Homemade Mouse Traps

A mouse infestation is unclean, messy, and overwhelming. Homemade mouse traps are an almost effortless solution to quickly rid your home of these unwanted pests and halt rodent-related damage. Mice are lured into homes in search of favorable conditions.

If you inadvertently provide a food source, such as unsealed pet food or kitchen scraps, nesting material like old paper or clothes, and shelter, rodents are more likely to access your house. Sealing entry points prevents this, though the mice already inside must be addressed.

Crafting a DIY mouse trap is straightforward, and lots of options are budget-friendly or focused on upcycling items most people already have at home. Unlike harmful poisons, DIY traps are safer for your family and pets and work just as well to resolve your mouse issue. If you’re searching for a way to trap mice, consider making a humane live trap rather than turning to expensive and cruel commercial options.

Innovative DIY Mouse Trap Ideas

Making a DIY mouse trap is easy; the best way to trap mice is using humane and cost-effective options. Homemade mouse traps deal with mice without the need for dangerous poison. Consider what you have available and choose the most convenient homemade mouse trap, or try several options from the list below.

Of course, along with mouse traps, you can make a natural rodent repellent with essential oils to keep them away. There are many smells that mice hate, including peppermint oil, cloves, and ammonia. Using both traps and repellents is even more effective than just traps alone.

Signs of a Mouse Problem

If you’re searching for a mouse or rat trap idea, you likely suspect you have a rodent problem. Knowing the markers of a mouse problem ensures homeowners catch the issue early and begin pest control before the infestation becomes critical.

If these signs sound familiar, don’t panic. Before you reach for the poison which harms not only rodents but also potentially pets, children, and the ecosystem, consider using humane mouse traps to eradicate the mice and achieve disease control.

Humane Trap vs Inhumane Trap

A live mouse trap, known as a humane mouse trap, is the best way to trap mice. A live trap catches rodents alive and allows the trapped mouse to be released away from your home. Many live traps hold multiple mice, and they’re safer than cruel, inhumane traps like snap and sticky traps, which easily injure your family, children, and pets.

Inhumane traps kill or maim mice to control the population. The animal suffers, and homeowners are left with a mess of dead, dying, and dismembered mice to clean up. Live traps require minimal contact with the mouse, and the trapped rodent is quickly released in a suitable area away from your home. Addressing your mouse problem with a live trap is responsible, safer, and more ethical.

The Best Bait for a Mouse Trap

Selecting the right bait for a trap is critical for it to function well. Since peanut butter smells nutty and delicious and is potent enough to be detected far away, rodents are likelier to interact with the trap with this bait.

Safety is always a concern when setting up traps; peanut butter is non-toxic and edible. It won’t hurt if your kids or pets find peanut butter first. Although it isn’t a natural mouse poison, as peanut butter doesn’t kill them, it does bring mice to your trap.

If you’ve erected a live trap and need reliable bait, put some peanut butter on a cotton ball to attract mice. Use peanut or similar nut butter as a dependable mouse bait, whether setting up a humane trap or replenishing a bait station.

Homemade Mouse Traps – Trash Can Trap

A trash bin trap is straightforward to construct and requires no special tools. Build homemade rat traps without a hammer or glue. Use mouse trap materials you already have and make an excellent live trap to catch multiple mice.

Set up your emptied trash can in the area of mouse activity. Cut a small hole in the center of the cardboard about the size of your fist; cut two six-inch slits on either side of the hole.

It’s easy to learn the way to set a rat trap or mouse trap. Lay the cardboard over the opening at the top of the trash bin with the hole over the center and use tape to hold it. Smear some peanut butter around the hole in the cardboard or drop some food into the trash can.

Mice walk out onto the cardboard to collect the bait, and their weight causes the slits to spread, creating a slide, so they slip down the hole and into the trash can. Check your trap often and relocate any captured mice away from the house.

Spoon and Bucket Trap for Your Mouse Infestation

A spoon and bucket mouse trap requires few supplies and humanely catches mice for relocation. A spoon with a little dollop of peanut butter on one end is placed on a bench or countertop with the handle situated over a bucket. When the mouse walks out onto the spoon to accept the peanut butter bait, the balancing spoon and the mouse both fall into the bucket.

Set up multiple spoons over the bucket to catch more than one mouse. Repeat the procedure each night until mice are no longer a menace. Check the trap often and release the mice far from your home.

A Shoe Box is an Excellent Way to Trap Mice

A shoe box mouse trap is a simple way to upcycle old items. Cut a rounded opening in the top of your closed shoe box and position a paper towel over the hole so it’s not visible. Lay some lightweight bait over the hole, such as peanut butter or a piece of bread or cheese, and leave your trap wherever you suspect mice.

The mouse walks out onto the paper towel to eat the bait and falls through the hole. This trap is an intuitive and cost-friendly way to trap mice for relocation humanely.

Homemade Mouse Trap with a Cardboard Tube and Bucket

Similar to the bucket and spoon trap, this setup removes the need for a mouse to touch your silverware. Position a cardboard tube from toilet paper or kitchen roll and balance on the counter’s edge with a bucket below. Add bait to the end of the tube over the bucket.

The balance tips when the mouse moves through the tube towards the food; the pipe and mouse fall safely into the bucket below. Set up multiple tubes over the bucket to catch more than one mouse. Monitor your trap often to reset and relocate mice.

A Gallon Bottle Trap is the Most Effective Mouse Trap

A gallon bottle trap recycles a large water bottle into a humane mouse trap. Take off the lid and insert the top half of the bottle upside down into the bottom. Use sharp scissors to remove the top half of the bottle. Drop food bait inside the bottle. Mice climb into the bottle to retrieve the food and become stuck.

This trap idea reuses a waste item and catches multiple mice. Cover the top of the bottle and carry the mice out of your home to remove them.

Spinning Soda Bottle DIY Mouse Trap

A spinning bottle trap is painless to construct, catches more than one mouse, and offers a humane option for mouse control.

Remove the soda bottle cap and make a hole in the bottom to slide the dowel through the bottle. Place the bottle over your vessel with the dowel resting on each side. The plastic bottle spins while suspended over the container with the dowel balanced on the sides.

Spread a generous helping of bait such as peanut butter on the bottle. Mice walk out onto the bottle to retrieve the lure, and their weight causes the bottle to spin, depositing them into the container for later removal.

Home Remedies for Trapping Mice – Glass and Coin Trap

A glass and coin trap is effortless to set up, requires no specialized equipment, and catches mice safely. Smear your choice of bait inside a drinking glass large enough to hold a mouse. Stand a quarter up on the floor or counter where mice are present, and balance one side of the glass rim on the coin.

When the mouse slips under the glass and eats the bait on the inside wall, the pressure causes the coin to slip, and the glass falls, trapping the mouse inside. Slide the glass off the counter and over a bucket to collect the mouse for release.

A Metal Wire Live Trap is the Best Mouse Trap

If you’re short on time to craft a trap, purchase a metal wire trap from a hardware store or online; it catches mice and rats humanely. The metal wire cage works with a springloaded door and weight plate. Bait the trap by adding your chosen food source to the weight plate.

When the rodent enters the cell and takes the food, the door springs closed behind them. Check and empty the trap often. A metal wire cage trap is reusable and simple to reset to catch multiple mice.

Glue Trap DIY Mouse Trap

Commercial glue traps are boards with a strong adhesive. When a mouse walks over the boards, they become stuck. These traps are cruel, and homeowners must dispose of caught and dying mice. Glue traps easily stick to pets, children, and those trying to use them and have the potential to cause a lot of skin damage and pain.

Duct tape is a method of making your DIY glue trap. Cut and stick lots of strips of tape together to create a sizeable sticky pad and place its sticky side up in an area where mice are present.

Add some bait to the middle of the pad to increase engagement. Mice become caught on the sticky surface. This trap is not humane as trying to remove them for release as it typically results in injury and death.

Set Up a Mouse Trap – Try Snap Traps

Spring and snap traps catch mice with bait like fruit or cheese sitting on a weight plate. When the mouse steps on the scale, the trap closes on it, maiming or killing it. If pets or young children accidentally set off a snap trap, it might have disastrous consequences.

Employ less intrusive, more humane, and ecologically friendly pest management techniques first; spring traps should only be a last option but are sometimes the best ways to kill mice in your garage. Mice in snap traps are usually left wounded and die a protracted, painful death.

These traps are typically messy, requiring cleanup of mice that have been beheaded or otherwise maimed or the disposal of dying mice. Using these traps means handling dead mice since the spring trap has to be cleared out and reset, posing a threat to disease control.

Environmental Changes to Work Alongside a Mouse Trap

Mouse traps are adept at removing mice from your home, though they work best when paired with environmental changes to discourage mice from your property and eliminate the factors attracting them.

Mice enter through holes in walls and cracks around doors and windows. Sealing these entry points prevents mice from re-entering once you get rid of them. A rodent like a mouse, rat, or squirrel comes indoors searching for food and nesting material. You can make a simple DIY cockroach trap in a similar way to get rid of these pests, too.

Eliminate these inviting items by removing potential nesting material like old fabric, paper, and cardboard and cleaning up and sealing food. Getting mice out of attic and walls is important before sealing the areas so use traps first.

Precautions for Using Mouse Traps

Always be aware of the potential for mouse traps to harm pets and children accidentally. Though most DIY trap ideas are safe, particularly live trapping options, inhumane traps like glue boards and snap traps have devastating results if accidentally triggered.

Set your traps well out of the reach of family members and animals to avoid injury. When using commercial traps or poisons, read the guidelines carefully and be conscious of the potential for unintended harm.

Mice are a frustrating problem. Mice droppings make your space appear unclean, and their destruction and chewing are unsightly and inconvenient. Fortunately, it’s simple to construct humane homemade mouse traps and safely relocate rodents away from your property.

For more mouse trap ideas, check out our other articles on repelling mice, or visit Shawn Woods Mousetrap Monday blog.

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