefer killin' rats

Edited March 27, 2011 by Boronia

[GavinM]

Far too many bleeding hearts from what I've seen.

Far too much Neanderthal thinking from what I’ve seen. Nothing wrong with being a “bleeding heart”, just means the person is a compassionate human being – something that’s lacking in this world sadly.

Personally I have no intentions of catching a mouse to simply re-release it somewhere else so it can continue to breed, cause disease, spread bacteria etc.

Every wild animal breeds, causes disease and spreads bacteria. That’s not a good argument to kill something. Mice are no more or less prone to carrying disease than, say, a possum or a bat.

Why you would possibly want to release a mouse somewhere else has me dumbfounded? Does that count for cock roaches too?

What has me dumbfounded is people’s lack of compassion here. Some people obviously don’t want to kill animals, so what? Why do you think there are humane traps in the market? To give the user a choice.

One mouse means there is usually more mice and if you, capture and re-release you risk a big breeding colony.

Killing one mouse isn’t going to avoid said risk anyway. And for all we know, the mouse could get eaten by a predator in the wild. Most mice that are born do not survive because of exposure/lack of resources and predators – so releasing a mouse in the wild where there is a healthy population of owls and tawny frogmouths is no problem.

I respect all animals

Yet you are ultimately killing something simply because it exists. If one can remove their mouse problem by releasing it elsewhere, then they have reached their aim. What the mouse does outside is outside their control and completely irrelevant to their situation.

Not all mice are even pests – Australia has many species of native mouse if I recall.

People say mice are disgusting, but what is more disgusting is this “kill kill kill” attitude that isn’t necessary a lot of the time. Killing should be seen as a final resort. And I have to chuckle at the people who see mice with such revulsion, when they use glue traps. I mean, seriously? Glue traps should be banned nationwide, they already are in a few states. The entire concept of sticking a live mammal in super glue, for it to rip itself to pieces, gnaw its own legs off, struggle in a pool of its own excrement, in complete terror just to dehydrate/starve to death when there are more humane methods to deal with the problem is inhumane, cruel, lacking of humanity and is more repulsive than a mouse ever will be.

Sometimes people amaze me with their double standards and slippery moral slope when it comes to dealing with animals. “Pest” and “vermin” are arbitrary terms, used by people to justify their actions and to feel less guilt. Rubbish. Mice have been around for centuries to the extent that Mother Nature has adapted – they have become such a part of our environment that some animals actually depend on them to survive. All you are doing by releasing them is doing a favour to the food chain. Of course, if you have an infestation then catch and release would not really be viable. But for a single or only a few mice, catch and release is a viable alternative depending on where you live. People don’t give a damn whether the mice may go to their neighbour’s homes, they kill because it is most convenient for them – because they are too lazy to spend something like 15 mins to walk down a couple of blocks to release the animal.

Saddens me people hurt and kill simply because the animal is “disgusting” or “non-native”. So what? Remember, the people who own these homes aren’t native to their land either – means absolutely nothing. Most of it comes from an irrational fear of small crawling things… some of the stuff I’ve seen pest control groups attribute to animals like mice is ridiculous, to the extent of demonising simply because they want people’s money. Mice/rats/etc aren’t beings from hell out to get you, they are animals simply trying to adapt to a changing environment. Like it or lump it, they are here to stay, and killing a single mouse at the end of the day isn’t going to do anything except possibly play on your conscience if you give a damn.

However, I am more worried about people who use things like glue traps and torture the animals as a means of disposal, using their “pest” status as a reason. While I am saying that killing an animal when it’s not necessary is morally questionable, torturing small helpless animals is sub-human. People who use glue traps are sociopaths, having seen what they can do to animals, I have a really good case for that if you wanna hear.

[GavinM]

Get a deep plastic container with straight sides. Put a bag or two of chook food inside and leave where mouse is overnight. Check in the morning, lift the bags of chook food out and you should be left with a number of live rodents who got in the box but can't get out.

Get your dog and go "Sic 'em Rex!" (or Benson, as in my case) and the mouse problem should be solved promptly. If your dog's not up to the task (Dusty isn't, she does the girly thing....jump back and go "eeeek") get someone elses dog or go save a cat from the pound and put it to work.

Oh great, someone is condoning animal baiting (actually an illegal practice). For the uninformed, animal baiting is the act of deliberately trapping an animal, and giving it to another animal so that they fight each other in an enclosed space. Like badger baiting in the UK, or rat baiting in the old days. Hunting with dogs and ferrets outside is acceptable because that’s not only natural but you are not deliberately putting any animal in an inescapable position. Your "method" is just a bloodsport.

They are filthy, disgusting things. Kill them, don't move them or keep them away.

Is that spittle I saw when you post that?

Why bother killing when the problem can be solved simply by relocating them? Are you telling me you like killing them? Or are you just too lazy to be more humane?

That's why they have pest exterminators.

No, they have pest exterminators for complete suckers who like to waste their money. What skill is there placing a trap?

Though it’s absolutely refreshing to see people not resort to cruelty to solve problems, for a change.

[Crisovar]

How would you suggest solving a mouse or rat infestation problem then Mr Humane?

Apart from asking them nicely not to eat the car wiring and making their homes in the stove insulation, what would you suggest?

[Staranais]

I don't know. I can see both sides. It's impossible to go through life without causing the death of some creatures. And wild rodents can spread disease, so they aren't fun to cohabit with. I have nothing against killing rodents, so long as it's done humanely.

However, I certainly don't agree that rodents are disgusting or deserving of cruelty in any way. I find them to be rather personable little animals, and they're no dirtier as a wild dog, cat or bunny.

[Crisovar]

[persephone]

Glue traps should be banned nationwide, they already are in a few states. The entire concept of sticking a live mammal in super glue, for it to rip itself to pieces, gnaw its own legs off, struggle in a pool of its own excrement, in complete terror just to dehydrate/starve to death when there are more humane methods to deal with the problem is inhumane, cruel, lacking of humanity and is more repulsive than a mouse ever will be.

Agreed- which is why I will also not subject a mouse to 'relocation' A quick death is much more preferable.

[GavinM]

How would you suggest solving a mouse or rat infestation problem then Mr Humane?

Apart from asking them nicely not to eat the car wiring and making their homes in the stove insulation, what would you suggest?

I already said that catch and release might not be viable when it comes to an infestation. Looks like someone skimmed rather than read! In answer to your question, there are many cage traps out in the market that are designed to catch multiple mice, unharmed. Either way though, traps aren't going to do squat if you do not eliminate their food source and actually block where they are coming from in the first place. Killing them is a band-aid solution that treats the symptom, not the disease. Besides, humane could also mean quick-kill - a merciful death. I'm just saying that killing is not always necessarily the first option!

And looking at the OP's problem, it seems that the mouse is outside - and not in their house. So why kill something that is not bothering you? Their dogs will either kill it or simply co-exist - saying the dogs will fall ill/get sick from one single mouse is absolutely ridiculous. These are animals that are known to chomp on mice, and eat raw chicken, after all! Something that a human would be sick from.

[Baileys mum]

When my Aussie terriers kill a mouse they die instantly, they do not suffer.

I would never let any creature suffer & do not agree with inhumane traps like glue traps.