Dr. Robert Corrigan, a scientist at the Integrated Pest Management Center of the University of Nebraska, has studied the interactions of rats and mice with different kinds of traps in different kinds of buildings at different times of year. The results of his work didn’t so much find that one kind of trap is better than the other as they found that the two methods required vastly different amounts of work.
- One way to catch a lot of mice fast is to put out baited snap traps in every mouse runway in an infested building with glue traps in between. That means putting out two traps together, so if the mouse escapes one trap it lands in the other, every 1.5 to 2.0 meters (four to six feet). Dr. Corrigan also put out one glue trap between every pair of snap traps. The next morning the 96 snap traps had caught 54 mice, and the 48 glue traps had caught only four mice. However, it took two hours to put out the snap traps (and this was by someone who has a lot of experience using snap traps), and about 10 minutes to put out the glue traps.
- Corrigan also ran an experiment in which he put out 19 Tin Cat mouse traps, 19 glue boards without covers, and 19 glue boards with covers. He ran the experiment for six days. At the end of the test he had caught 96 mice in the 19 snap traps, 30 mice in the uncovered glue trays, and 16 mice in the covered glue traps. However, he also had to put fresh bait in the Tin Cat traps 115 times. He could just leave the glue traps in place.
So that means that snap traps work better than glue traps? No, not really.
Corrigan spent about 5 minutes dealing with snap traps for every mouse he caught. He spent about 2 minutes dealing with glue traps for every mouse he caught. He spent (in 2017 prices) about $1.10 on snap traps for every mouse he caught, and he spent about $0.25 on glue traps for every mouse he caught. But for best results, use both!
My experience with both traps has been quite different. A baited glue trap has caught 14 of 15 mice that I have caught in my home. Without fail, if I know where they are entering, a mouse is in the glue trap that night. I started out using snap traps baited with peanut butter but I only caught one mouse and there were plenty of signs they were active after setting those traps. I went out and purchased glue traps, baited them with peanut butter and put them in the same places the snap traps were. I caught 5 mice in the same amount of time it took me to catch one with the snap traps. Granted, it’s not a large data set, but I used the same bait, put them in the same area and over the same length of time, the glue traps were 5 times as effective. They continue to do the job now that holes are uncovered due to a kitchen remodel.
Thanks for sharing Andrew. Hopefully your story will inspire others.
Good to know you are around Simon. Geri Berner
Thanks Geri.