We live at a farm, so there are mice on occasion. Sometimes you will see a mouse dropping, other times you may see a mouse scurry across a floor. Since we have a few cats, mice are not a huge problem here. The cats keep the natural order in place by hunting the mice and keeping the mice in check. However, due to the fear of mice carrying viruses like Hanta Virus, my wife and I have looked for other ways to deal with mice in the house.
The most common way of dealing with a mouse is a snap mouse trap. People will tell you that this is a quick and painless death, but those people have never seen a mouse get its leg caught in a mouse trap and slowly die. Nor have they seen a mouse get part of its body caught in the mouse trap so that it slowly starves to death in extreme pain. The mouse trap is not fool proof, and mistakes do happen. My wife and I have chosen not to use this option.
The options of poison is completely out because we have cats and dogs and we do not believe in poisoning anything. As well, glue traps are far from human. All these do is keep a mouse immobilized so it can starve to death over several days.
If you have mice in your house, then the best option available is a live mouse trap. These traps catch the mice and allow you to dispose of them easily in another location. My wife and I take them to the far end of our pasture near the trees where they can hopefully make a home for themselves. If you live in a city or town, you can transport the mice out of your home at least, and then look to see where they are getting back in and seal it back up.
Mice are just doing what they always do; surviving. They are not trying to spread disease or harm you. They just want to live their lives and they are happy to live them with us. Sadly, we can’t live with them but that does not mean we should kill them. Instead, something as simple as a live mouse trap can give you the peace of mind of no mice, and the mouse peace of mind of having still been alive.
