Quote Originally Posted by LolaGal
I have one other regular mouse trap trick....I live in the country ya'll.

Take a little, tiny piece of gauze and fill it with a few shelled sunflowers, add a dab of peanut butter. Wrap the gauze around the filling and make a tiny, tiny bag. Tie the bag closed with a piece of sewing thread.

Tie the little bag to the bait section of the regular mouse trap. Use the sewing thread that you left a little longer to make tying to the trap easier. Tie a few knots.

You now a have a tiny bait bag tied to the bait section. Set trap normally. That ole mouse will try and pull the little bag off and take it with him. Works every time, but is messy and time consuming. Don't leave tiny bag hanging, tie tightly to bait section.

This works especially well for clever mice who lick the peanut butter off trap without springing. Those smart ones are hard to catch, gotta pull out the big guns! Can usually be reused, mouse never gets it off. Good Luck killing....
Yes. It is important that the bait be SECURED to the trap. I use a small piece of bread and use a wire twist-tie to wrap it to the "pedal" or "trigger" part of the trap (whatever that is called). That seems to work pretty good. It needs to be secured so that the critter will have to tug on it a bit to get it loose.

I used bread because that is what they had gotten into in the kitchen, so I figured that is what they wanted. It worked pretty well. I suppose you could put a little peanut butter on the bread too, maybe some jelly, and make your mouse a nice sandwich --- kind of a nice last meal.

Also, rats and mice do not cross the middles of floors or any kind of open space. They hug the walls and edges, and they try to stay under cover. After you bait the trap, slide it up against the wall or under the toe-kick of a cabinet. And put the bait end closest to the wall. That way when the little bastard comes scuttling along the edge of the wall, he'll run right into the bait and stop for a snack. SNAP!

Another thing you should do is try to figure out how they get into the house. Even a tiny hole is enough. We found small gaps around the places where the pipes came out through the drywall. We also found gaps and holes in hidden parts of our cabinetry where there were openings to the space under the cabinet or behind it. As much as possible, try to find those holes and fill them with expanding foam. You can also stuff the gaps with steel wool, but do not use it against other metal pipes. Rodents can chew through expanding foam if it is blocking one of their favorite routes, but they don't like chewing on steel wool. However, I think it is a bad idea to leave steel wool in long-term contact with pipes because dissimilar metals can corrode each other.

Good luck killing your mice! When you pick up the trap and carry your dead mouse out to the garbage, before you toss it in, it's fun to yell, "Tell your friends!"