Do Not Make These Mistakes When Setting Mouse Traps

Do Not Make These Mistakes When Setting Mouse Traps

One of the most effective ways to get rid of mice is the mouse trap, and while the traps are not hard to use and set up, many people will often make mistakes which leads to less than optimal results. In this article, we’re going to cover five of the most common mistakes people make when setting mouse traps.

Touching the bait with your bare hands

Mice have a very sensitive sense of smell, and they can detect your scent on the items that you touch. When handling baits and traps, make sure that you wear a pair of gloves. Gloves such as those that you use to wash dishes, prepare food, and clean around the home work well here.

Picking the wrong bait

While mice will take cheese if they can get it, it’s not at the top of their priority list. They generally prefer nuts and seeds, but they are really attracted to high calorie foods such as hazelnut spread, peanut butter and chocolate. During the winter, you can also lure them with nesting materials such as cotton balls and twine. For snapping traps, you can wrap the textile material around the trigger, so that the mice have to work extra hard to get it off.

Over-baiting

If you use too much bait, the mouse will be able to take off just a part of it without triggering the trap. Use just a pea-size amount to bait your trap – it will be enough to attract the mouse, but not enough for it to eat the bait without causing the trap to snap.

Not playing the long game

Mice can sometimes be wary of any new objects in their environment. You can acclimate them to the trap by putting it out there, baited but unset. The mouse will get used to eating the bait and nothing bad happening. Then, after a few times, you bait the trap, arm it, and place it.

Not setting the trap in the right location

It’s not that hard to set up a trap in a bad spot, and then start to worry about the bait you’re using, the trap itself, whether you’ve left your scent on it, etc. Mice are very afraid of open spaces, and as such, they will usually walk along the walls of a room, looking for dark spaces where they are less visible. In order to have the most effective trap placement, you need to set them up along these walls, with the bait near the wall. If you can place the trap in a dark, secluded area – even better.

Are traps still not working?

Sometimes an infestation is so large that no matter how well you use your traps, you will not be able to put an end to it without professional help. This is where we come in. If you have a stubborn mouse infestation, contact us today.

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