Most people think if they have mice they can handle the whole infestation with a couple of mouse traps. This is not the case. If you have been using snap traps and they have not been catching mice successfully or even at all then you are using these snap traps incorrectly. There are a lot of things you need to take into account when dealing with snap traps that will take out an actual mouse infestation. It is extremely important that mice not smell the scent of a human on the snap traps. This is the number one most common mistake people make and it can destroy any chance you have of taking out the infestation with snap traps alone. You will need to wear gloves on both hands just to open the package from home hardware or the grocery store. You will keep the gloves on until you are finished laying out all the traps. If the mice smell you on them they will run away. Another major mistake is using the cartoonish idea that mice like cheese. In desperation they will eat anything but cheese is not something they like. They eat nuts and seeds primarily. They love any kind of nut and especially nut butter. Peanut butter smells the most potent and is often the most effective for catching mice but other food like shrimp shells and even dog food can attract them. Make sure you wrap the bait all around the trigger and you can lead a mouse to the trap using thread or dental floss which they will follow. The harder they have to work to get the food off the trap the more likely they will be to set it off. A very important piece of information most people do not know is that putting a big glob on the trap is not appealing to the mouse. Mice have to struggle to find food and are more likely to go for a tiny amount than a big amount. This will look more natural to them as a small bit of peanut butter. The best choice is a pea-sized amount of food on the trap. One of the best ways to acclimate mice to the snap traps is to set them out with bait un-set. That means the mice will not get killed by the trap but instead will eat the bait of it without fear. This can be incredibly valuable as when you set the traps out for real the next night you will catch a huge number of mice in just one night which leads to the final and most important part of using snap traps for mice. Do not place them in open areas because mice do not use open areas. They travel near to the baseboard where they can use their whiskers to guide them. They will travel mostly under furniture and behind objects so this is where you must lay the traps. And don’t be stingy. Lay multiple traps all along the mouse runways to catch as many mice as possible. Use as many as you can afford. Set them close together and you will find much more success.
If you are still finding the mice are not using the snap traps it’s time to switch to a different kind of treatment. Generally, the best option is to implement many different treatments. Snap traps, poison bait stations, glue traps and even humane capture traps. The broader your treatment the more effective it will be. You can use everything in the shops all at once if you would like. Domestic bait stations with domestic rodenticide will desiccate the mice so it is safe for them to die in the walls or glue traps that can get very messy as the mice will starve and will likely cannibalize each other. Either way, the more methods you try the more successful you are likely to be.
