When you first notice mice or rats in your house, your immediate thought is most likely going to be that you need traps, and you need to place them where you saw the animal. And while that’s not a bad idea, it’s not always the safest, most effective option when it comes to getting rid of rodents and making sure that they are caught as soon as possible.
Learn how to place traps that ensure the safety of your family and pets, while effectively trapping mice and rats.
Trap Placement Options That Work
Placing traps around your home can seem like a daunting task – especially if you have family or pets that might not know what the traps are for. It’s important to trap the pest, but it’s also important to keep your environment safe. Most times, trap efficiency and trap safety rely on placement.
Once you notice the mice or rats, look for signs of nesting around your house. This can include gnawing marks, droppings, or spotting signs of runways against the wall like scratches, grease, or light scruffs. After finding out where their nest is located or a spot that they frequently visit, place traps against the wall in an area close to theses nests/runways.
Mice and rats travel alongside the edges of rooms to feel less vulnerable and to have more protection from potential threats. Place traps alongside the walls with the entrance tunnel or trigger end on the trap directly against the wall. Be sure that the trap is flush against the wall, not leaving any room for the rodent to walk against the wall and avoid the trap itself.
This also lowers the risk of the trap going off accidentally, as the trigger faces away from the other activity in the room.
Other places that are appealing to mice and rats are areas where they can hide like inside cabinets, drawers, and spaces that aren’t occupied frequently by humans and allow them to go unnoticed. If you notice signs of mice or rats in drawers or cabinets, remove all the items inside of them and place the trap there.
If you notice that the rodents are in your living areas, setting the traps in drawers and cabinets is a smart way to place traps safely away from people. You can also place them behind appliances, and in corners of rooms so that they aren’t in the immediate vicinity of social areas. This way, the traps are in attractive places for the rodents, while being hidden and safely tucked away from the members of your household.
Here are some other tips to keep in mind when placing the traps:
- Reuse Traps - The scent that is left behind from other rats will lure them naturally to the trap.
- Place Multiple Traps – Space several traps every few feet along the wall, because the more traps, the higher the chance of catching the pest.
- Be Patient – It might take a few days for the rat or the mouse to encounter the trap. If the bait is still properly placed, leave the trap alone.
- Check Traps Often – Most traps can only catch one rodent at a time before they need emptied and reset. Check traps regularly to dispose of the rodent in a timely manner, so you can quickly get your trap back up and running.
Check out this article filled with different tips to help you trap rodents.
Safely Using Traps
In your own home, you want to feel safe. Why not make sure your traps are safe to use too? At Victor®, we’ve created mouse and rat traps with Safe-Set™ technology. With a safety feature that prevents accidental triggering, you can simply set the trap knowing that it won’t go off if a curious kid or pet goes near.
To use, simply put bait in the designated area, click the mechanism to activate, put the trap into place, and wait. With the bait hood, no pest can steal the food without the trap going off. That way, there are no thieves! We have both rat and mouse Safe-Set™ traps for whichever fits your needs.
Other ways that you can be safe when handling traps include:
- Wear Gloves – Not only do gloves protect your scent from getting on the trap as you set it up, but also protect you from diseases after your trap catches one of the rodents.
- Disinfect – After your trap catches something, it’s important to clean the surrounding area well so that no diseases, dirt, or anything else that the animal left behind stays there.
- Change Bait – Although you don’t need to change bait that frequently, it’s good to replace every 4-6 weeks to make sure that the bait doesn’t go bad, or if you’re using a highly attractive food, to make sure that it’s not attracting other pests near.
If you find yourself not catching anything, check out this article that talks about the common mousetrap mistakes!
Protecting Your Home Shouldn’t Be Dangerous
Keeping your home free from unwanted guests, like mice and rats, shouldn’t be unsafe for you, kids, or pets. That’s why at Victor™ we want to make sure that our products can be safely placed to effectively catch pests while not posing a threat when used correctly. Let us know ways that you keep your home safe with traps on our Facebook Page. Remember to sign up for our e-newsletter to get the latest tips, tricks, and products that can help your keep your home free from rodents.
