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Sunday, 24 April 2022
Mice are one of the most common pests found in domestic settings. They are a nuisance as they carry disease and rodent activity in your home can contaminate your food. Rats and mice can chew through wires and leave droppings in your home. To catch mice and rats before they cause significant damage to your home, you need to find ways to attract mice toward your traps.
One of the best and most effective ways to catch mice are mouse traps. There are a few different kinds of mouse traps, such as electronic mouse traps, refillable bait stations, and glue traps, all of which will help you get rid of a rodent infestation. In this article we share the best baits and traps to catch mice!
What is a bait station?
A rodent bait station is a small, often plastic, box with a small hole that allows pests to enter. Inside the box is a poisonous bait, so any rodent that consumes the bait will die. Many mice also transfer the bait back to their nest where it will be shared with others.
Do rodent bait stations work?
Yes, rodent bait stations work, so much so that professional bait stations are utilized by exterminators, due to their high success rate. The reason refillable bait stations are so good at their job is that one of them can get rid of multiple rodents at once, unlike a mouse trap which can only kill one.
However, there is a degree of bait station maintenance that is required, and you need to ensure that bait station placement is strategically located. If not set up correctly, you are exposing the rodent poison to the surroundings, which can be lethal for pets and small children. Although it is one of the most effective ways to eliminate a rodent infestation, it must be properly set up and maintained.
How often should you change bait in a mouse trap?
You should change the bait on a conventional mouse trap every time you find a dead mouse. The dead rodents struck by snap traps usually get the chance to nibble on the food supply. It’s also a good idea to change the bait after 2 days if it fails to attract mice.
What food is irresistible to mice?
People often think cheese is the best food to catch mice, but there is an even better option. Peanut butter is the most cost-effective food that rodents seem to love. Its strong nutty aroma and sweetness make it the perfect mouse trap bait.
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What are the best baits for mice traps and stations?
Although peanut butter is a mouse’s favorite snack, if you do not have any in the cupboard, do not worry. Here are the best baits for mouse traps and stations:
- Candy
- Hot dogs
- Sapphire grain 25
- Pet food
- Cheese
- Birdseed and nuts
Candy
Mice love sweet food, so candy is an obvious option when you are trying to lure them into your mouse traps or refillable bait station. Although any kind of candy will attract mice and rats, it is better to use soft candy. Soft candies are more likely to trigger the trap mechanism because they have to put in the effort to get it off, as opposed to a hard candy, which they could easily roll off without the trap knowing they were ever there.
Hot dogs
Hot dogs are another great food that you can use for mouse traps. Thanks to the strong and distinctive smell of a hot dog, they are easily detected by any kind of pest and there is a good chance they will go directly for it. They are also great for any kind of mouse trap because they can be easily cut up to whatever size you need for the trap, and most people have a pack of them sitting in the back of their fridge.
Sapphire Grain 25
If you are looking for a poisonous bait to put inside your bait station or bait box, Sapphire Grain 25 is ideal. Sapphire 25 comes in the form of oat grain and is poisonous to mice and rats, making it ideal for bait stations. Although the grain will usually kill the mouse after exposure to it once, it does not guarantee that it will die instantly, which is why it is used in bait stations. Instead, the mouse will likely move away from the station and die, so you will find a dead rodent a few days later that you can then easily get rid of.
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Pet food
If you have a cat or dog, you can repurpose their wet food to use in your mouse traps. Due to the strong smell, wet pet food does a good job baiting and trapping mice. However, you need to be extremely careful about where you place these traps because your cats and dogs love their food just as much as mice and rats do.
Therefore, if you are going to be using pet food, we suggest that you only use it in places where you can be sure that your cats and dogs will not be able to reach it. Places such as lofts and attics are good examples of where you can safely use pet food for your mouse traps.
Cheese
Of course, cheese had to have a place on this list. The classic stereotype is true, mice do love cheese. Although they do not love this savory snack as much as they love sweet snacks, it is still a great option to bait them toward mouse traps. The smellier the cheese the better!
Birdseed and nuts
If you are one to feed the birds in your garden, you can use bird seeds and nuts in your mouse trap. Mice are used to eating seeds and nuts in the wild so they will inherently be attracted to them when you use them as bait.
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Extermination services
This article is helpful if you have a few mice in your home. However, if you have a rodent infestation, or have multiple different types of pests in your home, such as ants, bed bugs, or flies, you will need professional extermination services. V Extermination is your one-stop-shop for all of your extermination needs.
We offer three levels of protection:
- Outdoor peace of mind protection. This includes a minimum of two comprehensive visits to get rid of any existing outdoor pests, such as spiders, wasps, and ants, amongst others, and prevents the reappearance of any more.
- Outdoor peace of mind plus rodent prevention. This offers everything that the first package offers with some additional protection. We also provide two tamper-free bait stations to deal with any possible rodents.
- Total protection package. This is an all-encompassing package that provides both indoor and outdoor protection for your house. This package offers protection against 23 different species of pests in addition to including multiple bait stations.
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