Confessions of a killer

[Caribou]

This works well. You could make them easily enough but I got mine at Amazon. It has a magnet and a screw adjustment so you can control the trigger weight. the water is required so that the mouse can't jump back out, and the little ***** can jump. Also they drown so we just dump them outside and put fresh water in the bucket.

 

[Double R]

View attachment 56786This works well. You could make them easily enough but I got mine at Amazon. It has a magnet and a screw adjustment so you can control the trigger weight. the water is required so that the mouse can't jump back out, and the little ***** can jump. Also they drown so we just dump them outside and put fresh water in the bucket.

We’ve done these and a rod with a pipe over it that spins when they walk on it and get trapped in the bucket. Both were pretty effective in the chicken coop and the chickens didn’t bother the traps.

 

[Alaskajohn]

In retrospect, the new fangled mouse trap was built for a mouse and not a shrew. I did find my older mouse trap with a metal paddle more like this than the one I posted on the previous page with the big plastic paddle. Playing with it today, it would activate the trap much easier than the plastic one. The shrew took advantage of this and got a good dozen plus free meals. I will be getting some peanut butter, and the next time I will use the old trap and some peanut butter.

All said and done, it was a interesting little diversion and the little bugger made a game of it. More so than Ohio State gave Bama, but that’s for a different thread. Oh no, there I go again.

 

[Meerkat]

Yes but the smell of a rotting mouse can be hard to locate.

The Princess purchased an electric mouse trap that electrocuted them. That worked to about $25/mouse.

I purchased a gross of old school snap traps. I'm still reusing my first dozen or so. Some of them have nailed 15 or so critters. I purchased a bunch thinking they would be a good barter item.

Willing to trade a good mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.

I use maple syrup to get the trigger sticky and then smash whatever treat I have around onto the trigger. Chocolate chip cookies have worked well but chocolate brownies are performing rather well with only having to bait the trap once and scored 3 mice.

My mice are looking for 2 things. Food and water. The Princess has so much of the house filled that catching them going for food is an exercise in futility. But water is only available at the kitchen sink.

So I generally have at least one trap set in the corner behind the sink. I also habitually scan the surrounding counter for mouse-signs.

In our house I make claim to the title "Great White Mouse Hunter". I nabbed 15 one year. This year only 3 so far.

I recently quipped to The Princess that I should start collecting heads and hot gluing them to a wall mount. She was not pleased.

I don't tend toward killing things but mice and hornets/yellow jackets that threaten me and mine that is another story.


On that note let me share this video have watched repeatedly.


Revenge of the Electric Weenie.

Ben

Hubby used rat poison ONCE!Thats all it took to never use it again. It took us months to get rid of the smell.That smell is horrible.

 

[Morgan101]

There are probably a bazillion more shrews out in the woods. I don't think one will be missed. Did the raven send you a thank you note?

We have been spared the small critters, but recently we did have to evict a raccoon who had gotten very comfortable living in the attic. Actually I don't think it was the attic. I was the crawl space between the first and second floor. We had it done professionally.

 

[BadgerLandHunter]

Yes but the smell of a rotting mouse can be hard to locate.

The Princess purchased an electric mouse trap that electrocuted them. That worked to about $25/mouse.

I purchased a gross of old school snap traps. I'm still reusing my first dozen or so. Some of them have nailed 15 or so critters. I purchased a bunch thinking they would be a good barter item.

Willing to trade a good mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.

I use maple syrup to get the trigger sticky and then smash whatever treat I have around onto the trigger. Chocolate chip cookies have worked well but chocolate brownies are performing rather well with only having to bait the trap once and scored 3 mice.

My mice are looking for 2 things. Food and water. The Princess has so much of the house filled that catching them going for food is an exercise in futility. But water is only available at the kitchen sink.

So I generally have at least one trap set in the corner behind the sink. I also habitually scan the surrounding counter for mouse-signs.

In our house I make claim to the title "Great White Mouse Hunter". I nabbed 15 one year. This year only 3 so far.

I recently quipped to The Princess that I should start collecting heads and hot gluing them to a wall mount. She was not pleased.

I don't tend toward killing things but mice and hornets/yellow jackets that threaten me and mine that is another story.


On that note let me share this video have watched repeatedly.


Revenge of the Electric Weenie.

Ben

That video is awesome. I use dawn and water in a spray bottle but I like there idea better.

Oh that's true. I've had a rotting one in the wall before and had to remove drywall to get at it. No fun.

Dang sounds like you have an all you can eat buffet were those little things are spreading the news. Lol.

Yup nothing beats the cheap old traps. I learned why they like peanut butter is because of the high fat content. Any food with lots of fat they will like. Man cookies and brownies would probably capture me if I'm hungry scavenging lolol.

 

[Dalewick]

I guess this best fits in the trapping section out of respect for a little shrew that bested me all weekend.

He was a crafty, sneaky little shrew that bested me all weekend. This little Alaskan shrew was about half the size of your typical mouse. He first showed up last Thursday and the wife asked me to put out the sonic devices that typically drive them out of the house. No need to kill it if we can encourage him outdoors. I told the wife I will give him until Friday to find a new home. I thought he was gone, but the little bugger showed himself Saturday morning.

I set out 4 traps with cheese before we went out for our chores. We expected to find the guy squashed in one of the traps, but he stole the bait from all four. No problem, so this time I did a better job of placing several bits of cheese in several locations around and under the paddles. This was the last of our sliced cheese, so I did this very strategically and carefully on the four traps. We set them out and headed back outside for the afternoon chores. When we came back in that evening and same thing when we came back. I’ve been had. He was getting fat on my accord stealing all my bait.

Typically peanut butter is the bait of choice, since it sticks to the pedal, but we don’t eat it typically so that wasn’t a choice. I repeated the prices this time using ham, sticking it carefully through the holes in the paddle, and set them out before heading to bed. In the morning, same thing. I knew I was now dealing with a special shrew. He was a real pro. I asked the wife to thing of something that sticks, and she thought honey. So we applied that and went out Sunday for our chores. When we came in for lunch, nothing he didn’t touch any of it.

We knew he loved cheese, so I took some more ham and used tape to tap the ham to the pedal with a little bit of ham hanging out from the edges. That did the trick, but the little bugger managed to eat the edges of the ham off of one of the traps before meeting his demise. I actually felt bad for the little bugger because he was such a crafty little devil. I didn’t want to waste such a special critter, so I put his body on a pedestal outside the window and a raven was the benefactor of this smart little guy. I don‘t know how much you know about ravens but they are smarter than most humans. With the raven feasting on this special shrew, I m@y have just created a new monster.

I have nothing but respect for the little shrew who bested me for about half a week. I confess I did feel a little guilty for my deeds.

Here is to a really special shrew! .

Tip for mouse and rat traps. Wrap a cotton string (cooking string, mop string, etc.) around the trigger on the trap ( 3 or 4 wraps), and rub your bait into the string well. Rodents (mice, rats, voles, chipmunks, etc.) and shrews get there teeth hung on the string and trip the trap with there head at the right location. I prefer peanut butter for bait but have found for voles and shrews that the brains from a mouse or vole works really well as bait.