How to dispose of a mouse caught in a sticky trap

[MrsMarigold]

Apologies if anyone is offended by this thread. Our cat is quite elderly and not the mouser she used to be, I tried a conventional little nipper mouse trap but no avail it just gobbled all the bait without getting caught. I'm now contemplating a sticky tray trap but worried it's very cruel and what do you do once you've caught the offending mouse?

I think I have intelligent vermin.

Bowchick no need to sound quite so proud of yourself. It's not enjoying the fact we feel we need to kill something that makes us human. You sound awful.

When I had mice in an old flat, I got out a needle and thread and I sewed bacon to the traps. That way, there's no chance of them licking the bait off and leaving without triggering the trap.

You need to find and seal the ingress point,otherwise get used to living with them.

+1 for the sticky traps from me, I tried to catch 2 mice with every trap known to man for 6 weeks, took 1 day with the traps in the same places. (mallet in answer to your question)

Tip from the chap at our hardware shop for spring traps was Maoam. Something sticky the mouse really has to pull at, it worked very well for us.

@MrsMarigold The British veterinary association and major welfare organisations all strongly discourage the use of glue traps - they’re about as in humane as you can get
www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/News,_campaigns_and_policies/Policies/Ethics_and_welfare/rodent-glue-traps-policy.pdf

Please stick to break-back traps (not great but better), electrical traps or live cats have and release traps

The house is old and there are plenty of air bricks underneath they can use to get in, it's nearly impossible to block them. Thanks for the advice. Our cat is usually efficient last year she caught six mice in an afternoon and then we saw no more that winter.

Eek. I work in an industry that sees a lot of caught mice on glue boards. The pest controllers fold them in half and stamp really hard on them. (It's awful. And messy)

But be warned. Micecaught on them make a LOT of noise (it's awful) and they can chew their own legs completely off to get free (it's awful). However, it's the most effective method to deal with an active infestation according to the pest controllers I've worked with.

Somewhere there's a code of practice for thier use (meant for professionals but worth reading as it helps to know what you're doing), which says things like they must not be left out indefinitely and they should be checked every 24 hours at least. They're also not meant to be baited but Ive seen them baited.

Cheap cheddar (rubbery) smeared with peanut butter.

Never heard of a sticky trap before but from Dreadlocks description they sound utterly barbaric.
Sorry to sound totally naive, I don’t live in the countryside and have never knowingly been visited by mice, but how would pest control deal with it? Would they deal with it?

Mars bars squished onto the trap usually works because they can't grab and run.

Cut down on the cat's food.

Please don't use sticky traps or drown them. Snap traps are quick, you just need to find the right bait. Mars bar or similar squished down.

I found the Big Cheese snap traps work really well but you have to wash off the preloaded bait and put peanut butter in them instead. Can buy them from amazon or wilko

Pest control always want to stop them from moving around and gaining entry in the first place.

If a gap is small enough for a standard biro to pass through, mice can pass through it.

All food has to be sealed in containers and any spillages cleaned up. You can buy contact dust that's not poisonous but it shows you where they're going (they pick it up on their paws) if you shine a torch on it. That can be useful to find their routes and maybe find their entry points. You could use flour, but risky as that's food to a mouse.

Get another cat.
Seriously. It's the only thing that worked for us. Sometimes when madam kitty walks in with muddy paws and decides to give herself a good wash on the cream sofas or meows to be let in at 4am (even though she has a cat flap that she let herself out of!!) I wonder why we put up with her.....and then I remember.
Shes great at her job.

You can get traps that are boxes that have a carbon dioxide gas canister in them that is triggered when the mouse enters. Result = instant death. Rentokill sold me a few. They're not cheap, but were very successful in getting rid of my mouse problem, unlike snap traps.

This is actually more humane than catching your mice (unlikely to be just one mouse) and depositing them far from home. A house mouse won't survive in a strange, outdoor environment.

Please don't use glue trips, OP; they are a form of torture.

Also, PP is right; you'll need to mouse-proof once you've got rid of your current guest/s or the problem will just recur. If they're getting in through airbricks, you need these things: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004VELK6Y/ref=asc_df_B004VELK6Y58026583/?hvlocphy=9046813&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&hvnetw=g&hvadid=256035930454&creative=22146&hvpone&hvlocint&creativeASIN=B004VELK6Y&hvpos=1o4&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforum-21&hvtargid=pla-426235696506&hvrand=17870754574790387968

(Can you tell I did a thorough mouse-purge/ mouse-proof recently?!)

surely you can find a safe place to put poison down

Horrible things, sticky traps. I can't believe they're still legal.

Use mars bars as bait on the snap traps, works much better than cheese. Their teeth get stuck in the caramel (caught 13 of the little devils in a weekend with that tactic.)

The cruelty and barbarism makes me weep

Notwoththeseknees How do I sound proud of killing a mouse? You are ridiculous.

Sorry but I'm with a few other pp. You have to use what works. I went through everything possible before finally, very reluctantly, using sticky traps. They are literally the only thing that worked. Despite the horror stories, the mice I caught did not scream, nor did they chew their own limbs off! (Not saying it never happens but it didn't at our house). They just lay there quietly and sadly (which in a way made me feel worse!). I suffocated them by placing the trap and mouse in a plastic food bag and tying it up tight. It doesn't make me feel good, not at all, but I had them running over my kitchen surfaces which has to be dealt with.

"They just lay there quietly and sadly.... I suffocated them by placing the trap and mouse in a plastic food bag and tying it up tight"

That is the words of one sick person. If you're going to take a creature's life, at least be responsible and do it quickly and humanely, with brick or a shovel.
I wonder if what you've described may even be illegal?
This is probably the most unpleasant thing I've ever read on Mumsnet and is not something I will be able to get out of my head in a long while.