Victor Snap Traps

[Qs Laptop]

Wow. Complex. I pick up the trap with the mouse ensuite, hold it over the garbage with my left hand and pry up the wire bail with my right. If the mouse doesn't fall out into the garbage I will shake the trap a little, then as necessary push on the mouse with a finger to loosen it. I don't consider this to be flirting with danger. After handling mice and traps though, I do wash my hands.

I don't use this method because of any perceived danger from picking something up from a dead mouse. I do it to mitigate dead animal odors. I put the dead mouse/trap/bag assembly into the garbage bin outside side door of the garage. Even then, double bagged, after a couple of days you can smell it when you walk past the garbage can. [-]I'd[/-] DW would rather not deal with that. And I wonder if the odor attracts critters and insects.

 

[CaptTom]

I use two quart ziploc bags to dispose of the mouse and trap. One bag is held open in my left hand, the other bag is covering my right hand...

Why not just put the quart bag inside-out over your right hand, grab mouse and trap, then invert the bag around them with your left hand? You can still double-bag afterward if you want, but even without that step you haven't touched anything "mousey." Anyway, that's what I do with dog-doo bags, and how I picked out produce at the supermarket during the pandemic when it didn't look good to be touching any product I didn't take.

For mice I've learned to open the kill bar as I'm swinging the trap in the direction of the bushes. The mouse flies out and the trap can be re-set. No smellier than anything else the critters do in there, although I suspect it gets devoured long before it can start to stink. I always wash my hands afterward anyway.

 

[pdxgal]

FWIW I no longer use snap traps due to several instances of the critters either bring maimed or not killed quickly. The inadvertent cruelty weighed on my conscience.
For mice I previously had good results with the Tomcat live trap (though it requires relocating the mice somewhere).
For rats I use the Victor “electronic” traps. There s bit spendy but have produced good results. And since they work instantly as best I can tell, they seem more humane.

 

[CincyDave]

Wow. Complex. I pick up the trap with the mouse ensuite, hold it over the garbage with my left hand and pry up the wire bail with my right. If the mouse doesn't fall out into the garbage I will shake the trap a little, then as necessary push on the mouse with a finger to loosen it. I don't consider this to be flirting with danger. After handling mice and traps though, I do wash my hands.

Exactly what I do. Not going to waste Ziplocs on putting mice in them, but whatever works for you, go for it. My son with young kids, just got a trap that doesn't kill them (the mice, not the kids). They take them across the creek behind their house and rehome them in the woods.

 

[Graybeard]

There's mice outside but not in the house. I used to set traps in my garden shed and woodshed. I was catching a lot but it became tiresome. I use exam gloves when handling all traps but a brand new one. I detest mice and don't want to touch anything they were on. I just open the bail and toss them on the lawn, the Crows would come and eat them.

So I had 3 mice that got into the garage and then the basement. I left bird seed in the garage and they smelled it and got thru a gap in the overhead door seal, I fixed that. I set traps in the basement and garage and after waiting 3 weeks I declared them all gone, I got them all within a couple of days but I wanted to be sure. This was an anomaly and only happened once in 23 years.

But another anomaly was when the central air insulation deteriorated after about 16 or 17 years. I started to hear sounds in the attic and God help me 1 found it's way down into the house! Luckily, I happened to be in the kitchen and saw something out of the corner of my eye. The mouse ran back behind the TV which is in an alcove. I had a piece of cardboard and trapped it back there, got a trap and baited it with peanut better. Within a minute I heard it snap. I put 3 traps up in the attic and caught a couple. Those traps are still sitting up there baited and waiting, I was just up there 2 days ago. I put steel wool into the hole where the insulation was and shot it with expanding foam. Problem solved.

Both those cases were an anomaly and in 23 full years were the only 2 times I had mice in the house. The house and garage are very tight and they just can't get in. Having mice inside the house is a horror IMO because they **** and piss everywhere they go leaving trails for other mice to follow! They are vectors of disease not to mention fleas and ticks. Like all rodents, they chew on anything to shorten their teeth that constantly grow. I detest mice and hate all rodents.

 

[Koolau]

Having mice inside the house is a horror IMO because they **** and piss everywhere they go leaving trails for other mice to follow!

It does make it easy to find out if you have an infestation. Just shine a black light around and their urine trails fluoresce, showing exactly where they run and where they congregate.