[quote name='speciesUnknown' timestamp='1299858380' post='4784410']
The pitfall trap with water at the bottom seems like a good idea. The mouse isn't going to drown if you check the trap in the morning after you wake up.I'm not dead set against killing the mouse. I've had to euthenase injured animals before (e.g. fish that got cancer and started swimming on their side, birds which were mauled by family cats). But you aren't really fixing anything by killing one single mouse. It's not like all the disease is going to go away just because you kill one mouse.

Anyway, there are articles on the internets with various opinions on how to humanely kill a mouse. Spring traps and molten lava are not among them.

You'd think so, but due to small lung capacity and not being designed for swimming, after a couple hours they'll be dead. If you want to be more humane I hear putting bleach in the water will kill them faster. It still sucks for the mouse but at least they die fast instead of slow.

If you're going to get them it usually happens shortly after you go to bed/turn the lights off, so unless you get a mouse that can tread water for 6 hours, it's pretty boned.
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Hmm, good thinking, I guess its unlikely to be able to tread water for long. Best bet would be to use a large bucket so it cant jump out. I would still want to avoid causing it any unnecessary suffering. Adding bleach to the water isn't going to make this any better; i would rather drown for 6 hours than go blind and choke on my own blood for 2 hours. Chances are, whoever has used bleach in this way didnt notice the water being full of blood because of the bleach.

Just use a couple big-ass spring traps. Not the cheapo grocery-store mouse-sized ones, but a genuine rattrap, the kind that will break fingers if you accidentally trip it, and thus will cause instant death for the little mousie. Sometimes the little cheap traps don't break their necks, so they're just pinned under, scrabbling away until you check in the morning.
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[size=2]Use peanut butter on the trigger, they love that stuff, and its much harder for them to steal than cheese.

Hmm, good thinking, I guess its unlikely to be able to tread water for long. Best bet would be to use a large bucket so it cant jump out. I would still want to avoid causing it any unnecessary suffering. Adding bleach to the water isn't going to make this any better; i would rather drown for 6 hours than go blind and choke on my own blood for 2 hours. Chances are, whoever has used bleach in this way didnt notice the water being full of blood because of the bleach.

Maybe it wasn't bleach. I just used water when I did it, but my roommate told me about his dad doing it (this is why I ended up doing it) and he used some sort of chemical that made the death faster. I remember it being some sort of household cleaning agent I think.

edit:
http://issmousetraps.blogspot.com/2007/09/iss-mouse-traps-are-humane.html

there's an interesting article. Looks like they drown pretty quickly anyway or you can use the trap humanely by not having any water in it as long as the bucket is deep enough.

[quote name='speciesUnknown' timestamp='1299865186' post='4784466']
Hmm, good thinking, I guess its unlikely to be able to tread water for long. Best bet would be to use a large bucket so it cant jump out. I would still want to avoid causing it any unnecessary suffering. Adding bleach to the water isn't going to make this any better; i would rather drown for 6 hours than go blind and choke on my own blood for 2 hours. Chances are, whoever has used bleach in this way didnt notice the water being full of blood because of the bleach.

Maybe it wasn't bleach. I just used water when I did it, but my roommate told me about his dad doing it (this is why I ended up doing it) and he used some sort of chemical that made the death faster. I remember it being some sort of household cleaning agent I think.

edit:
http://issmousetraps...are-humane.html

there's an interesting article. Looks like they drown pretty quickly anyway or you can use the trap humanely by not having any water in it as long as the bucket is deep enough.
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No household cleaning agent is designed to kill a multicellular organism. If you try to use chemicals you're going to be looking at something out of a SAW movie. My idea of a humane kill is one which takes effect within a few seconds.

No household cleaning agent is designed to kill a multicellular organism. If you try to use chemicals you're going to be looking at something out of a SAW movie. My idea of a humane kill is one which takes effect within a few seconds.

It wasn't to kill them on its own, it was to get them to drown faster. Not sure if it was to make it harder to swim, get them excited so they breathed more (greater chance of breathing in water), or disorienting them so they couldn't swim as well.

Just use a couple big-ass spring traps. Not the cheapo grocery-store mouse-sized ones, but a genuine rattrap, the kind that will break fingers if you accidentally trip it, and thus will cause instant death for the little mousie. Sometimes the little cheap traps don't break their necks, so they're just pinned under, scrabbling away until you check in the morning.

Use peanut butter on the trigger, they love that stuff, and its much harder for them to steal than cheese.

Amen to that. Peanut butter totally does the trick.

Nah. Meese can climb. Unless the surface of the container is smooth. Put some lava on the bottom of it.

I agree with the lava, I've never seen a mouse swim in it for long.

So I've only trapped a couple of ghosts

Mice are sly and I have great respect for them. Bought 3 mousetraps. All sprung. All cheese was taken. No mouse. Dad had to stay up all night and use a similar system to yours to trap the rodent.

Why slide a sheet post capture? Put the trap on a sheet in the first place >.> And why kill it? It's not it's fault you were sloppy and let a mouse get into your house

Same thing happened to my dad. Two or three mousetraps, all sprung. Didn't work. Had to get a slightly more advanced mouse trap (like this but cheap and non-electric - a door closes behind them, trapping them (I think it killed it to, but I don't remember how - probably a spring)). We also use chunky peanut butter instead of cheese, since they love it + have to stay around to link the switch (as mentioned by other posters).

Don't use rat poison if you have little kids in the house who might be enticed to eat the bright blue candy-looking stuff.

i had good success with one of these when i had a little visitor



it doesnt harm the mouse and its not expensive at all