Spend a few minutes trawling the internet for methods of mouse removal in residential properties and we don’t doubt that you’ll come across the glue trap method. In theory, it seems like the perfect way to resolve the rodent problem. Long, thin strips covered with glue are placed along the floors with the intention of trapping any little furry critter that passes along. Unfortunately, glue traps or strips for mice and other rodents are NOT a viable approach.

Glue Traps — Need to Know’s

There’s not really much you need to know about the glue trap or strip. It does exactly what it says on the tin — it’s a trap or strip covered in glue. They’re easily placed along the floor, and should always be put along the edges of the ground, rather than the middle. Mice will very rarely cross the center of the room because where the floors meet the walls are the safest routes.

Glue traps are inexpensive …

… which means that you can buy a lot of them to cover and protect a wide area. If you have everything around the room covered, there are going to be very few places in the center of the room from which the mouse could pop up … you'd think. Again, unfortunately, this is a myth. A mouse needs a space barely bigger than the average wedding band in order to squeeze through, and what they can fit through straight away can just be chewed so that the hole is then big enough to allow them to pass straight through. If you have a tiny wood-hole in the middle of the dining room floorboards, right in the center of the room, you have a method for that rodent to get in while bypassing the glue traps along the perimeter of it.

The more glue traps you have, the more mice you’ll catch.

At the same time, you're probably, sadly, going to catch a wide variety of other bugs, critters, and furry friends. A few things that we have personally found stuck to glue traps for mice include — a rat, a pet hamster, snails and slugs, snakes, spiders, flies and other insects, cockroaches (not a bad thing), bees and wasps, a young hedgehog … the list is long and could go on for some time.

A few things that we have personally found are injured as a result of getting too close to glue traps for mice include — kittens, puppies, adult cats and dogs, hamsters, gerbils, pet rodents, lizards, snakes and other smaller and/or exotic pets. We have even seen and heard of cases where young children have gotten too close to the glue traps and had to have the strips forcibly removed from their fingers or hands.

In truth, if glue traps are out in the open (although still around the edges of a room/wall), any ol’ animals can get to them. You can't use glue traps in the same areas or rooms where pets and children are also present. The more glue traps you have and use, the higher the chances of a non-rodent animal getting stuck to it/are injured by it.

Curiosity might not kill the cat in this case, but it will result in a very sticky and probably quite painful ending.

Glue traps don’t kill the animal …

… at first. There is no snapping mechanism like there is with a mouse or rat trap, and there’s no poison to slowly kill the animal (not that poison works). The animal CAN die in a number of ways, from a number of other causes, although all of them are going to be long and incredibly inhumane.

Glue traps for mice are NOT humane.

When a rodent gets stuck to a glue trap, they’ll do everything in their power to try and break free again, and this can sometimes mean twisting themselves around and getting stuck even further. The more they tug, the more fur and skin is literally ripped from the body, and this can lead to some very nasty wounds and injuries. With enough time and with enough damage, this kind of injury can lead to a slow bleed-out.

Some rodents will go even further to try and break free and will actually gnaw through their own limbs to escape. This, again, will more than likely lead to bleeding-out and will likely leave a big mess behind. You’ll be responsible for the cleanup of this mess. You’ll actually be responsible for the ONCE AGAIN long and painful — INHUMANE — death the mouse will experience. It’s not like the mouse will survive for long once it has literally chewed through its own leg in order to break free from a glue trap.

If the animal does neither of the above things and instead chooses to calmly wait, stuck to the glue trap (not likely), it will slowly die of either hyperthermia when nighttime comes and the temperature drops, starvation, dehydration, overheating when the glue trap is sat in the direct line of sunlight, or perhaps even predatory attack — your cat or dog. As you can imagine, the predatory animal (or pet) could become stuck to the trap and/or injured while attempting to eat or play with the stuck rodent.

Glue traps DO attract other pest animals!

While we’re on the subject of other animals, cats and dogs are attracted to rodents in the house. (Most of them.) In fact, MOST other WILD animals are attracted to the building when rodents are present. Rats and mice always follow the path of food. Predators take advantage of the rats and mice that congregate together to take advantage of a food source (usually, a human one), also coming together in the spaces that rodents infest. You’ll start with a mouse or rat infestation, and then snakes will come along, and before you know it, you might have eagles or owls hanging out in the backyard, a couple of raccoons, a fox, coyotes, and maybe even a bobcat or two. It all depends on where you live and what pest animals are present in that area. One thing is for sure — when you put a predatory animal’s food source in plentiful supply, in one place (such as a mouse infestation), that predator will take a closer look. When you're using glue traps, you're basically providing these wild and pest animals with a buffet.

Our Professional Advice

We do not recommend using glue traps to get rid of mice. We definitely do not recommend using glue traps to get rid of mice when you have other animals (pets) or children sharing the same space.

Hire a professional mouse removal specialist to get the job done properly, quickly, safely, and most of all — in the most cost-effective manner. You won’t be wasting your time on mouse removal methods that aren't working!