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How To Kill A Mouse
 Aaron Broverman - AskMen.com
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January 16, 2010
You’re hearing the pitter-patter of little feet, and last time you checked your girlfriend wasn’t expecting. This can only mean one thing: You’ve got a mouse; and where there’s one mouse there’s bound to be more. Before the little buggers run you out of your home, you’ve got to fight back.
Sure, a flute and tight nylons may have worked for the Pied Piper, but in today’s world the battle calls for more sophisticated methods. You might want to call your cat (provided your man enough to own a feline, that is) into the room as we walk you through the best in DIY rodent hunting with our tips and tricks on how to kill a mouse.
Method no. 1 to kill a mouse - Mousetraps
With all the options out there for mouse eradication, traps are still the place many people go to first when trying to kill a mouse. They arm the traps with the two most alluring baits (peanut butter and chocolate) and let them go to work. There is no trap more notorious than those wooden snap-traps etched into the annals of pest control culture, but do they actually work? The answer is yes, but at the trapper’s own risk.
Mousetraps are inexpensive, nontoxic and a monkey could use them. However, they work by snapping the head off their prey, so unless you’re on your way to becoming John Wayne Gacy, you won’t want to be handling rodent entrails or scaring children with the remains. The biggest drawback to using mousetraps to kill a mouse is that they can be easily outsmarted. With glue traps the mouse is stuck to cardboard and immobilized. These traps keep the rodent in one piece, but you still have to watch it die and it’s not the most humane, and it takes the longest of all traps to actually kill the mouse.
If you want to kill a mouse with a trap, the best way to go is probably the electric route. A bolt of electricity makes the mouse's death quick and a protective plastic covering means it’s safe to keep in a house with kids and pets. It also means you don’t have to get your hands dirty or witness the pest’s final moments. However, you still have to check the electric traps regularly to make sure they won’t stink up your property.
Method no. 2 to kill a mouse - Poison
Poison usually comes in either pellet or block varieties. Bromadiolone poison is known to be less harmful for pets since cats and dogs carry the antidote, vitamin K, naturally in their systems. Poison not only keeps the family fur-ball in one piece, but mice can't resist the bait either so there’s less prep and less mess than traps - just set them out, and wait. As long as you’re willing to handle the time it takes for the poison to take effect, with mice keeling over without warning all over the house, then poison is your weapon of choice when you're trying to kill a mouse.
You also have to keep in mind that just because bromadiolone is relatively safe for dogs, it is a carcinogen and can be fatal to humans so it might not be an option if kids are present in the household. Make sure that if you do choose poison you get the bait trays that only mice can get at, equipped with a protective plastic cover.
Method no. 3 to kill a mouse - Inert gas
The pros have always had access to inert gas and if you have an infestation beyond what any one man can handle, it might be time to call in the big guns as a last resort. As the gas dissipates it gives you the best chance at taking no prisoners and wipes out every last one of them. With the detection skills of an exterminator, you can feel confident that not even the tiniest hole will be invaded with gas, but for a price.
These days the Rentokill RADAR mousetrap gives the average man a shot at the toy box of the pros. The Rodent Activated Detention and Riddance unit is like a mouse trap from QLabs. It lures the mouse in with the smell of food, and once it detects the rodent with its laser sensors the trap door closes and the creature is knocked out with carbon dioxide gas. There are a lot of positives; once a mouse is caught you’re told to clear the trap by e-mail so you never overload the trap, and it doesn’t have a chance to stink up the house. It has PETA’s humane killing technique seal of approval, but it still isn’t perfect. The Rentokill RADAR takes professional installation and still costs more than the average trap, and since the price isn't public knowledge, you have to inquire by email.
Method no. 4 to kill a mouse - UltraSonic sound
When the Pied Piper played his flute, all the mice came running - maybe he was on to something. Transmitting super high-pitched sound at 45,000 Hz, UltraSonic sound delivers a frequency too high for four-legged pets or humans to hear, but it drives all rodents crazy enough to vacate the premises. The pulse oscillates between two settings so the mice never adapt to it. However, if you think it’s going to get rid of the problem right away, think again. It also has to be employed in combination with traditional pest control practices. The major drawback comes if you have a pet gerbil or hamster because they can hear it too. You’ll probably also have to buy one for every floor in your home since the effect diminishes with distance.
Mouse Be Gone
We hope these ideas have given you something to gnaw on because to simply leave pest patrol up to your cat isn’t a good idea either. Often, cats will toy with mice for hours before finally killing them. Plus, when the cat finally does sink its teeth into the mouse, the rodent can easily transfer disease to your pet, creating a future of nothing but vet bills. Whatever your weapons of choice, don’t be afraid to mix it up and try different combinations to see which one is the most effective for getting rid of your particular infestation.
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