There are a lot of things that work well as bait for catching mice and rats. The secret is having good aroma because rodents sense of smell is very acute. With the ISS (It's So Simple) mouse bucket traps, your choices are almost endless because the bait holder will accept almost anything and being as how nothing usually gets to the bait, it lasts and lasts. The problem is remembering to change it occasionally as some things get rancid, dry out or deteriorate badly giving no aroma; bait has to have a strong aroma to be effective. Bait also has to be more tempting (at least a different smell) to the animals than other food stuffs that is also available to them.
Many snap trap and other commonly used trap users report have problems with the bait being gone and no animal caught. This is not an issue with the ISS mouse traps; once an animal goes for the bait, it is caught.
Brand name peanut butter works well (some generic and natural brands use a lot of fillers that turn waxy or rancid). Mice and rats are attracted to fats and sweets as well as grains. Bird seed and pet food are great bait. That is why homes with dogs and cats very often have mice and people who feed the birds often have mice. Horse people and other livestock operations generally have mice.
If you try a bait (in any mouse trap) and do not catch something in a couple of days, try something else. Bedding with a drop of vanilla, maple or chocolate syrup is good bait so try a tissue or a little cotton ball (use a rubber band to anchor it to a snap trap bait holder). Caramels , jelly beans and tootsie rolls are successful as well as snickers bars and Slim Jim meat sticks. Again, any high aroma food is a good choice for bait for a mouse trap.
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59 comments:
the picture is rediculous bad. A close up would explain much better what your saying.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
Good post and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you on your information.
We are having really bad mouse problems in the basement right now. Peanut butter is not working and I am wondering if you think that slivered almonds could work. I read that somewhere before.
Thanks,
epiphany
Epiphany,
What kind of peanut butter are you using and what kind of trap? The fat free kinds and many generics have fillers that aren't very enticing. Mice go for lots of aroma; foods containing fats, sweets, protein, etc. The sliced almonds might work, bacon will probably work, molasses, vanilla, and honey are good attractants.
My favorite bait is Jif chunky or extra chunky peanut butter mixed with bacon bits. I've recently had good luck putting a drop of molasses on top of the peanut butter.
Your bait has to be more enticing than any other food around - so you have to be inventive sometimes to get their attention.
mouse in garage, 3 days of trying with the snap traps. Your website, 1 bucket, 1 plank of wood, some cat food. Sleep and come morning the mouse is in the bucket. 8 hours of undisturbed overnight calm and the wee beastie has ceased to be!
Does the bucket trap work for multiple mice? Will they keep dropping in if others are there?
Yes, Anonymous, Many designs of bucket traps are multi catch. Mice follow mouse scent (urine, which they excrete with almost every step).
The ISS mouse trap is a very simple extremely effective multi catch trap and not quite as you say (bait for the ISS goes in a bait holder). High aroma bait is the secret and what works for one might not work for another.
the picture needs to get better. it doesnt makes sense with what you are trying to say.
Thanks to you for the content concerning this subject, it absolutely was very useful.
I've been searching in google for some home and garden ideas and accidentally found your issmousetraps.blogspot.com web site.
Oh, this was a really quality post. In theory I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real effort to make a good article... but what can I say... I loiter alot and never seem to get something done.
Where do you put the bait on the bucket trap?
Inside? Or hanging off the stick?
It's very exiting to find this issmousetraps.blogspot.com blog. Thank you for sharing your talent and valuable information with us. You are a bright light!
Sybar,
On the ISS (It's So Simple) mouse trap, the bait is suspended from the bottom of the ramp. With all the other bucket trap variations, the bait is in the bucket in many different ways. Some put it on a rolling can or dowel, some float it on top of the water, some put it on a floating object, etc (your imagination is the only limiting factor).
The basic premise is for the mouse or mice to get in the bucket trap as a result of their desire for a good meal to either be drowned, to starve to death, to be eaten by other mice also in the bucket or maybe in some cases to be relocated to to a strange place to be eaten by a predator, to die of shock, or to starve to death or to be caught alive and killed with a brick, gased or given to the cat.
I tried peanut butter, a brand name, for days with no results. I then swapped the peanut butter with Nutella on one trap, and that trap got one that night, but no others. Nutella is the way to go, or any other chocolatey, nutty spread.
At least now I know what not to use to catch mice!
This blog has me feeling a bit excited about the next phase of trying to catch the mouse/mice in my house. Discovered tiny droppings almost 8 wks ago. Started my mission w/ the green poison bars. Seems I got only 1, and that was w/in a week of putting out the bars. Due to not finding another dead mouse, I moved onto snap traps and glue traps. Got the very sensitive white plastic snap traps. Used peanut butter -- still no mouse. Replaced the PB w/ cheese -- still no mouse. After over 6 wks I then added to my arsenal those black round traps by D-Con. Before learning (on this blog & others) that cheese isn't recommended, I baited the round traps with cheese. Still no mouse. After seeing this blog today, I replaced the cheese with brown sugar. And for the glue traps and snap traps, I replaced the PB w/ either vanilla extract or brown sugar or a small piece of cracker secured by a dab of PB. Figured I'd go for something very aromatic w/ the brown sugar & vanilla extract.
I'm crossing my fingers very tightly w/ the hope that these rodents -- whatever they are or however many there are -- take 1 of my new baits. For someone who likes to keep a very clean house, I am beyond disgusted with this unwelcome house guest. I'm also going to give the bucket method a whirl tonight.
I have a toddler, who like most toddlers, plays on the floor and has toys scattered on the floor. Knowing that dirty, disease-carrying critters are roaming our home sickens me. The critters even get into our pull-out sofa and have left tons of droppings there. They can access just about every surface. Ugh! Absolutely gross. :-(
I dunno, I don't want to see the mouse, let alone touch it. I prefer electronic mouse traps. No change of picking up hantavirus or anything nasty those rodents breed. But thanks for the thoughtful article and a do it yourself way, you never know when you will need it.
Pam,
I almost didn't let this post go through because of your commercial ties to victor, but talking about Hantavirus is so important, I decided to let you advertise a little.
Actually my ISS bucket trap is one of the very best at containing the disease and the only bucket trap I am aware of that you can "just order and set up". You never have to touch the deal animals. When using water, the carcass, urine and feces (and any creature on the mouse) can just be poured down the toilet, keeping everything wet and never allowing the disease, lice or mites to get airborne or move on to another environment; one of very few commercially available traps that can say this as well as one of the easiest to use and care for. The electronic trap, if it produces a victim, has to be emptied and has no ability to contain the hantavirus bug or any parasite on the dead animal. Failure to tend to the electronic trap in a timely manner can lead to a terrible mess and need to dispose of the expensive trap.
A lot of the hantavirus experts don't know about bucket mouse traps, but as they, too, learn about them, you should see a mention in their articles about the best trap to use.
If you have a mouse or mice problem, the ISS (It's So Simple) mouse trap should be your solution.
Here's a great continuation of the bucket mouse trap discussion. This version is a perpetual mousetrap. Never needs resetting, because it operates on a continuous basis, effort free. If, unlike the person who created it, you don't want to drown the mice, you may prefer not to fill the bucket part way with water. When you dispose of live mice, it's best to drive them some distance from any homes so they aren't as likely to re-infest someone else's place.
Here's the link:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/easterly110.html
Follow up to Fred's comment about the effectiveness of using water in the ISS bucket trap to kill the mouse, dispose of its body, and limit the spread of the Hanta virus.
I'm a little concerned that if lots of folks in cities and towns served by common sewer lines start flushing Hanta virus infested mice down their toilets, the some of the virus is bound to survive, and make its way into household drinking water via the sewage treatment plant. Sure, chlorine added at water treatment plants is great for killing off bacteria and viruses, but what if the Hanta virus remains in the sewers, where sewer rodents pick it up? Aren't you risking a quick spread of Hanta? Better to burn the dead mice, as that instantly and completely destroys the Hanta virus, the parasites, louses, mites, etc.
Hello, although the article is very useful, it lacks that flavor that lures you back.Not that the reader is a rodent :P but that adding flavor by adding a simple introduction and a simple conclusion would make it more easy to read the article. I hope you will do so or else I only would hear my echo .. IM
Mice were taking a bite out of each of my tomatoes when they ripened. The bites looked like small 1 cm bird bites, but I set up a night camera and saw the culprits...big mice.
So I bought cat that turned out to be worthless. Then I bought those spring traps that did not work so well with peanut butter but did very well with cream cheese.
So I guess the fat and smell of the cream cheese may be worth a try for some others here. Good luck. These pests can be pretty destructive to these veggies.
Hi, I happen to have rodent issue. I also happen to work in global health at a medical school. On Hantavirus- Like Fred said, Hantavirus is generally spread when people clean up carcasses or fecal matter and kick up dust with the particulate on it. The mouse's urine is actually the culprit, and they urinate upon death or when they defecate. And when you kick up dust, that urine is transmitted to YOU. So when cleaning up droppings, you should lysol them first. From what I've read here, using this trap with water would eliminate one of the two main vectors of transmission, the carcass, because urine would be diluted into the water. As to the concern about the sewage system, I don't have a good answer for it, but it sounds like a real long shot. The virus will likely stay with the liquid it was diluted in. Whereas putting a mouse carcass or a spring trap in a trash can will allow for transmission to yourself; Then you can use the same propagation argument in relation to mice at the dump. If you really want to burn mice, go ahead, but that will probably smell really bad, and it seems like overkill.
drowning is not humane just sayin
I agree-- how can you say drowning in 2 minutes (or any length of time) is "humane"??
I personally don't think any form of death is truly "humane", but drowning is absolute and more quick than many. It was the means used to cleanse the earth in the Biblical story of Noah. It is a leading means of death every year world wide. If I were to choose a form for myself, drowning would be in the top four or five; I certainly would not want to strangle in a snap trap, be poisoned, starve to death, be eaten alive by a cat (probably a wolf in my case) or be electrocuted slowly by low voltage and low amperage.
Hi Fred,
I came back here to let you know you have a convert to your method. A friend of mine relayed this story to me. She told me her son had invented a new mouse trap and wanted to know what I thought. I had to show her your website, since you beat my friend to the punch! Her son had inadvertently left a bucket in the barn, filled with fluid from his tractor. [He had been doing a tractor overhaul or something.] He also left a piece of pipe leaning against the bucket-it didn't just roll off because the ground below was soft and helped to hold it in place, just a coincidence. Earlier in the day, he tossed an almost empty bag of Cheetos in same bucket-a few crumbs left in it. The next morning he found 7 dead mice.
(same mice that were probably eating his tractor wires, housing and seat!) We all got a giggle. She was reading the comments on the page, and asked if the one for Pam was me. Sure enough, it was. I apologize for taking forever to thank you for allowing my post, you are very generous. So, I will not use my website to leave this post. Happy Mouse Hunting.
Hi Fred,
I came back here to let you know you have a convert to your method. A friend of mine relayed this story to me. She told me her son had invented a new mouse trap and wanted to know what I thought. I had to show her your website, since you beat my friend to the punch! Her son had inadvertently left a bucket in the barn, filled with fluid from his tractor. [He had been doing a tractor overhaul or something.] He also left a piece of pipe leaning against the bucket-it didn't just roll off because the ground below was soft and helped to hold it in place, just a coincidence. Earlier in the day, he tossed an almost empty bag of Cheetos in same bucket-a few crumbs left in it. The next morning he found 7 dead mice.
(same mice that were probably eating his tractor wires, housing and seat!) We all got a giggle. She was reading the comments on the page, and asked if the one for Pam was me. Sure enough, it was. I apologize for taking forever to thank you for allowing my post, you are very generous. So, I will not use my website to leave this post. Happy Mouse Hunting.
Peanut butter is not working. This is a very active mouse. He especially likes to be active in broad daylight. He will walk across the living room with my mother and I watching tv and he could care less that we are here. My mother likes to describe it as its like he's walking into a room and he waves to us. What can we do with this difficult mouse.
To anonymous who said "peanut butter is not working",
What brand of peanut butter and in what kind of trap?
In general, bait only works when it is more attractive than other things easily available to eat and it works best when it is the only thing to eat. Some mice don't like peanut butter (some peanut butter is full of fillers and gets rancid quickly and some peanut butter doesn't taste very good to people) and you have to experiment a little to find something they like. If they have been into something, make it so they cannot get to whatever they were into and use that for bait.
You can test your bait for effectiveness, by putting a little dab on a plate or piece of cardboard and seeing if it is taken from a non threatening source.
Upon baiting 2 mouse traps with sausage from a Domino's Pizza, my wife commented to me, "Use peanut butter. That's the best". Well, I tried peanut butter for the last week and nothing. The conversation got off on the wrong foot with me being sensitive to being corrected about something as small as mousetrap bait. . .we proceeded to the living room and fussed some more. Ten minutes into the argument, the trap sprung and we both raised our eyebrows! I shouted "I WIN THE ARGUMENT". Sure enough, the Domino's Pizza sausage had done the trick. The mouse trap killed him and my wife cleaned up the blood. We ended up having a big laugh. Ha ha.
Mouse traps is useful for get rid of mice & rat but I don't like costly traps.thanks
I have the electronic zapper for mice/rats & it is great! Runs on 2 C batteries for about 6 Monthes & catches one after another when properly baited. Never have to touch the nasty little rodents. Just set it & forget it. When we see the little green light on top blinking we know it has atleast one. Just shut it off take it to the outside trash dump the contents, bring it in, rebait it, turn it on & set it back in its place. It runs 50K volts on contact so don't touch the metal after its on. The rodents don't even usually make it to the bait. They are sold at OSH. The only downfall is they are a bit pricey. About 40-50 dollars each but well worth it. Good luck to you & go get those little destructive monsters. God bless.
I would also like to add that the ISS Bucket sounds like another wonderful device as well. I actually would like to purchase one for my lattice where we hear several mice romping & playing regularly. The electronic device would not be enough to cover our attic & the bucket would not be proper for places we use the electronic device but between the two I fully believe we would have the perfect rodent clearing system for our home. Thank you so much to who ever came up with the bucket ides & please email me a link where I can order your product. Thanks again, you are genius. God bless.
Nicole,
Here are links to the ISS mouse traps web site:
http://issmousetraps.com
and
http://4dotranch.com/iss-mouse-traps/
This is a very old idea used by many farmers I know. Why are people talking of purchasing these? Get a bucket and a piece of wood.... and some bait of course. Keep selling to ignorant people. They always will be the best market for everything obvious
What has always worked for me and has caught them everytime is slim jims. Stuff it in the trap really good and you'll catch them for sure.
Bread is my bait of choice! Roll a few crumbs into a ball and jam it into the bait holder of the snap traps... you'll be hearing those SNAPS all night long!
BREAD is my bait of choice! Roll a few crumbs into a dough ball and cram it in the bait holder of the snap traps! You will hear them SNAP all night long and you can catch tons of more with only 1 piece of bread!
Thank you, thank you for this article. We've been trying to catch mice now for about 6 weeks. Tried bucket traps, snap traps, and glue traps with peanut butter, Nutella, and Cocoa puffs. We finally called in a pest control company and we still have the last two mice running amuck. After reading this I discovered the ultimate bait:
SPECIAL-K RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE GRANOLA BARS
When you said that you needed a high aroma bait, I realized that this was my answer. The mice had chewed up empty wrappers more than twelve hours after the granola bar had been consumed. They're a grain, sweet, and a human can smell them from 5ft away. Perfect for catching these critters!!! Thanks again for the epiphany!
I'm on a mission. I blocked most of the access but one found a pathway. So bait I will and results I will post! wish me luck. I'm using chocolate in the midst of a sticky trap as an example. The trap door devices I will smorgasbord several items!
I would suggest a chunk of summer sausage on an old school "Victor" wooden snap trap. It works every time, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.
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