He says the mice survived. So that’s nice, I guess. I still doubt it a bit, since mice can die of stress if you just leave them a little too long in an ordinary non-oily live trap. I highly doubt they would really survive this in the long run if you don’t want to keep them a s pets in a secure enclosure.
Otoh if you want to release the in the park it would be nice to add a little salt & pepper to the oil, so the mice are seasoned nicely for whichever predator will catch them sitting catatonically in the grass
He runs a Youtube channel devoted to mousetraps, He keeps the non native mice that he catches as test subjects pets for non-lethal traps. So he actually provided a proof of life video for the internet skeptics.
Thanks. Yeah, I should have realised. I’ve seen mice jump vertically from a standing start (to get out of a deep bucket) but, of course, even that needs some grip to push off from.
My Basset Hound killed a mouse just by sniffing it…he was on a leash at the time, so I know he didn’t press his nose down or chomp it. I wonder what evolutionary advantage that behaviour confers to mice?
I think its an advantage to other nearby mice (likely relatives); if a wounded mouse escapes it isn’t likely to breed but will eat food, and the hungry predator may return. Its a better use of resources to just send the predator on their way and breed a new mouse.
Mouse populations work a bit like a school of fish or flock of birds; individual behaviors may only make sense in light of the proximity of many similar creatures.
I would predict a drawback if you have a really really bad mouse problem: if enough mice fall into the trap then some can climb over the others and escape, and then you’ve got greasy trails leading around your house.
it was the rat swimming thing. I assumed it was about how well a rat could swim in one of the aforementioned buckets of water (mentioned as a trap by someone else).
Oh, no, when I was discussing buckets/trash cans as traps, I was thinking of using oiled ones as scaled-up versions of the mousetrap. But, the large-rodent traps will remain hypothetical, because the amount of peanut oil required to saturate a squirrel or a raccoon would probably be close to the amount needed to fry a turkey, which runs about 50 bucks worth. Unless, of course, you have access to a greasetrap, in which case, you only have to fight with the bio-diesel weirdos.
When I was thinking of how well rats swim, I was thinking of how they can swim upstream through sewer pipes, etc. Ewwww! And, of course, how they can make it to shore from a sinking ship.
…The King decides he and his friends should breed rats to sell for food. His comrades, though nearly starving themselves, are repulsed at the idea of eating rat meat, so the King comes up with the brilliant plan of only selling the meat to officers without telling them the true source. A group of officers who stole money from their underlings are later seen greedily enjoying a meal of “Rusa tikus” not knowing they are actually eating rat meat.
