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Mouse Trap 
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Bear with me here. You may recall me posting about my 'rents house which had a mouse problem. The mice returned, we caught them all in traps and there was nothing for several weeks.

Despite this, we still kept traps round the house just in case. Yesterday, a trap went off in my room. I woke up, saw nothing (thought someone had entered my room) and heard shuffling and the movement of paper. Turned on the light and saw a mouse hiding in a corner, underneath the desk. It seemed it was trying to dig through the desk (a big mistake since the thinnest part of it is about 15mm thick). It then seemed to stop and remained quiet and motionless for several hours. I figured it had died.

When I returned after breakfast, it was no longer under the desk. Shock horror! Looked around the room and spotted it near the trap it had set off (presumably either going for the bait, the poison, or an escape route) and promptly slammed a plastic container over it.

I've done this before, in the kitchen where a plastic tub (with a weight on top of it) made a seal against the lino and within an hour the mouse was dead. Unfortunately, in my bedroom, I have a carpet. So despite the fact the mouse is trapped, it has a decent air supply coming through the floorboards, through the carpet and keeping the damn thing alive.

It's been almost twenty-four hours since it's been captured under the tub. I have seen it limping around (so presumably it must've caught a leg in the trap). Am surprised it hasn't tried going through the carpet and under the floorboards. Instead, it seems to think it can nibble its way through plastic. As soon as the mouse realises the thinnest part of the tub is at the sides, I'm in trouble.

So how to dispose of this thing?

Don't care for "humane" methods.
  • I've thought about placing some cardboard underneath and trying to lift it. Problem is that it's a biggish mouse and the cardboard might not support it, plus it may be able to slip out whilst trying to slide the cardboard underneath.
  • I've thought about dragging the tub along the carpet to the stairs where I can try to slide over a piece of wood. Again, this may prove difficult.
  • I've thought about creating a 'wall' of traps around the tub and lifting the lid but again, it's rather risky and depends on the mouse activating a trap.

    Any ideas?

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:25 am
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:07 am
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Could you slide some poison or poisoned food under the tub without the mouse escaping? Or even a whole trap.

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:11 am
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Put on some gloves, lift tub, wring neck.

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:37 am
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 12:04 pm
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Take off and nuke the site from orbit? It's the only way to be sure :lol:

Borrow a cat? Could get messy though...

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 12:25 pm
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We found humane ones didn't work, they can eat through a metal pipe if they have to escape a situation if memory serves correct. We had the humane ones made of plastic... they ate through the exit

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 12:56 pm
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pcernie wrote:
Borrow a cat? Could get messy though...

Was about to say the same.

We don't get any mice here, our moggy is a good hunter.

Ferrets are, arguably, even better for catching/killing mice - they don't tend to play with thier prey as much as some cats do.

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:00 pm
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I wonder how long it can live without food...


Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:16 pm
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forquare1 wrote:
I wonder how long it can live without food...

I wonder what lengths it will go to, to find a new source of food!!

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:48 pm
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Pour out lots of superglue onto paper. Form circle of super sticky paper around said mouse lair. Release mouse inside circle.
When mouse is attached, introduce poison, a gun shot wound and then drown it in a river. It worked on Rasputin.

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Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:17 pm
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forquare1 wrote:
I wonder how long it can live without food...

Apparently not even 48 hrs. It was captured 0900 12/12/09 and was last seen alive 2100 13/12/09. Went to get some food around 0300 14/12/09 and it was lying on its side. Presumably dead. Or pretending to be.

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Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:25 am
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Don't mice have to eat their own body weight in food every day to keep going? Fast metabolism and all that.
I'm somewhat surprised that it didn't try to chew its way out of the container though.

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Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:30 am
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It did try and get through the corner of my desk quite madly but gave up rather quickly. When I trapped it in the plastic tub (empty Cart Dor ice cream tub), it did try at intervals. TBH I think it hurt itself quite badly in the mouse trap to the point where it couldn't scramble away quickly enough (it was cowering when I trapped it in the tub) so maybe it didn't have the strength or energy. I didn't have time to chuck it out this morning so will deal with it when I reach home. I'm half dreading a ruined carpet - either with holes or blood.

Any ideas on how to decontaminate the area it was trapped in?

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Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:08 am
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