Good Bait to Catch a Mouse With a Rat Trap

Disdained Trap Baits

• As you've probably already observed, mice don't seem to be too picky about what they thieve from your kitchen cabinets. Any foods that are packaged in boxes or bags seem to be the first to be victimized, because they're the easiest for strong gnawing incisors to invade. Cereal, snacks, pasta, rice, oatmeal, grits and all others seem to be greedily consumed.

  However, it also seems that these very same delicacies lose their appeal when you try to bait rat traps with them. What would be devoured with relish from your food staples seems to be ignored when used as bait for traps.

  Know that mice and rats are naturally suspicious of rat traps suddenly appearing out of the blue, particularly when they're awash with your nasty scent. You'll have to allay their fears and overwhelm them with their own avarice. You've got to make the reward worth the risk, and cornmeal probably won't fit that bill.

  Another feature of a good mouse bait is how well it can be secured to the rat trap. For a successful catch, it's important that the mouse can't just scurry over to the bait, snatch up the prize and run for the hills. Since the trap will only be sprung by the weight of the critter on its spring-loaded trigger, you've got to entice the animal into a favorable position. The trap also needs a split second to react and snap, and easily removed baits usually don't give traps the chance to work.

It's All About Taste

• It's about peanut butter, probably the most lethal of secret weapons. The gooey deliciousness is irresistible. It's also heady and highly aromatic, which attracts sensitive rodent noses immediately. Another advantage to peanut butter is that it's sticky and adheres stubbornly to the trap. It isn't an easy-to-grab fast food. Your mouse will have to work at getting a taste of the yummy dollop, which will be its last taste of anything.

  If you don't keep peanut butter in your pantry, you can also make a sticky treat from brown sugar. Combine it with a few drops of honey, molasses or syrup to make a thick paste that won't be runny. This is just as appealing to mice as peanut butter is. Sticky, gooey candy like taffy, a Tootsie roll, or even slightly chewed bubble gum is another good mouse attractant.

  It's about other fresh foods, too. Mice also love meats and sweet fruits. Use a piece of sewing thread or even dental floss to tie a morsel to the trap's trigger. Tough or stiff pieces of meat such as bacon or beef fat are good choices, as well as firm fresh fruits like apples, pears and melons.

  Fresh foods are certainly the costliest bait for use in a rat trap. But they're also far more effective mouse attractants than plain old grits or Cream of Wheat. Although cheese is traditionally an excellent mouse bait, it's also easily stolen from snap traps, rendering the traps essentially ineffective.

Outsmarting Your Quarry

• Mice and rats are intelligent and unbelievably clever. Remember they are highly social animals who recognize each other by individual scents. Once you catch Mickey in a trap, the awful news will spread like wildfire, and all the others will be rapidly informed of the atrocity. The rodents will avoid that particular trap like the plague (no pun intended), because it smells like their fallen comrade.

  If you want to use that trap again right away, you'll need to scrub it with baking soda and then dip it in ammonia so that it doesn't smell like Mickey anymore. Amazingly, mice and rats will also avoid the scene of the crash if they witnessed it, or if its odor is familiar to them. So you'll need to choose another location for your trap if you need to catch more mice soon.

  You can reuse the trap in the future; however, because as long as mice don't "know" the dear departed, they are actually attracted to a mousey-smelling trap.