What would you have done? :( Mouse woe

[pj1]

Living in the middle of the woods as I do I keep mouse traps set in the house all the time as too much rain mice want in, too cold, mice want in. It is unusual to have one come in in the summer though.

Last night I heard a trap snap and when I looked there was a tiny mouse and he wasn’t DEAD. Caught by a front leg and terrified. It almost killed me and I couldn’t decide what to do about him. I thought about hitting him with a hammer but could…not…make myself do it.

I finally took him to the woods and turned him loose and it has been eating at me every since.
Poor broken legged little mouse. I am a wimp. I should have killed him but…

Does anyone have any ideas on how to less violently kill a mouse than smashing it with a hammer? I thought about getting the cats to do the job for me but they tend to want to play with them for a long time and then not even kill them.

This may be silly but this is really really bothering me. Lord please don’t let me ever catch one still alive again.

Oddly it doesn’t bother me at all if they are dead.

[Nezzy]

a big rock? seriously, you cannot let them suffer like that. it is a slow death and not a kindness. I would be crying like a baby, but i would do it if i had to. Or maybe a big sharp knife and cut off the head. Sorry this is not a nice topic, but you’ll want to have a backup plan for next time.

[PeanutButterPony]

drowning

[SuckerForHorses]

We have done it two ways when this has happened:

1. turn the trap over so he is underneath it, and then stomp on the back of the trap HARD, to ensure it kills him my smooshing him between the ground and the trap. Make sure the surface is as flat as possible to get maximum smooshing contact. This also means you don’t have to see the act of killing the mouse.

2. cut his head off with a sharp knife
   ^I couldn’t do this. My boyfriend did though. Grossed me out, but the mouse died instantly. I’d rather do the stomp method #1 above.

[beowulf]

a big rock - something flat. OP, don’t beat yourself up about it but next time have a plan… if you are going to set traps to kill them you need to be prepared to deliver swift death when the traps do NOT kill them, which happens more often than you think.

a raised stone is kinder than a drawn out and slow death from a broken limb. cover the animal with paper towel[s], on a flat surface. use either a big block of wood or a flat stone, and bring it down on the skull. it is quick and with small mammals you will not miss.

ETA: for the love of god please do not consider drowning any animal. absolutely awful way to go.

[Ghazzu]

Cervical dislocation.

[Ambitious_Kate]

Snap its neck?? Its tiny, teeny little neck?
Yeah. Back of a shovel, stomp, rock. Awfulness.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8205835]
Cervical dislocation.[/QUOTE]
normally not one to disagree with you but it’s really challenging to perform CD on mice, especially if you are not familiar/experienced. easier with other rodents or birds.

[pj1]

Thank you all for your answers. You are right I need a plan. I was so afraid that whatever I did would just cause more pain and not actually kill it.
At least if I killed it it would upset me but probably not much more than what I did. Not for as long either.

I think I have a plan. I have a spade with a fairly sharp edge on it. I “think” I could put that on the mouse and stomp down on it. I’m going to keep picturing doing that until I get used to it and then maybe I could automatically do it robot style without thinking too much.

I’ve kept traps set for forty four years and this is the first live catch. I do hope this is my one and only.

Thanks for making me realize that I really have to have my big girl panties on when it comes to something like this.

[downen]

Just a little different perspective…

Normally when a house mouse gets caught in a trap and is still alive, my husband dispatches it. We have a don’t ask, don’t tell agreement about it. However, once when my husband was out of town, the cat brought a live mouse in a trap to me. I have a very hard time ending any sort of life, so I put it in a container and released it from the trap thinking it would expire shortly. It did not, it perked up. So I set up a little plastic critter container on my desk (I work at home) with shavings and a water bottle. I bought mouse food and wood chewy toys. My husband named him Trapper. He was paralyzed from the waist down and would drag himself around with his front legs, climbing on top of his mouse house for his favorite treat, Doritos. Every day when I was at my desk he would great me with his big, black eyes and wiggly nose, and for some reason, he brought me great joy. That little bugger lived for a year and a half after that, and I never regret saving my little desk mouse!

[Mosey_2003]

Something sharp and a rock or hammer. We have a garden edger, I think it’s called. It’s like a hoe, but perfectly straight, if you know what I mean? That is long enough and has enough heft it does a clean, fast job. Or, you could use your spade or a wide putty knife and a hammer, but you’re going to have your face much more up close and personal.

[csaper58]

Rubber band the trap to a heavy rock, then drop the whole thing in a big bucket of water.

Or, put mouse/trap in a zip bag and put in the freezer for a day or two.

I probably would have released it too.

[HungarianHippo]

OP, next time you have one that is killed in the trap, you could practice what you’d do. Will still feel horrible and gross, but you’ll at least get over how the mechanics of it would work.

Yes, you should have done it differently but don’t beat yourself up endlessly. Can almost guarantee he wasn’t out there for long–would have been picked up by an owl or other predator pretty quickly.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=csaper58;8206041]
Rubber band the trap to a heavy rock, then drop the whole thing in a big bucket of water.

Or, put mouse/trap in a zip bag and put in the freezer for a day or two.

I probably would have released it too.[/QUOTE]

no?? are we torturing the mouse before it dies, or dispatching it quickly so it doesn’t suffer before it dies?

[SomedaySoon]

This is why I use live traps. I know, they can just come back in when you put them outside, but they don’t often seem to. And if they do, they still have to get by the cats again…

[LauraKY]

This is going to sound horrible, but if I’m wearing boots and the cats let one go, I stomp on them. It’s instantaneous. The baby rabbit I took away from the cat with paralyzed hind legs? I hit it with a shovel. Again, instantaneous.

[fordtraktor]

Good grief. Just take it out the the driveway, get a shovel and hit it hard behind the head with the tip of the shovel. Instantaneous death. You can kill snakes and rabbits this way too, but you have to put your whole weight into the rabbits. I’ve done it when I found one half eaten by coyotes and clearly in agony. I’m the Angel of Mercy on our farm.

The important thing is that you have to be instant and less painful than what they are already suffering, if you can’t bring yourself to do that leave the thing alone and don’t set out traps. Don’t drown them or freeze them to death, for God’s sake. I’m typically Ms. Practical Farmer but I still believe we have a duty to animals not to make them suffer any more than is necessary.

I don’t think stomping on them is horrible, LauraKY. I did that to a squirrel once that broke its back falling out of a tree at my law school campus. My DH still likes to parade that anecdote out at parties. It was awful though, tourists were taking pictures of it dragging itself along the brick-paved path, barbaric. I wrapped it up in my sweater and someone asked me if I was taking it to the vet. Uh, sure, lady. I took it around the corner and put it out of its misery.

[Crockpot]

I have the problem with this sort of thing too, OP. :sadsmile:The bucket of water is the method I would use -with something to push the whole thing under water.

[candyappy]

I would have let my dogs have it. They are really quick.

[jetsmom]

I do live traps and take them for a drive about 5 miles away and release in the desert.

My brother once caught one on a glue trap, and threw it in the trash, stuck to the board still alive. My SIL felt so badly, she was bringing it food while it was in the trash…

I can’t kill something needlessly. Rattlesnake behind rockwall where it can crawl into yard at night where dogs may get bitten, but I can’t get to it to catch it…gets killed. rattlesnake on patio, where I can catch it? Gets caught and relocated to desert far away.

OP- I’ve had good luck with the ultrasonic rodent deterrents. I put one in a rental home, and the mouse left.