This article is from the Spring 2002 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Helen Pembrook

QI have field mice that have come into my house from the cold nights. I don’t want to kill them, but I need them gone. I bought a mouse trapping box that said it would not kill—took 4 weeks to catch one (and I have 4–6) and it killed it, or else I didn’t see it in there in time; at any rate, it died.

How can I humanely rid my house of these tiny little creatures?

AThere are a couple of live traps available. One of them launches them into a trap box from a spring loaded tube that they enter, and the other closes a door behind or the two doors, one behind and one in front, when they get to the trigger. The kind that launches them tends to cause more deaths as they are thrown into the capture section and can die from the impact, or if they are not far enough into the launch tube, they get crushed in the sides. Havahart® makes the door traps and some pet stores should be able to order them for you. You might also call your local Vector Control or dog pound and see if they might have info on where you can order one, or call other agencies that deals with wild animals: Fish and Game, Zoos, Wildlife Sanctuaries, etc. Be sure to check the traps daily. The other option is lethal traps. Glue traps and poison are slow killers and not humane. Snap traps are the most humane as generally the animal is killed instantly and feels no pain. Just remember that if you now have 6 mice, soon you will have 24, and then 3 months later 96...