Humane mousetraps?

[AMumInScotland]

Hi, so... we've got mice in the attic...

Does anyone have any experience of humane ways of getting rid of them? I'd sooner not kill them if I can avoid it, as I'm sure it was just the cold winter that brought them in.... ideally I'd like to trap them and "relocate" them far far away....

Anyne got any experience?

You have to kill them. There is nothing humane about trapping mice, it's torture to them to be trapped. They quite often die of the shock or suffocation before you release them. Unless you are willing to check every two hours 24X7 the kill traps are much more humane IME.

I used humane traps last year and had success with them. As mychocolate mentioned though, I did check every hour and also never left the traps baited overnight so that the mice weren't left for a long time.

I had success using peanut butter as a bait but it was a bit messy cleaning it out. Apparently chocolate is good. You also need to release them at least a mile away from your house. We must of caught at least 10 mice from our shed and there seems to be no sign of them now (fingers crossed!).

dont use traditions snap traps. they can just catch a paw or a tail and be very very cruel. friend told me last week about her mum finding a very sad looking mouse with just a paw caught in the trap.

id go with a humane one myself first if poss, or get some professional advice.

Bacon is good on traps, they can smell it from a long way away.

We used a combination of very heavy duty snap traps (and yes they kill very effectively providing you set them properly - which requires advice) and rentokil poison traps. The latter are very effective.

I live in the country. You need to be able to deal with your pests in a rural setting otherwise they get very bad very quickly.

Thanks all - looks like I'm going to have to think this one through a bit! Checking them every hour or two would be tricky as I'm out at work in the day, so I'd only be able to do it evenings and weekends, which doesn't seem that useful really.

It'd be easier to poison them. Please don't get attached to vermin. They are in the wrong place and need removing. I'm sorry if that's blunt but if you have kids in the house you really don't want rodents in the house too. They pee on everything and yes they do run along your work surfaces in the kitchen, and through the kids bedrooms etc.

Oh they've definitely got to go - and if killing them is the best way to do that, then that's the way it's going to be! I just don't want to cause more suffering than can reasonably be avoided.

It sounds like the poison may be the best option - did you get Rentokil in to do it, or can you just buy the traps and poison?

You can just buy them....hang on I'll find you a link.

Here you go They are widely available. Much more expensive at DIY stores for some reason.

I think the old fashioned traps are probably the most humane, rather than say those sticky ones where they run onto them and then can't get away and just end up stuck to the trap - alive!

The only problem with poison is that they are then going to go off and die somewhere in your house!

Yes, I'm not sure I want little corpses under the floorboards.... we looked at an electronic one which supposedly zaps them instantly, and the body stays inside, but they had dreadful reviews, so I changed my mind yet again.

Current theory is that we'll try one of the deterrents and see if we can just persuade them to leave, then block up where we think they got in (new central heating pipework with a gap).

If that doesn't do the trick, I may just get Rentokil to come and deal with them, and not worry too much about what they have to do to get the job done...