What is happening??!!help

[NotEver0]

I am totally confused and hope someone can shed some light on what they think is happening here.after finding mice in my garage last year we had traps set up which worked effectively and since then have continued with traps.
Two days ago a mouse was caught and disposed of and as usual as bait I put a corner of biscuit in each trap and set them.Twice in the past two days the biscuit has gone but the traps have remained unsnapped!!how is this possible?The snaps are so sensitive that they snap instantly if touched so my question is how has a mouse managed to evade snapping the trap and getting the biscuits twice in two days???
For the life of me I cannot work out what's going on!

MeringueCloud - most people who use humane traps either release in their garden or drive the mouse miles away.

Cats are perfect solution imo/e.

@stayathomer

I hate all this talk of killing mice, have gotten mice out over the years and released them in parks/ countryside. This was because we had a number of cases of mice getting paws or tails stuck in traps and the noise and suffering of them was horrific to watch. By the way have seen mice grab food out and evade traps too (yes I wish I wasn't so well up on this subject but I've lived in some very old houses!!) We now have cats, not to get mice just because we fell in love with them!

You do know with mice, they breed like buggery, so all these mice you capture and release will simply breed very quickly and over and over again.

the bastards also wee indiscriminately and wherever they run - I think they don't run in a straight line?

They're cute to a degree but I really prefer them out of where I'm living thanks all the same.

Mice can remove lumps of food use peanut butter, or something sticky they have to hang around and lick at!

@CleverCatty Yes agree with that but you still have to get rid of the ones already inside, also believe it or not mice and rats will come in through open windows and doors so even if you block up the holes it only takes an opportunistic rodent and they are in!

I can watch mice and voles in the garden all day - they are quite entertaining and a field mouse has a terrific right hook when bothered by a baby blackbird - but the minute they find a way into my house they are treated to a meal of peanut butter served on a big cheese snap trap.

My babies are teens now, but my youngest gets his peanut butter served on toast :o

Snap traps often just catch their legs or tails and then they are left to die a slow death. Are they doing any harm in the garage? If you remove any food source they probably wont hang around for long anyway.

we used the humane traps and baited them with peanut butter.

You do know with mice, they breed like buggery, so all these mice you capture and release will simply breed very quickly and over and over again.
As do many animals that people don't kill on sight. Believe me I'm not a fan of mice, but I don't think they all need to die either!

We had this under the stair opened the door to see mouse licking nutella off the spike on the trap then it just WALKED off when it had finished bold as brass with me watching.
Got some plastic snap traps with a well for the bait but found one half alive in it so won't use them.
For all the right and wrongs metal snap traps powerful and instant.
found out (after trapping my finger s many times) I was pushing the metal bar to far through the ring when setting them

You need live traps to catch the mice and release them some distance away.

It's a rat.

why worry if they are in your garage, unless they can get into the house from there. They will move out when the weather gets better. We have them in the garage each winter and the cats sit and watch them scamper across the patio to the bird feeder from the comfort of their cat trees in the conservatory. Now if one of them dares to enter the house, then I'm afraid they are being silly as we have 3 resident house cats and a terrier to contend with!

I have had this problem for a while now. I have used 3 different types of snap trap and only use peanut butter. But often the peanut butter was gone and the trap hadnt snapped. I know they do work because we have caught about 6 mice over the last few months. And horrifyingly we managed to catch 2 small mice in one trap.
I also have a sonic device for scaring off rodent but it made no difference at all.
I recently bought an electric mouse killer which hasnt been visited at all.The peanut butter in it remains untouched. But I havent heard any activity either .
Its mystifying why sometimes the traps fail to snap but if I see any more mouse activity I intend to increase the amount of traps put out at one time. Although as PPs have said I have the distinct impression that Im running a very cosy mouse hotel.

@Threekneerepeater

YABU if you are using inhumane traps.

Agreed - they are cruel.

Usea humane trap and release them into a field/park.

@Threekneerepeater

YABU if you are using inhumane traps.

100%.

@CaptainMyCaptain definitely the same 5. have caught in humane ones before, walked 100 yards from house and watch mouse run back and scale house wall again. Snap traps are the only way to properly "get rid" permanently. Over in milliseconds for the animal. Seems brutal but far better than the stress their wee hearts go through being trapped for hours then encountering a human close up. Many die anyway from stress panic.

CaptainMyCaptain not the same mouse unless it could drive 15 miles - my DH used to release them at the place he worked at - woodland/parkland

As do many animals that people don't kill on sight. Believe me I'm not a fan of mice, but I don't think they all need to die either!
Well people would, if they came into homes.
Mice can cause damage, let's not be naive. If mice are outside, no issue. If they are in, an issue. I have few field ones in a shed and as they are not causing damage, I am leaving them be. However, we used to have them in a garrage and they were causing damage. So we used traps.

Also. Can people stop talking about catch and release? Honestly. You are not the good ones here!

@WeatherwaxOn

CaptainMyCaptain not the same mouse unless it could drive 15 miles - my DH used to release them at the place he worked at - woodland/parkland

OK they probably died there then.

Traditional mouse traps are not in humane. Death is instantaneous. I prefer the live traps which I posted earlier though.

Where do you release the mosue then

*Mouse

We use Nutella - completely irresistible to mice and they can't knock it free

As there is no way we can stop the mice getting in, snap traps are the only answer unfortunately. I do have a cat who catches a few but the trap is a kinder way for them to go then being the cat's plaything.

Maybe it's not mice taking the bait.

If you've got electrical items, such as a fridge freezer or washer, in the garage then you do need to get rid, no matter how harmless people say they are. They chewed through the freezer wire at a friends house, and the resulting fire burnt the garage down, causing over 20k worth of damage. They were lucky the fire didn't spread to the house, as they were asleep when it started!