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Houdini mouse!!

madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
edited August 2019 in The potting shed
My Mum's cat brought in a mouse and left it to run free in the house.The cat regularly does this and once she has let it go she loses interest!
A humane mouse trap is put down and the mouse usually caught within minutes.
The mouse my Mum currently has sharing her house has been there a week and is living under the cooker.It has emptied the trap of food and gnawed its way out several times despite tape and metal etc used to prevent escape.
Another trap (humane) has now been bought,when we test it the action is very sensitive but this particular mouse finds it no problem,the trap has been weighted with coins in case the mouse is too light (it is not as it is having several hearty meals a day!!!).
It is also quite brazen,when Mum was on the phone it descended the stairs in front of her rummaged about in some shoes before sauntering off to the cooker!
Mum has had guests this week and they keep pointing and saying 'there it goes!'
She tries to keep the doors shut so it can't wander but never sure where mouse actually is.
Might have to think of another way to trap it!!!
Ideas welcome.

“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
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  • dave125dave125 Posts: 178
    B&Q sell or at least used to sell some really cheap plastic types that were 100% successful in catching our kitchen Wood Mice. We caught 12! We used to drive them to a nearby lay-by in the forest and let them go. Don't tell the wife, who was driving, but number 8 didn't make it. It hid under the back tyre on release and she unexpectedly reversed. It wasn't disimilar to a tootpaste tube action.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I always thought the smell of a cat was enough to keep mice away.  Clearly your mouse hasn't heard this.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited August 2019
    When Mum had one living under her TV cabinet, we made a really lovely warm mouse nest out of an old jiffy bag stuffed with dry straw and saw dust and put some food in there. We put it close to his hidey-hole but somewhere it was a bit easier for us to reach, then left well alone for a few days. Once we were sure he was sleeping in there, we picked it up with him inside it and rehomed him, jiffy bag and all to a more suitable location
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Great idea Raisingirl. When a mouse is on the move due to our incompetent cat, I keep an old towel close to hand. I try, with only moderate success, to swamp the mouse in the towel and scoop it up.
    Rutland, England
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    Mum has always had success in catching the mice before it is just this pesky little blighter that evades the traps!
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener Posts: 1,237
    edited August 2019
    Our cats used to do this. We deployed a wellington boot to catch the mouse which generally worked as they would scuttle into the inviting dark inside.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Have you tried the old peanut butter on a lolly stick balanced on a bucket one? We had mixed results with that here. It always caught the mouse but we would have to hear it 'plop' into the bucket because it's amazing how good they are at climbing out of things they really shouldn't be able to get out of.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    I am going to have a go with the balanced paper tube,peanut butter and a large bucket.
    See if we have any success with that!
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505

    In London. Keen but lazy.
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