X-Small Animal Trap, 2-Door Humane Trap for Mice, Voles, Shrews

I've used these traps for over 20 years, and if there's any product that rates 5-stars, this one does. It always works, without fail if you know how to use it and where to set it. We live near a huge open field in the Rocky Mountains where thousands of mice spend their summers in relative peace, avoiding hawks and owl hazards as necessary, but when the snows begin to fall they think about coming indoors to keep warm. In their place, you'd do the same. So every winter our family begins the annual mouse hunt, a competition based on visual acuity, mouse recognition, trap placement, and a scoring system which values both total number of mice caught and the speed of each catch. We wager on how many and how fast daddy can bag them. I am the unquestioned mouse master and, although I've contrived live-catch mousetraps of my own, I use Havahart traps exclusively for competition purposes. When the kids were young, they'd yell "Yay Daddy!" every time I'd score a mouse, and we'd parade him in the cage in triumph before bundling up to convey the terrified creature back outside for a live release. We'd have to jot down the time of first sighting of a possible mouse or fresh droppings to avoid quibbles about how long it really took daddy to catch him. On my best day, I positiomed the trap in a likely place, set the catch, and I was walking away when I heard the gates clang shut. I thought I'd just set the catch poorly and returned to re-set it when I could already hear the mouse jumping around inside. Last year a visitor from Europe spotted a mouse and reported it, and I told her no problem, I'd have the mouse in half an hour. She scoffed at the boast, but when I produced the captured mouse in 20 minutes, she thought it was a trick mouse I'd trained to do that to impress visitors. All it takes is confidence in the trap and the skill to know where to position it, and how to bait it. As for "confidence," I learned tonight that Havahart has been making this same design for about 70 years, a testament to a design that can't be further refined. It's made of galvanized sheet metal, not of cheap plastic that an aggressive mouse can chew through. The trap will work like new for decades. The parts don't rust or get brittle with age. There are no springs to lose tension over time. They are easy to set and to handle with a mouse inside, and release of the mouse is easy even in the dark outside. They clean easily after use. If you're not catching the mouse, it's not the fault of the trap. Havahart recommends peanut butter and birdseed for bait, which is unnecessarily messy. We don't keep birdseed around anyway. A 1" square of bread with peanut butter on top will work every time. Put a dab of peanut butter on the bottom of the bread cube to "stick" it to the trigger-paddle so it doesn't fall off. Any peanut butter residue left on the paddle after use can be blasted off with a stream of hot water from the sink. Placement of the trap is key to success. You place it exactly or very near to where you've spotted (or suspect) a mouse, or where you've found fresh droppings. If a mouse came there recently, he's still nearby and coming back to or through the same place once the lights go out. Just set the trap and go watch television or go to bed. When the metal doors slam shut, it produces an identifiable clang you can hear across the house. Just check the trap in the morning. If you don't catch the mouse in 8-10 hours, the trap's in the wrong place. I set two traps to hedge my bets. Mice come into the house where warm air is bleeding outside near the ground. They follow the path of warm air escaping. If you're getting a lot of mice inside, you need to search for ground level air leaks, including clothes dryer vents which (although well above ground) have firewood or something else stacked up beneath the flapper. Outside plants near the vents can be mouse ladders. When it's cold, mice will cuddle-up next to the threshold of an exterior door where warm air is escaping between the threshold and the door bottom. They're just laying against the threshold keeping warm when you suddenly open the door and they get surprised and tumble inside in a panic to escape. If you think your mice are getting in that way, just give the door a gentle kick at the bottom before opening to give them a chance to boogie before the door opens inside. Then adjust the threshold height to eliminate the warm air escape. Doors left open for some purpose are an open invitation to mice. Kids are the most likely cause, but adults leaving the door ajar while shuttling packages or luggage inside from the car is another likely suspect. Whatever the specifics be, the mice are following the path of escaping warm air. I've read several reviews that contain suspicious information where I'd beg to differ. The first is that Havahart traps, now made in China, are flimsy and inferior to the old ones made in the USA. I'd love to have them still manufactured in the USA, however the new trap I received from Amazon today is EXACTLY the same as the ones I bought 20 years ago. I inspected and even weighed them side-by-side. Each weighs 11.20 ounces (319 grams) and the measurements, design and construction is identical. You don't need to wash the trap with bleach afterwards to remove "human odor," unless you're somehow worried about viruses or something. If anything, human smell would be an attractant and the smell of beach residue would drive them away. Just shake out any droppings after use when you release the animal, wash out any peanut butter residue with hot water in the sink and air dry the trap. I agree with the reviewer who thinks "mouse smell" on the trap from prior catches would attract rather than repel other mice. Released mice don't "remember" how they got in and travel back from miles away to find your house. They don't get smarter every time they get caught; that's ludicrous. Go a reasonable distance from the house to release them if you're worried. If there are 10,000 mice in the fields around your house, releasing one back into the wild won't make any difference. IF a mouse does somehow get back in, it's because you haven't found the warm air breach in house security that let him in to begin with, and which will be obvious to all mice in the vicinity. Don't store dogfood, birdseed or people food in the garage, especially in winter, and especially near an exterior door. If you have kids, involve them in the live release process. It's a great opportunity to talk about nature, the sanctity of life (flies and mosquitos excepted), good karma building, and how dead mice with broken necks, or poisoned mice decaying in the cupboards, is a real bad idea. And each time you release one and they yell "Yay Daddy!," take a bow because the kids will be happy and you'll be a hero for awhile.

After months of battling a pesky mouse situation we actually NAMED our lil wild friend after he dashed across my foot one night during a trip to the bathroom...!! This trap succeeded in humanely capturing one Mr. Bo Jangles so he could be relocated to a nearby field!! After reading numerous reviews of various humane traps here on Amazon, I finally settled on this trap and the metal 12 catch mousetrap J.T. EATON 421CL "REPEATER" MULTIPLE CATCH MOUSE TRAP . I'll admit, once these traps arrived I was really impressed with the multi-catch trap which APPEARS to a very awesome trap and was VERY easy to bait! Mr. Bo Jangles never ventured anywhere near the multi-catch trap,, perhaps the strong stench of machine oil present... thankfully the Havahart trap did not have the offensive odor. Additionally I had to modify the Multi-catch trap as it would have easily released any entrapped mouse with a simple nose press on the upper lid... The Havaheart trap looked weak and appeared difficult to set, I seriously had doubts initially. I admit I played with the trap awhile and made a number of minor adjustments to the trap before baiting it with a piece of Granola Bar which I "glued" to the bait table with a nice chunk of peanut butter. Once baited, I found a quiet closet in which Bo Jangles had previously been spotted and set it in the middle of the closet floor. AFTER setting the trap in place and being sure this was "the place" did I attempt to actually set the previously baited trap. I gave this Havahart trap a 5 star rating despite the written instructions being less than ideal since it caught our lil friend in less than a week. Just play with the trap awhile and understand how it works before relying on it to catch your mice. Also understand that it may need a few minor adjustments due to being bounced around in shipping. I wish to thank the Reviewer who provided sane advice for a wise method for releasing the trapped mouse. As a reminder, when releasing the mouse open the door that is AWAY from you!! In our case, I took the trap to a local field along with a reliable stick. I set the trap in the field and used the stick to gently remove the door lock of the door AWAY from me thereby allowing the mouse to nose his way through door. Using the stick I had to gently move the trap over on the side to allow the mouse an easier time of releasing itself from the trap but at least I didn't have a mouse running up my coat sleeve!! ;-)

So my beloved cat died 21 months ago; this is the first time we've lived without a cat. And last month mice got in (through the roof). I'm disabled with spinal injury and major long covid issues; my mom and her friend Jimmy are too old to take care of a cat. So Jimmy brought over one of these HAVAHART x small mouse traps, and I told him to PLEASE put the trap in the one place where we found mouse pooh (in the kitchen drawer with the kitchen towels and oven mitts, etc. No food in there. But it's the first drawer right below the part of the roof next to my bed where I heard a something scratching on the OUTSIDE for several days... then the faint scratching was in the walls next to my bed, behind my bed. Didn't sound like many at all, but still 😱😱😱. On the second night when they were inside, SOMETHING was scratching so loudly I discovered from a pest control company that THAT was not a mouse, but most likely a squirrel. ?? I used 2 high frequency Mouse Repellent (through wall) noise videos from YouTube--I recorded music in my home studio for years before spinal injury-- these two videos actually do send out the 20,000hz. Most YouTube videos that claim to send out that frequency don't. So I got myself up and put that frequency right to the walls where I heard them and chased them back down the wall to the kitchen drawer. We caught SIX in a week. That's great news for the validity and usefulness of this product. Jimmy first loaded it with a little peanut butter, and then for the last four almond butter. They love nuts, so it didn't matter; they liked both kinds. Now. Again catching SIX mice with one of these is great news... regarding the product. NOT great news for the house. I was literally killing myself, pushing my physical body WAY beyond its capabilities. And, you know, they say if you catch one mouse, that means you have up to 8-10 mice for every one you catch. That's true! Once they got inside, they obviously multiplied (female mice give birth every five days, up to 12 mice per litter!!). The mice were keeping me up ALL NIGHT - in the walls, in the cubby holes, and the vents. This is a nice home! It was built in the 1940s, so even the smallest little crack (tiny!) and they'll get in. FINALLY I read to turn on the lights in the crawl spaces. As SOON as I did that I HEARD them scurry to the wall they came up and sure enough the next morning Jimmy caught two in that trap in the (now empty except for this trap) kitchen drawer. The heat doesn't work upstairs, so we covered the vents. That and turning on the lights made them run. There's snow outside so I highly doubt they left the house. Calling a pest control to come out (they have to wait until snow melts in order to check the outside of house and roof for major entry points) . It sounded to me like that *squirrel* that was scratching and gnawing SO loudly in the wall in the next room, it wouldn't stop when I tapped the adjacent wall with my cane, nor when I raised my voice. When I SCREAMED "STOP IT!!!!", it quickly scurried up to the ceiling, across the ceiling in my room and sounded like it fell down the wall where the mice came up. Fingers crossed, haven't heard that terrifying scratching again (it was trying to eat and gnaw its way through the wall!). Will have to have pest control look for that squirrel. Maybe it's in the basement. (Undate: pest control said it was most likely a racoon! Something big like that bent the metal grate on top of the chimney: it got in that way. There must have been a loose brick that it clawed its way past and into the wall by the attic crawl space. We had a new grate installed and, fingers crossed, no loud scratching anymore). I have heard from so many people who don't have cats that they have mice in their houses. I lived in Manhattan for 14 years, I had a couple little mice in my last apartment. Unbeknownst to me, my Super used a glue trap behind the refrigerator. I'm not even going to say what I saw after hearing the mouse noise behind the frig. Glue traps are SO inhumane. I understand there are places where the mice need to be killed for several reasons, but if you're in a house in suburbia, please use these humane traps. Jimmy brings them to a local lake and lets them free way behind the lake in the wooded area. No people are around that area and no houses. These traps work. My advice: if you catch more than mouse, immediately call pest control. My mom wouldn't let us. I don't think she understood how upsetting it is to hear them-- even one mouse, scratching at the walls all night, from 6pm until 6am (they're nocturnal). She couldn't hear them and didn't understand that they want to live here: they're very dirty and carry diseases. Call a pest control person fast! Get rid of them professionally. In the mean time I highly suggest using HAVAHART traps. They WORK! Put them where you find Mouse pooh-- they pooh near where they enter the house. They'll run to that place when you scare them into leaving or running away. 10 days with no sleep because of these mice. They do reproduce RAPIDLY. I bought 4 more of these traps. Only caught them in that drawer. That's the only place we saw pooh. Within 2 weeks they were ALL OVER the second floor in the walls and crawl spaces and on the vents. Turn on the cubby hole or attic lights. Use these traps. I so wish I could take care of a cat. Pest control got rid of the mice in two weeks, AND found that an animal had bent the grate on top of the chimney. There are HAVAHART Traps that are now easier to set up: I would buy them. Same type of trap, just a much better design. Good luck!

It works consistently, and is made of metal that cannot be chewed through (important), but can be tricky to set. You have to balance three metal wires on each other. This balancing point links the bait platform inside to the doors on each end. When the adversary even lightly touches the bait, the platform inside rotates and its bar disturbs the the other two balanced on it so the doors drop and the locking bars on top fall into place to hold the door closed. At some point in the history of the manufacturing of this item, apparently years ago, the flat end on one of the bars mentioned in the instructions got turned around and put on the wrong side. So you have to balance three round wires on each other, the flat end being manufactured on the wrong side and of no help when balancing. As a result, the balancing point is more precarious than original inventors planned. Sometimes a strong wind can release the trap. But it mostly works and is attractive to the target. Used to clear outdoor voles (field mice) from a garden, it has caught 18 of 19. Even when the others have seen friends and family stuck in there, you can set it out an hour later and the next one runs in. Many trips to a mountain road turn-out a couple miles away to release. However, the last one, #19, is wiley. With security cameras having IR/night vision (which is how the population count is known), one can watch #19 run up to the trap, and without going in, push on the external balancing wires to trigger the trap closed, then run away. I gave it a few days rest to see if he forgot. But the next time I put it out, I watched him go in one side without triggering it, come out, then go in the other side -- also without triggering. He then came back out and nosed the balancing wires from the outside, triggering the trap, before running away. When inspected, it turns out he had urinated and defecated without touching the peanut butter bait in the center then circled around to the other side to do the same thing. He then shut it from the outside by nosing the balancing wires. Message delivered. Message received. Have to admire the adversary's ability to work with what he's got, but looks like things will have to move to the next level.

I was under the impression that Havahart traps set the standard for humane traps, so I thought I'd try one, along with one Smart Mouse Trap - Humane Mousetrap to see which was better. Unfortunately, the Havahart's build quality is horrible. It looks, feels, and functions like a junior high metal shop project. Worse, setting the trap was an exercise that tested my patience every time. Although I was able to catch three mice, I soon got fed up with it and chucked it in the trash. The trap is made of nothing more than crudely formed sheet metal and thin rods (heavy gauge wire, actually). The roof is fastened to the sides with staples. Setting the trap is a delicate balancing act. A bait tray in the middle of the trap pivots on one of the thin rods. The doors also pivot on rods. The three rods are bent in such a way as to meet on the outside of the trap where the bait tray rod projects out from the side. One door rod is supported by the other door rod, which in turn must be delicately rested on the bait tray rod. The latter two rods are slightly (VERY slightly!) flattened so they can balance a little easier than two round rods would, but that's not saying much. Once you get that set, two rods above each door must be set in place to lock the doors after they close so the mouse can't escape. Making the tiniest mistake in this process triggers the trap, catapults the bait out of the tray, and you have to start all over. I never got it right the first time, and often spent 5-10 minutes trying to get it right, and it was not fun. When a mouse was caught, it closed with a loud "CLANK" and the mouse was snug inside waiting to go to a nearby open space. They really are cute little critters, and seem to exhibit a fair amount of intelligence for their tiny size. Its definitely worth saving these guys for a new home rather than killing them! However, my fourth mouse triggered the trap and got away with the bait. I discovered one of the door rods was getting hung up on the edge of the poorly constructed sheet metal roof, preventing one door from closing completely and letting the mouse escape. After a few tests I realized that to prevent this from happening again, I had to set the rods even more gingerly than before, which I was not able to do successfully. After 20 minutes of frustration I gave up and into the trash it went. Maybe I'll just adopt our mice as pets.

I'm just going to share my own experience here since there are likely many who would have a similar experience and can be spared the trouble. This device definitely works - caught two mice in one night once. That said, I'd not make the investment again. Here's why. When I bought it, I'd seen signs of mouse activity but no mouse. I bought it, set it up and expected to find a mouse pronto. Of course, if you've done any research on mice-catching, you'd know that that's not always how it works. I continued to find new droppings, and no mouse. So I thought: I need more traps in different places and I can't spend c. $20 on each. So I got the old-fashioned spring traps that cost about $0.50 each. Soon enough...mouse in trap. So I figured I'd caught the offender, but kept all the traps set anyway just in case. Shortly after that, mouse #2 shows up and this guys is sighted multiple times and seems to be really making himself at home which pisses me the hell of. After several weeks, my landlord who lives downstairs caught the fella (with a glue trap). But at that point, all thought of humaneness were gone from my mind: I just wanted the guy dead! dead! dead! as De Niro would say. Months pass without sign of a mouse and then one day I wake up in the middle of the night and saunter downstairs to get some water and ... wadayaknow...the humane Lamborghini Nobel peace prize of mouse traps is closed. Sure enough, in there is a mouse. Now what to do? It's 3am. I am not going to be driving 2 miles to drop off a mouse now or anytime during the approaching day. I don't have the time, and, of course, I hate the critters now. So, I drop him in a bucket of water and I can see from his vigorous freestyle that he will be circling around in that thing for hours. So, like the internet people advise, I get my hammer and finish him off with one fell stroke to the head. Dump the water, toss the body, washout the bucket, reset the trap, back to my not-so-warm bed. Wake up in the morning and the Lamborghini mouse trap is closed again. Mouse #3. Repeat extermination procedure. Except, this time, the first blow of the hammer misses the head and makes a hole in the bucket. Now, I don't really give a damn about the bucket, but WHO THE HELL WANTS TO BE TRYING TO KILL A SWIMMING MOUSE WITH A HAMMER?!!! At this point the only difference between me an axe murderer is I use a different tool and I pick on creatures smaller than me. The moral of my story is: if you are truly tier 1 premier league zen, then by all means live in harmony with the mouse. If you are tier 2 zen and have the equanimity and balance in your life to be driving mice two miles and dropping them off so that they can resume their never-ending quest for food and warmth, then this is a great solution. However, if you are a stressed out jerk like me (welcome to the club we are very accepting) who can barely get your work done and keep your children clean and fed, get a frickin' spring trap that finishes the mouse fast and clean without making it swim laps in your bucket while trying to dodge a hammer at 3am in the morning. That is all I wanted to say.

By far the most successful trap I have for mice. I live and die by the standard Victor snap trap but there's a race of field mice that avoid Victor traps. Then you have have to use this trap. It can be difficult to bait and set but that trickiness works both ways. Great for catching the large smart males. Then, I drop the whole trap in a bucket of water. You don't want to preserve those genes......

These traps do indeed reliably capture mice in my home. I go through this seasonally, every late autumn through early winter, and these traps routinely capture my little guests for release. And now, after three weeks of catch and release, I am again mouse-free. Note: Mine literally bolt through the open screen door when I'm unloading groceries, etc. It could be worse: In the southwest, tarantulas and scorpions do the same thing! Peanut butter is the best bait for this type of trap, as it sticks to the triggering platform. And yes, you can put the peanut butter on the "ceiling" inside the trap, above the triggering platform, and it'll still work. In any case, I don't mind the little guys getting a last free meal out of their ordeal. If your trap is triggered too easily, just take an emery board and roughen up the metal a bit at the contact points on the outside triggering mechanism. That will usually remedy that problem. I'd also recommend that you avoid providing the mice any options by removing any other bait or food source outside of the trap itself. Mice like to run along wall baseboards and beneath the toe spaces of kitchen cabinets, so these are prime locations to place your traps (just put them inline with the direction of travel, and as close to the wall as you can). Closet floors are also good. If you can identify "mouse hot spots" in your home, then concentrate your efforts there. Make a note to check these traps twice a day, at least. You wouldn't want to forget and have a trapped mouse die of dehydration or starvation. That sort of defeats the whole point of this trap, right? A broken neck from a standard snap-trap would be kinder death than lingering in this device. I've found that the easiest way to clean these traps is to gently remove the square locking bars that swing into place over the doors, and wash the traps out with a hot spray in the downstairs laundry tub. I then stand them on end to dry out. If I want to get the traps right back into service, I dry them off with an old rag. If you happen to be near a trap and hear it trip, you can take the mouse outside at once, and put the trap right back into service. This saves the hassle of washing it out and replacing the bait. I have learned that mice are individuals, and some are a bit smarter, a bit more savvy than their companions. And some of these uber mice might well inspect the trap, and trip the mechanism without getting caught. I have seen instances where such savvy mice have taken the bait via the side of a standard spring snap trap, so gently as to not set the trap off! You check the traps and they're still "armed", but the peanut butter baits are all missing! In this case, you can adjust the sensitivity of the triggering mechanism, but this may result in a messy, "unclean" kill, with considerable suffering before death. Oh, I know thety're pests! Vermin even! And I have resorted to lethal snap-traps when their numbers were too large to deal with. Because they can do some real damage. But I never liked doing so. And I always took their little bodies outdoors, where within hours something took it away and made a meal of it. That way their deaths weren't completely for nothing. But I've never had to resort to poison, and I would NEVER use one of those monstrous and sadistic "sticky traps". They are after all, just mice, doing what they know how to do. Small wonders really. But they can't stay here. Still, why would I kill one if I can remove it without harming it? RayB

I tried many types of traps from the tube one with the food at the end, the metal box with the plastic window on top and snap traps. This has caught the most mice and I don't even use any bait. Likes: - it has caught the most mice compared to other traps - easy to clean - catches mice alive so it's humane - don't need to use bait Cons: -very tricky to setup and can easily be set off while placing. No instructions. It takes some practice but you will figure it out, it's not terribly hard to figure out but it's a hard scratcher at first. - pricy, much more expensive than the other solutions but it works well so you will not feel ripped off after catching many many mice. - only catches one mouse at a time. Problematic for large infestations. - must check at least once a day, not very humane if the mouse dies before you relocate it. You don't want the mice to become afraid of the cage if you have an infestation.

bon petit piège a rats ou souris bonne qualité en galvanisé le top pour une longue vie en extérieur pas de rouille avec un minimum d'entretient c'est bon .... il est très réactif si bien tendu un rat n'y échappera pas ces certain !!! avec ses 2 entrées c'est le top pour utiliser le long des murs excellent piège a condition d'utiliser le bon appât a l'intérieur pour moi une petite tête de poisson fraiche c'est le bon appât ; mais ça dépend des régions les rats on leurs habitudes alimentaires attention on n'attire pas les mouches avec du vinaigre !! piège a recommander très efficace bon produit un peut long a arriver mais c'est bon quand même ...merci le commerçant et l'équipe Amazon maison très sérieuse ...

Meine beiden Katzen schleppen mir immer wieder lebende Mausgeschenke in die Wohnung und die Nerven liegen jedesmal blank, bis wir sie wieder gefangen haben. Eine Maus war einfach nicht zu erwischen und deshalb haben wir uns endlich eine Lebendfalle angeschafft. Unsere Wahl fiel auf diese hier, da sie aus Metall mit großen Lüftungsschlitzen ist. Öfters habe ich über die Plastikfallen gelesen, dass die Mäuse darin ersticken. Als die Falle dann geliefert wurde, machten wir uns ans Aufstellen. Das Befüllen der Falle erfordert anfangs etwas Geduld, da die Falle bei der kleinsten Berührung auslöst. Was gut ist, denn kleine Mäuse haben ja wenig Gewicht. Insgesamt konnte ich nichts Scharfkantiges an der Falle entdecken, so dass hier Verletzungsgefahr ausgeschlossen ist. Die Falle schließt nicht nur bei der kleinsten Berührung, sondern auch sehr schnell. Dabei hat sie jedoch im geschlossenen Zustand etwas Spiel, dass ein eventuell eingeklemmter Mäuseschwanz problemlos ohne Verletzung herausgezogen werden kann. Insgesamt ist sie schön groß, so dass auch große Mäuse gefangen werden können und darin genug Platz haben, bis man sie befreit hat. Wir stellten die Falle also auf und waren gespannt. 2 Tage und Nächte passierte nichts. Egal welche Köder wir reinlegten, ob Kekse, Nüsse, Rosinen, Brot, die Falle blieb leer. Enttäuschung pur. Dann erzählte man mir, dass Mäuse Haferflocken nicht widerstehen können. Ich formte mit etwas Wasser und Haferflocken eine Kugel und legte diese in die Falle und - kein Scherz- nach 20 Minuten saß die Maus in der Falle! Ich kann diese Falle nur uneingeschränkt empfehlen und würde sie jederzeit wieder kaufen.

Montarlo es relativamente facil pero salta a la minima vibracion y por tanto cuando la dejas instalada puedes encuentrarla cerrada sin ratón. Después de 2 años y de probar mas de 10 tipos diferentes de ratoneras sin muerte, puedo calificarla como la trampa mas eficaz para captura de ratones incluso sin cebo solo dejandola en los lugares de paso de los ratones

This is useless. It is so sensitive when setting up but does nothing when the mouse is actually inside. The mouse ran full speed into and out of it and it still didn't trigger and later managed to actually pull the peanut butter bait out of trap. Don't waste your money. At this point all it is doing is feeding the mouse.