I see, so it is the mouse’s weight which causes the trapdoor to lift from the supporting surface and slam shut. So there is no chance that it can turn and get halfway out then?
Sounds good but, the one I had was triggered by the mouse as it entered the far chamber but it was able to turn and almost beat the trap. The result was that its back was broken, the front half wriggled in agony while the hindquarters were motionless and paralysed.
As if I wasn’t already traumatised by that, I was forced to take the poor thing outside and chop its head off.
I’ll stick to instant death, we all have to die, but we don’t all have the choice to go so swiftly with no time to think about it.
No these ones are so made that if the mouse is half out, or even just head out, it will escape unless it rushes back into the far end where the bait is. There’s nothing sharp or even that heavy: that’s why I like them, I got rid of the old snappy ones because finding one mouse looking like a WWI gueule cassée was enough. The door just swings shut and the leg bits hook into a groove, there’s no snapping or slamming.
Try and find where they get in. I had baby mice using electrical gaine. Then saw one appear through a gap less than 5mm square. Traps and sealing every tiny gap sorted it.
Agree. For years we would get mice coming in in the autumn and spent the winters trapping them and taking them for long walks.
Two years back we had a major mouse proofing effort blocking up the tiniest gaps with wire wool, concrete and steel. Took days. However it seems to have workedvas only had one last year and I think it walked in through an open door.
Crunchy p.n. butter. They literally die for it. It’s easier to form a compact lump than with smooth p.n.b.
I had an infestation in my attic after I cleared my mother’s kitchen and just left all the comestibles in the packets and cartons they came in. Flour/sugar/oats et al. A mouse buffet.
The afternoon of placing 4 Victors around the attic and clearing the remaining victuals I got 13 mice. Next day 2. Then 1. Then 0.
I opened the rooflight and tossed the stiffs onto the roof. The local magpies very quickly twigged there was a steady supply of fresh meat. They started queing up on the garden fence.
It is remarkable how mice can squeeze through the most improbably small aperture. I watched one emerge through the gap between floor and wainscote, just a pencil’s width. I formed a mouse-proof barrier by running Nitromors along the gap. Well, you wouldn’t want to paddle through paint stripper in bare feet, would you?
The benefits of having a 15-16th century house built as part of a castle with 3ft thick walls from Roman concrete and whin, no mice in 6 years though nine cats might help.
Please use a trap rather than poison. Imagine a bird catching a poisoned mouse… Getting poison into nature’s food chain is a no-no.
My husband had lots of mice in his previous house and used a trap to catch them then would transport the blighters a few km down the road to a derelict farm - ‘relocation relocation’. They were suckers for peanut butter in the traps - it worked waaaay better than cheese.
At our current house a cat has adopted us. I feel sorry for the mice now - there is no escaping from a very savvy hunting cat. But we have no mice except for their remains we find inside the house after a successful fast food on legs meal - innards which the cat leaves behind.
A touch of anthropomorphism, perhaps. That mouse ‘knew’ nothing. One second alive. Next millised, lights out. And a fresh, uncontaminated meal for the magpies queing up on the garden fence.
Watching a cat toying with a mouse for minutes on end - that’s a bit upsetting. But tis’ the way with well-fed cats.
I have a pal who is trying to re-introduce the red squirrel into his woodlands. He has a campaign for eradicating the grey squirrels - lethal traps, captive traps, drey busting in Spring, shooting - but no poison.
He skins the squirrels, makes squirrel stew when he has enough, tans the skins … no squirrel is wasted.
I remember in the Guangzhou big QingPing market seeing every sort of animal that is on earth. Not for pets. Even ready roasted rats. Of course, it was the early ‘80s. I’m sure things are different now. Though perhaps not so much in Wuhan.
I’m Survive France‘s record holder in catching mice easily and humanely. If anyone can beat my record of 130 household mice since June this year then please step forward.
When I release them into the field opposite my house, they get a handful of sunflower seeds thrown after them to boot. NO BIG DEAL!
The plastic trap that @vero mentioned and the ones that I use are harmless. There are no harmful springs involved, and they work, and they work humanely.
I found that sunflower seeds as bait were favourite with my little rodent visitors.
I was invaded by mice in Jan this year for the very first time - ever. Why, I don’t know – maybe there were circumstances out in the fields that prompted a higher-than-normal population.
The point I was making is that it’s possible to catch and release mice easily – and humanely. Whether the high number of mice in my house is due to returnees I can’t say – who can? Where’s the proof?
If it happens again, I might devise a way of marking them before letting them go.
Anyway, my mice no longer inhabit my house – all gone – all caught humanely and released.
I am certain this is the case, opposite is no way far enough to shut the revolving door, I was told that 200 metres was much too close. Until the dramatic fatal injury I mentioned earlier I used to take them in my car on my frequent journeys and deposit them kms, not metres away.
If you lived in the UK, or even may be possible here, you could get a grant from a uni somewhere to fund your mark and release strategy. It has been done with snails and nail varnish on their shells as ID. Not sure how you would do that with mice without harming them though.
They were suckers for peanut butter in the traps - it worked waaaay better than cheese. 
