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Okay, this is getting old. Last week I noticed a mouse had begun making a nest with the batting from my just reupholstered seat. Needless to say this is not good. I set a snap trap baited with peanut butter and caught a mouse in about 30 minutes. Thinking that if there is one, there may be more, and reloaded and set the trap again. For a couple of days I have checked, and each time the peanut butter is gone but the trap is not sprung. Thinking that I have a "smart" mouse, last night I redbaited the trap with a piece of salami, and tied it to the paddle with a piece of thread. So far nothing has touched the bait. Also, there is no new nest building in my now hermetically sealed truck cab. So who has been feeding on the peanut butter and not springing the trap yet not touching the salami. Ants? Or do I have a vegetarian mouse that doesn't make a nest? I hope this does not escalate into a rerun of Caddyshack. Help is urgently needed.

You need a "better mousetrap" Get a 3-lb coffee can and hinge a piece of 1X2 wood to the side so an ounce or two of weight will pivot it toward the can. Fill the can halfway with water and put the peanut butter at the end of the pivoted wood. Set the trap where the mouse can climb out onto the wood to get the bait and dump itself into the can in the process. The trap will reset itself every time another critter gets splashed.
Jerry

I use these mousetraps, but don't just put peanut butter on it, they can lick it clean without setting it off. I always tuck a raisin under the curl, then squeeze it so it holds the raisin tight. Then cover the raisin in peanut butter or cheese whiz. You can adjust the sensitivity of the trap by bending the "latch" as well.

They'll clean off the peanut butter, but when they try to grab the raisin it will get them.

My mice like aged yellow cheddar, massaged until soft, and then worked thoroughly into the trap.

Down here in Southern California we have lots of trouble with Cottontail rabbits. They like to get under the hood and eat the wiring. The little guys ate the wiring in my friend's wife's Mercedes.. Big $$$$! Good side is, the little suckers make great stew with dumplings! Don't know about mouse stew?

Mice are vegetarian. Actually, a slice of hard salami or or equally strong smelling deli could drive them out of the cab. (along with some passengers on a warm day)

mice are more accurately herbivores although they do like dairy, and rats are omnivorous .... I find a single commercial bait pack tied to the trigger [I use a few wraps of the thinest painters tape] is the "gift that keeps giving" - giving me dead rodents that is, same pack for years now

as for something else making off with the entomologists p-butter, could it be insects? previous to my current technique I used raw peanuts in the shell, piercing the shell with the point of the bait plate

Bill

I prefer live mouse traps. We currently have 3 cats living around my house and the only mice I ever see are dead.---Jack

Get some glue boards.

Another trick is to tie a piece of string to the trigger. Then put the peanut butter on and work some of it into the string. After they've eaten the rest they will begin chewing on the string, tugging on it and setting the trap off.

Well the response of this thread have been interesting to say the least, creating visions ranging from the Salem witch trials to a Rachael Ray cooking show. That is until Jim pointed out the grave error in my trapping technique. It is great to learn, and I like to learn something every day, except when it is a lesson learned on a public forum pointing out my ignorance in wildlife biology. Oh the horror. I always thought a white footed mouse was omnivorous...duh!

I looked around the kitchen for more bait and didn't have any cheese whiz or raisins but did have some cheddar cheese. I applied to my Victor trap last night and this morning didn't even see a nibble. Perhaps the trap is sullied with salami grease. I will reprovision trapping supplies today on my way home from work.


Mouse hunter in NC

People forget how smart these critters are. If they escape the trap once, you'll never catch them the same way again. I use the green pellet poison available at the local home improvement stores minus the fancy case you are suppose to put them in. Wear gloves so your scent doesn't get on the poison. If used outside their bushy tailed tree dwelling cousins' ranks will also be thinned.

I've had the squirrels get into the engine compartment and shred the wiring on one of mine. Costly!!