How to Set a Mouse Trap

Most of us laugh our hearts out at the sight of a cunning little stray mouse beating the air out of a foolish, cocksure cat. I'm talking about the popular Tom and Jerry cartoon. In reality, mice are very commonly found in American homes, farms, and cause a lot of trouble. The damage that they cause can look small, but if not dealt with immediately, even a single stray Jerry can make your condition worse than Tom's. Even today, conventional mouse traps are one of the most effective way of getting rid of a mouse. A mouse trap works by trapping a mouse by force, by killing it or pinning it down, alive. But, only buying it does not accomplish the job, one must learn how to set it perfectly in order to get the purpose right. Setting the mouse trap at wrong locations can be hazardous if you have small kids at home, or may even prove disastrous for your pet. Let us go through what all things are required for the setup, and the procedure involved.

Materials Needed

Mouse trap
There are a variety of mouse trap designs available these days. The most common is the tried and tested, the hostile, spring-loaded bar mousetrap. It has a very simple design with a press trip on one side and a heavily loaded spring on the other side. The trip, which has a place for the bait to attract the rodent, when pressed will release the loaded spring which unwinds in a very fast strike. Now you can imagine the fate of the mouse trying to eat the bait! There have been several other innovative mousetraps, like mouth mousetrap, electric mousetrap, live-catching mousetrap, or glue traps. But, none have replaced the most popular and the simplest, spring-loaded one.

Bait
The second important material is the bait. To attract the rodent towards the trap it is important to lure it with a kind of bait that mice like a lot. Mice just love household items like peanut butter or cheese, either of which can be used as bait. There's a theory that cheese cannot attract a rat, if you experience the same it is better to switch to the former.

Protective hand gloves
You will need this to remove the trapped mouse, which will be dead if using a loaded-spring mouse trap or an electric mouse trap.

Instructions

1. Start preparing the trap in the evening as a house mouse tends to wander in search of food when light and activity is minimum.
2. Prepare the bait in advance and serve it on the tripping plate. Make sure not to load the spring before loading the bait or else your hand might become the mousetrap's first victim. Salami and beacon are also considered as potential baits.
3. Now, locate the locking clip holding the U-shaped bar in place. Release the bar and pull it back as the spring coils to its maximum potential.
4. Now, comes the issue of placement, which is very important considering that a mouse always has preferred paths while wandering. Lay the trap where you notice a mouse or its droppings. Kitchen is a mouse's favorite area. Placing the trap in the most probable path can increase the chances of pinning down the menace. Mice always prefer to move along walls which minimizes the chances of being spotted. Placing the trap perpendicular along a wall can be the best option.
5. Now, with the trap laid, all you (and the mouse!) can do is pray. Keep the trap laid overnight as this will maximize the chances of the mouse finding the bait and subsequently falling in the trap.
6. Laying the trap at night also ensures that if there are kids at home, they stay away from it. Also, keep your pet chained or in the morning the trap may have to be called a pet-trap!
7. If your prayers are heard, you will find the defeated enemy. But, if the rat's prayers are fulfilled, laugh off at another Tom and Jerry episode! If there's a dead mouse in the trap, get rid of it while wearing thick protective gloves and later wash yourself with an anti-septic to avoid any infection.
8. Discard the mouse in the double polythene bag and put it in a trash can. Lay the trap again if necessary. Note: Disposing of a trapped or dead mouse is often a messy affair and may include blood, avoid doing it if you're too squeamish.

Although these traps are very effective, it is surely not a preventive measure. There's always scope for more mice entering the home and then you will have to redo the good work.

This is all about setting a mouse trap for a successful campaign for getting rid of mice from your home. This technique is not advocated for use on farm houses as there may be a few hundred mice there, and it not possible to kill them one-by-one.