Simple 'No-Kill' Mouse Trap

Catch those furry critters with this simple mousetrap.

Step 1: The Tube...

Take a toilet paper tube and tape a weight (ie: 2 quarters) to one side. Partially flatten the other side so it does not easily roll (see picture).

Step 2: Set the Trap...

Position your tube halfway extended over a table or counter top, someplace elevated the mice can get to. Set a small raisin in front of the tube. Set another small raisin at the overhanging end of the tube. If you use peanut butter you may only need a tiny bit in the tube. Place a trash can or deep bucket under the tube. Edit: you can place some padding in the bin, consider they may chew on it. While the fall is probably not pleasant it does not hurt the mice.

How it works: The mouse enjoys the first morsel outside the trap and goes for the second. When it goes in the tube, the tube will tip and fall into the trash can before the mouse can get back out. Once inside the bucket the mouse will jump so make sure it is tall enough.

Step 3: The Catch!

Congratulations! Hopefully you will have demonstrated your superior intellect and caught a mouse. Now you get to exercise your capability for compassion and take care of your new pet or set it free somewhere else. As noted by another reader it may be a good idea to release them in an area with another potential food source.

Comments

[kudvah88]

I am so greatly taken back by all of the love you have all shown for these wonderful little creatures, they don't deserve to be killed because they are starving and want food, what if we had to face something similar, every time we go out to eat maybe we eat poison and die horribly, I think poison is such a cruel way to kill animals, I don't care if they invaded my home in numbers like the Mass mobilization in ww2, I rather be irritated by there rummaging and pooping everywhere than to kill them, they don't have toilets and an animal doesn't think about it they just let loose and I feel very saddened when I see how cruel most of these traps are and at my step dads house there are allot of mice and at first I started using sticky traps, but I saw a mouse almost paralyzed himself with some kind of spinal injury and broke its feet trying to escape and the only reason I got them is because I knew I would be checking on them allot and figured I would hear them screeching when they did get stuck but some of these traps are too powerful and being stuck somewhere in one position until death is just horrible, its beyond what I can express. I got them because I read i could get them off with a little bit of oil but than it gets stuck to there fur and you can't let them go like that because it's harder to stay warm so I would give them a bath and let them swim around and I would try to shampoo it out without being bitten a hundred times because I don't want to wear gloves because I don't know how much pressure I would be applying to a fragile creature, I have to say I loved watching them swim because they are super strong swimmers, way faster than us , we wouldn't have a chance for our power to weight ratios, and the best part of it all was seeing how relaxed they got after enjoying some nice warm water and they used to make me laugh because they would sit in it like we do in a hot tub lol , but the problem is they don't want to be handled like that and its traumatizing for them and you don't want to be bitten either and risk getting sick, and. I would also like to say that if you guys catch and release the mice I try to get them in pairs so they have company because they are very sociable and need that contact or they get depressed, sometimes I wonder if I'm better off keeping them and making a nice comfortable habitat where they have allot allot of space and places to hide and feel safe and secure, but I feel like they would reproduce way to fast and I wouldn't be able to keep up and I would never sell them as pet food, I would like to say one last thing, when you guys release them please don't do it in the middle of nowhere where they have to worry about predatory birds and not finding shelter or food and don't bring them to places with allot of resteraunts or a super market because these places use cruel methods ,. Mice have never ceased to amaze me with there ingenuity and witts,the mice in my house must have micro jet packs because they get up places you would never think I mean I have a TV in my room its about 6ft off the ground and they climbed the cable, it was amazing and the even crazier thing is it used to just jump off of it onto the carpet and I was like wow how did that not knock the wind out of him and its nerve racking to think he may jump off and brake a bone or some kind of other injury. We should all do our best to treat animals as best as we can because my dogs saved my life when I was younger, I was tortured mentally and physically by my father, and remember getting beaten in and out of consciousness and him strangling me, I have Permanent damage in allot of my joints because he would make it feel like my wrist , elbow and shoulder blade would all tear at once while jamming his fingers into my pressure points, and I can tell you stuff like that changes you when you are a kid and experience that, I felt I had nothing until getting a German shepherd named havoc and he healed me and taught me how to love again and gave me back my humanity, i got to a point where I just couldn't cry anymore and I still struggle with ptsd and snap if I feel someone is endearing me looking for a fight, when you are fighting for your life at the hands of your father than you expect a stranger to do much worse,. I would like to say thank you for your kind hearts, I love animals but I don't like people and steer clear, when I am alone I'm not lonely

[Deborah M.B]

Thank you for the no-kill mouse trap! My cottage is in a rural area only a half-mile from a little town (one store and a church) where wild animals are a common sight every day or night, so I have gotten used to the mice hiding under the floor in the foundations from the chilly rains every winter. But this year it has been colder than usual, and their population has exploded as a result of being inside, for so long away from predators, that they are invading my food pantry, and shitting in the kitchen cabinets and in my husband's coffee cups. I do not want to get a mouser cat or a dog, because the neighbor's free range chickens come into my yard almost every morning, and there is a cougar in our area. I can't leave poison baits outside around the base of the cottage either, because my neighbor's little dog (Hello, Daisy) likes to sit on our porch to watch the rooster (or the male turkeys strut by on their way down to the mountain creek), so this mouse trap would be a perfect solution to the increased population of mice.

[BrockDaRock777]

You say no kill but what about the fall that could cripple the mouse ending up killing it.

[ChrisE186]

How it works doesn't explain the quarters.

[Jsoa]

The best rat poison is NO poison. Bad idea. A rat terrier perhaps?
One rat terrier holds the record for killing thousands of rats in just a
few minutes. Maybe find a trap or two? I would refrain from putting
any poisonous chemicals down where any other animal can get to it.

I use this electric rat trap

https://stoppestinfo.com/48-how-to-get-rid-of-rats-outside-the-home-html.html

[bakdrft]

OH MY........No kill? Cmon. PLEASE do your homework on this subject. YOU have no idea about what happens to this POOR little mouse when you "Place" it somewhere else? He usually DIES of starvation because YOU placed him somewhere where he CANNOT find food! Oh but that's OK He's NOT your problem anymore.

[screwitdoit]

what mice have you been talking to? the ones where I come from start entire new colonies if you catche them live and relocate them. I'm a huge animal Iover but loose mice in the house (not talking about pet mice) are disease vectors. I'm personally okay with killing (humanely) or releasing far off in a field but I am not okay with poisoning (that goes for any animal) or other methods that cause undo suffering. Anyway, not meant as a snub in the nose - just that around these parts we have mice just about everywhere and I cant' imagine where I could drop one off and it would die.

[werikblack]

Totally agree with the disease vector. Mice and rats are carriers of Hantavirus in the U.S., and I worked with someone in my first job out of college who died from it. It's spread through rodent droppings and urine, and the CDC lists it as a 36-38% fatality rate for HPS, Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome.

https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/index.html

[ItsNotWhatUthink]

You're kidding right? Do you feed mice in your home? They shred everything and scatter feces everywhere. You live like that???

[AnnamarieD]

as a matter of fact, we have two or three field mice in our home, and i do in fact feed them and give them water. they NEVER chew on our wires or anything else...there has NEVER been any damages, all we have ever seen is a few tiny droppings....i see no reason to kill them, but we are making a different trap than the one shown, it is a no kill/no harm trap, out of a soda bottle and a clothes hanger...then we will drive out to a field down the road and release them...we wouldnt even try to catch them normally, but we are getting ready to move and i dont want the managers to exterminate them...i may even keep them if i can catch them..as i already have a menagerie, one or two more would be welcome.

[Justarandomhelp]

I just put watter in thee bucket no starvation there

[Heart Queen]

No starvation but if u ever come close to drowning you understand a little bit what this would be like why dont you use the traps that snap the little critters neck these traps r cheap and quick and b working since forever

[Heart Queen]

Listen what you do is put the toilet paper roll over a bucket or a trash can something tall enough so that they cant jump out then when u catch the cute bugger u drive a few miles down in the country someplace where there is no homes ( you dont want to save em just for someone else to kill it) and just let it out some people put water n the bottom so the mouse drowns but to me that is cruel and if i had to recommend a trap that kills it would for sure recommend the one that snaps there necks its quick most of the time

[JayM68]

I don't think this works with NYC mice. They're too smart for it and have seen too much. The mouse in my apartment just took one look down that toilet paper tube and got the hell out of there. He knew it was a setup. Now I think I hear him laughing at me :(

[AnnamarieD]

most mice are too smart for this kind of trap, your scent would be all over that tp roll and that is why he wont use it...mice are far smarter than you give them credit for

[JayM68]

**UPDATE: The mouse just pushed the tube off the counter into the trash can and got away with the food.

[grannyjones]

Just in case the thought has not been expressed; releasing vermin where they are not desired can be considered vandalism.

[AnnamarieD]

who said they were released where they were not wanted? ever hear of field mice? they were here before you were....putting your home where it is, probably chased them from THEIR home...ever think of that?

[TracieK7]

I had hampsters growing up. That's some cold hearted people out there to "drown"anything.,Poison, etc. , Panic & struggle & suffering comes with tha.. Yea they chew stuff up They are just trying to survive Are they attack mice? N,, So don't be cruel

[Xamu]

As noted by another reader it may be a good idea to release them in an area with another potential food source.

E.g., Owls. :)