What bait to use for a mouse trap.

I have always believed (must have been told by someone) that a cat´s first strike is deadly. The mouse may move or even appear to run away but its fate is sealed. Maybe you should move the furniture/appliances and look for a dead mouse.

Ours like bacon, and also soft mints. I know because I had some in the car (mints) and they got in and nibbled them!

Mimiro they're useless hunters, aren't they, Russian Blues? Ours are so affectionate, though, gorgeous boys.

One of my dd's friends has two Maine Coons. She looked out of her window one day, only to see the pair of them returning homewards, lugging a gigantic duck (dead!) behind them!

The mice here eat soap—green soap in my under the sink kitchen cabinet. I guess they were hungry and there's edible oil in soap.

polyester57 not true at all. Cats can if they wish carry things about in their mouths and love to bring something with them to play with. Mine brought all sorts in and we tried desperately to take them away from her. She was I'm afraid a great hunter who enjoyed playing with her captive. I found out through her that frogs can squeal when cornered.
Oh and peanut butter or chocolate digestives, or both.

We hadn`t had mice since we decided to become cat people again 6 years ago, then one day Mia brought one in and let it go, took me about 2 hours to get hold of it and take it out to the river bank. I`ve rescued no end from her in the yard, she tends to follow them for a bit before striking, so I try to get in first. The last one repaid me by weeing on my hand!

My cat was sitting outside the sunroom with a live mouse in his mouth about an hour ago but I am not opening the glass door any more these days without inspecting his mouth -
I've been caught out too many times before - if it's a tiny mouse you can only just see the end of the tail drooping out of the side of his mouth - then he bounds indoors and sets it free to 'play' with. I put expensive continental chocolates in the trap - only because that's what I often get as presents so they are handy in my room at night ?
I won't get too cross with him though because this week he killed a small rat down in the reeds by the mere at the end of the garden ?

Ours often brings fieldmice in, alive, and lets them go. Last week, he brought one in and let it go in the bedroom, which we are decorating. Next day, I picked up a dustsheet from the floor, the mouse legged into a corner and four babies dropped out of the dust sheet!! I made them a nest in a tissue box with a hole in the side for Mum to get access, we baited a humane trap with peanut butter, and waited, and waited. I expected the pups to be dead the next day, but no, she must have been feeding them. It took FIVE days before she had eaten enough peanut butter to make her trip the trap. She and the babies were then reunited in a suitable spot outdoors, with a piece of wood over the nest" to make sure they didn't get wet! Happy ending!

We used to bait the traps with maltesers, seems the northern mice have a very sweet tooth.

Just an update - the chocolate had gone but the trap remained unused. So, off to the garden centre for more traps.

Thanks for your picture sal - the one of the box - not the other one.

A mouse with a sweet tooth is now on the loose so we had better beware!!!
Try the cheese because it has never failed here.............but then perhaps Welsh mice have different taste buds!!!

Hope you can access your kitchen again kitty, any luck overnight? Used to get mice in my bedroom as a child. My father chased them with anything close to hand, so tennis racquet, hockey stick, broom, while I sat and yelled. Still can’t tolerate rodents of any kind.

One of mine regularly brings live mice in - he either plays with them till they're dead (assuming as they're there when we get up) or we get up and he's glued to a spot where he's let one escape waiting for it to reappear. Often he's got bored by then and leaves us to deal with it - daft thing then suddenly 'remembers' later in the day and goes back on duty wondering where his toy has gone

You should all thank your stars that you got mice, (apart from the lady who got a snake along wth other things). I once got a huge rat, which got in somehow from the house next door which was empty. I got in from shopping one day and when i went into the kitchen I found droppings all over the place, and a jar of jam which i had left on a work surface, with a loose lid, had evidently been invaded by the rat, and that was spread all over. I got the rodent man from the council to come to put rat poison down, and I told him that I thought the rat had scuttled up inside the lining of my cooker, he said no, but later I heard it squealing as the oven heated up and it popped out. I have never moved as fast in all my life. For the next few days i had to rattle the door handle before i could go into the kitchen. I had 3 dogs and one of them caught and killed it after 5 days. After a few days the dog started to get sore eyes, so I was looking at him to see what was wrong, and I noticed a nasty smell around his mouth area. Off to the vets with him, and the vet found he had been bitten quite a few times on his lip area, and had developed an infection, he was rubbing the area with his paws, and had transferred the infection to his eyes. Had to have injections and tablets, but was soon ok.

We had success when the DC were small with poking a long tube of clingfilm - other end in a bucket - into the corner where the mouse was, then kicking up a racket behind, causing mouse to run into tube and fall out into bucket when tube picked up.
First trialled on escaped baby hamster hiding up behind the fridge

My MIL's ginger coat dragged a mole in through the cat flap one afternoon!

Oh no, traps are horrible you can get humane traps then just release it back into its own environment

Peppermint oil, in the kitchen, they hate it, leave the back door open to allow it to make a run for it.

Our Molly cat often brought in wood mice and let them go. Once my husband managed to corner the mouse and it ran up his trouser leg. There he was, in the front garden, with his trousers off. He waved them around a few times and the mouse ran away. I was rolling on the floor laughing and got into trouble for not helping. Goodness knows what the neighbours thought!
We also had a spate of wood mice that were completely blind. Molly had an easy time catching them. It must have been a mutation according to the boffins that I contacted. (We had a few jokes about cutting off tails with carving knives to contend with.)

When we moved into present home....a barn conversion near other buildings yet to be converted therefore full of 'wild life' we heard rustling in roof space and whilst some of it was down to nesting birds, we felt that mice were probably about (thankfully not worse). We tracked down a sonic device that you leave on for several weeks and it really irritates small rodents to the extent they cannot settle and will move away. It does work, just takes a few weeks. When another barn was moved into we loaned them the device.

Many years ago (1950) we lived in an old flat and I went into the kitchen in the night to make my baby a bottle and found a mouse curled up under the kettle on the gas stove. Got a cat and he cleared the flat of mice but decided he liked the sport so much he went to the underneath flat and brought them up from there. He did kill them. We used to sit and watch the “sport”.no TV in those days.

Hope the traps not one of those nasties that kill.

My brother and SIL heard rustling in their roof a few years ago, presumed it was mice and put a humane trap in the loft. Days passed and still nothing was captured. Brother set up an infrared camera to see what was going on and found it was an enormous rat! Pic is after they borrowed a large trap in which they eventually cornered the beast. Humane trap is still there and you can gauge the size from that.

Awww Nottagranny44, what a lovely story with a fab ending! Bless You :-)

Lovely story Nota granny, you must be a lovely lady.