We’ve all heard the old adage about building a better mousetrap. “If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” It turns out several people have built a better mousetrap, and there are plenty of great options on the market.
Spring on our homestead is mouse season. Most days we put out 5 mouse traps and catch 5 mice within hours. Somedays we manage to catch 6 mice in 5 traps, as two mice fight over the same bait. Needless to say, we’ve had plenty of opportunities to try out traps and find the most effective mousetrap.
Most Effective Mouse Trap
The Better Mouse Trap – Intruder 30442
By far, the most effective mouse traps are the quick set plastic mouse traps. All you have to do is squeeze one end and the mousetrap sets itself. We mostly use mouse traps sold under the brand “The Better Mouse Trap” because they’re the most economical. They run about $2 per trap, but we have some that we’ve been using for 5+ years. They’ve caught hundreds of mice and they’re still going strong.
They also make a bigger version for rats, called the better rodent trap.
There are other brands, and we do have a few under the tomcat brand and they work just as well. That’s the lucky one that managed to catch two mice at once. I’d call that an effective mousetrap!
Best Electric Mouse Trap
Victor Electronic Mouse Trap- M250S
I was skeptical of electric traps because we live off the grid. Every bit of electricity is precious, and it seemed a waste to use it for mice when there are good non-electric versions. Then I learned two important things:
- Electric mouse traps run on just 4 AA batteries
- An electric trap can kill about 100 mice without needing new batteries.
This thing can literally put down a dozen mice in an hour. Whoah. That’s a game changer.
Best Budget Mouse Trap
At about $1 each in a pack of 12, or less than 50 cents each in a bulk pack of 64, these are by far the most economical method.
I’ll be honest, these old-school wooden mouse traps are difficult to set. This is the old school traditional mousetrap, and all the others are improvements on this model. That said, if you get the knack of setting them, they are an effective mouse trap and they get the job done.
I have a friend who doesn’t want to have to clean out mouse traps, so he uses these with the “body bag method.” Open up a plastic grocery bag and flatten it out open on the floor. Place one of these budget mouse traps inside and set it. When it catches the mouse, wrap the whole thing up, tie the bag shut and toss it. Easy cleanup.
Best Humane Mouse Trap
I’m not going to pull punches, I’m not a fan of live traps. While this live mouse trap is effective, it leaves you with the problem of a live rodent.
If you know anything about rodent biology, you’re aware that without population control any given area would be overrun with mice. Even if you release it, their reproduction strategy is relying on the fact that something is going to kill 9 out of every 10 mice. If that doesn’t happen, we’re all in trouble.
None the less, if you don’t want to be that person for whatever reason, and you want to leave that important work to the owls and coyotes, this have a heart trap will trap live mice for you.
A family member is a snake breeder, and he uses these as a free source of live food, so that’s also an option.
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After sending my chickens off to a new farm last summer, I put rat poison in the barn. I haven’t seen many mice since then…at least not alive. But I’m finding poisoned carcasses and now I’m regretting my decision.
The plastic traps work well and I’ve used the live traps to catch more than 6 mice at a time…then I drown them in a bucket of water…not very humane and I feel kind of bad about it. But holy cow, when you have chickens…you have mice….lots and lots of mice.
I have chicks in the barn again and I am setting the plastic traps to try to keep them from becoming a problem again. Thanks for the info. I may try those electric ones.
Great post Ashley! Thank you that you were brave enough to post on something all homesteaders struggle with, even though it is something most of us don’t talk about. One of our dogs is a Jack Russell and he is a great ratter! He seems to be doing a great job at keeping the rodent population under control!
I use the plastic snap traps in the house and seven farm cats and the farm dogs for the farm itself, The farm cats do a amazing job hunting. Its costly to keep them fixed to prevent kittens though.
Another, very effective and “touchless” mousetrap that has worked for me is d-con’s ultraset covered mousetrap with crunchy peanut butter as bait. Non-toxic, reusable, about $2.00 – $3.00 per trap. I use them every winter in my Cape Cod house and they have a 100% kill rate and completely eliminate my field mouse problem every year since I discovered them in 2012. I get about 6 – 8 mice per season. (Can’t figure how they get into the house. Must have no vertebrae. No obvious holes in the house.). The peanut butter is irresistible, so the traps get the mice before they can contaminate drawers or eat fabrics. The design gives the mice a false sense of security because it’s covered and dark, so they can’t see the mechanism. Absolutely a raving fan and have only had to replace one trap in all of this time.
What do you think of the bucket of salt water with either the rolling log or the walk-th-plank style trap?
The rolling log style trap above a bucket of water is really effective, especially if you use something like a soda bottle as the log and coat the whole thing in peanut butter.
Great article! I’ve been using sticky traps with a big blob of peanut butter in the middle. They work, but it’s horrible trying to get your fingers loose from it if you touch it. I’m going to try your ideas.