large or small?

Mars bars I've always found to be effective as bait for mice. Added bonus is it sticks to the trap which makes it more difficult to remove, so increases the chances of the trap firing.

Of course, the second mouse to come along will nick the bait; absolutely no respect for the dead.

For rats, cat food works well. Peanut butter too IIRC.

You could always start talking about parting off and let them die of old age.

:0)

A cat

.

Make one.

Nick

Just about anything will do for bait, chocolate ,dripping etc. The little plastic traps work well for mice, but you must tie them down, very light. I have 2 cats that live in the shop and still get mice. I have not found the ultra-sound gismos do much good. Poison bait is the long term answer. lay it according to instructions and it is no bother. Remember if one pregnant female gets in and stays!

Brilliant picture, Nick !!

My visitors were tiny Field Mice, who had a fondness for sampling 'interesting' materials … as the plastic handles on some of my screwdrivers will testify.

• Peanut Butter seems to be an excellent general purpose bait.

Being a humane chap; I bought one of those box traps with a see-saw inside … the little mouse was so light and nimble that it climbed-in, took the bait, left some droppings, and climbed-out again.

The ultimate insult was when it chewed through the corner of the box [from the outside] and took the bait without the trouble of using the see-saw.

MichaelG.

You are not supposed to use cheese in mouse traps, it's not good for them.

Rodents seem to be attracted to live cabling and will chew the plastic covering, I have found on a friends farm 3 phase cables stripped completely bare. I replaced it with armoured cabling and they stripped the outer plastic sheath!

Regards bait, a slice of apple is good as they often are needing fluid. The droppings are a sure sign of habitation so go for it with snap traps. They are cheap enough. I do not like poison as they can end up outside and raptors will perhaps find them.

Here in the garden since a year gone I have shot 12 rats of various sizes and next door has trapped 15, they come through from the fields and take up residence near the takeaway joint in the shopping center.

Clive

I favour a cat, when I go into our garage to work he follows me in a checks over the place, havent had mice for years, apart from the odd dead one our feline fetches in just to prove he's doing his job and in return we give him the odd bit of food and lots of fuss, trouble with traps are should you not have a mouse for a while and you forget to check it leaves a bit of a smell which isn't immediately obvious

Martin P

A proper longworth trap is a good idea for any workshop, and will outlast the plastic ones.

I have a sherman trap which has the advantage it will catch anything from a small woodmouse up to a decent-sized rat.

When we moved into this house I caught 15 mice (humanely) and had to deal with a rabbit midden in the front room =8-0

Neil

Try grey squirrels.. at least raccoons don't eat the wires and pipework…

In my old job we used to recommend a combination of a light switched on and off at random, radio WM and Jeyes fluid.

In fact our administrator used to recommend Jeyes Fluid for deterring just about everything from foxes to solitary bees, until the Department of Agriculture Food and Fisheries got in touch to point out it had NOT been approved as a pesticide!

Neil