I Hate Those Meeces To Pieces

I Hate Those Meeces To Pieces was Originally Posted on July 17, 2013 by lavarock

Living in the South Kona area on a farm, I have been recently plagued with field mice. It appear a mom had babies and I have killed 6 so far. I’ll pass along my experiences.

They are hiding under a cabinet somewhere there is a hole. I am hoping to have the kitchen redone soon, so in the meantime, I have to just deal with the critters.

I have used the bait on the property, but now with a stray cat and my two dogs, I try to stay away from the poison.

I tried the wire cage traps that have a door that spring down when the little wire feeler is touched. That works with large mice and rats, but these little babies could not trigger it. Peanut butter on a piece of paper kept the bottom of the trap clean. This was my hopeful way to capture the things and release them way up away from the house.

I then moved up to the sticky traps, which are not humane. I have tried a bit of oil (cooking spray) on the pad to help the mouse release itself from the glue, with varied results. I didn’t like the sticky traps.

Since that was not working, a friend loaned me an electronic unit called the Rat Trapper that humanely kills mice and rats. It is a simple device based upon a piece of electronics I had years ago. That device was a shock box that had metal foil sides and when you went to pick it up, got a mild shock. This unit is a plastic tunnel with a couple metal plates on the bottom inside. You bait it (dry kibble seems to work fine) and place it where the mice will smell the food and enter. They touch the two sets of plates and ZAP, they are instantly killed.

It uses a set of cheap batteries, has a little LED on the top to tell you when it has killed the mouse and it is very easy (no mess) to tip the thing and ready it again for a new “temporary resident”. Within a half hour I caught my first mouse, which was tipped into a ziplock bag and disposed of. So far it dies not look like geckos like the fish-based kibble I put in there and have not ventured in.

If you have to go the route of killing the things, I think this may be the solution. There may be a better way for little baby mice, but by the time I investigated and bought such an item, they would no longer be babies.

When P.T. Barnum had an animal exposition, he found that too many people were standing around, keeping him getting new visitors into the exhibit. He posted a sign “To The Egress ->>” near a door. People went to see the odd animal, went through the door, then another one, both closing behind them (with no handles). They soon learned that “egress” means to exit! If I could build a long ramp from the house to outside with multiple little doors that close behind a mouse, I might do that. Perhaps the mice would go to see what an “egress” tastes like.