So I guess you’ve caught a mouse in your home or around your yard, which is the main reason you are looking to dispose of it in the most humane way as possible.
In this article, I will show you how to dispose of a live mouse without risking your health or getting exposed to the many diseases found in rats.
The first step to getting rid of mice in the home is to use natural ways to get rid of rats in the house. In a situation it doesn’t work, you can then consider live traps. Once the trap has caught the mouse, the next steps would be disposing it and making sure it doesn’t find a way back to your home.
Before we dive deeper into the steps of disposing of any mouse you’ve caught with a trap, it is essential to remind you that you shouldn’t handle a mouse directly – dead or alive. Rodents are carriers of many diseases when you come in direct contact with either their droppings or their nesting place.
Like I explained earlier in a previous article, which focused on the chances of getting sick from mouse droppings. The possibilities are high if there is direct contact with the mouse. Also, when you touch a living rodent, you might be bitten or scratched, thereby endangering your safety.
To avoid the challenges of having rats around your environment, you have to know what attracts rats and how to stop the invasion. But since they are in your house already and you’ve caught one alive, it is imperative you know the drill of how to dispose of a live rat mouse either on a glue trap or another trap.
Tools you need to dispose of a live mouse successfully
If you know your home is a potential mouse infested environment and you make use of traps to catch them, then these tools should come in handy. These are what you need to dispose of them as soon as you make a catch.
Strong gloves
Bag
Baits to let the rat run out of the cage.
Torch
Trap cover
Each one of these would help you dispose of any rat caught alive without you risking your health.
Steps to Take to Dispose of a Live Mouse
Steps Involved to Dispose of a Live Mouse
So the first thing you need to know that the best time to dispose of a live mouse is after sunset. Rats are nocturnal animals and are more active at night. So if you want the mouse to survive, then let it remain trapped till dusk – then you can dispose of it.
So let’s consider the healthy ways of how to dispose of a live mouse. Always make sure you follow this drill;
Know where you intend to dispose of the mouse
Now, this is quite trickily because you are trying to find a balance between where would be safe for the mouse and where it wouldn’t become a hazard to others who live around that environment.
From my point of view, I will ask you first to research the best place to let the mouse run free. Also, you should make sure that the site is also considered safe for the rat. I would suggest you go to the wooded area because it offers an abundance of nuts, fruits, and protection from predators that could harm the mouse as soon as it lands on the field.
Protect yourself with gloves
Well, I would have recommended putting on your Protective Equipment, but it’s just a mouse, so a hand glove should suffice. But if you notice that the environment (maybe its nest area) is pretty messed up, then you should cover your body correctly.
Failure to wrap your hands or your body might lead to you contact any of the diseases associated with rats. Hantavirus is a huge one, and I bet you don’t want that.
Cover the trap with a bag
Covering the trap with a backpack is just a way to protect droppings from the mouse and an effective way to dispose of a live mouse without spreading diseases.
It would also help the mouse to keep calm, and droppings won’t fall off during transit. Depending on the trap, it could also destroy or contaminate your car interior.
Travel to where you intend to dispose of the live mouse
Since our focus is on humane ways to dispose of a live mouse, you must drive carefully to the destination. Research has shown that animals also suffer from freight and stress when traveling in a car.
Don’t be too quick to accelerate or turn corners quickly. You might get the mouse stressed, which can take it several hours to get itself back.
Just open the bag and let it run out
When you get to your destination where you’ve decided to dispose of the live mouse, quietly open the bag and let it run free.
Here’s what I suggest, you place the trap opening in the right direction to enable the mouse to make a better decision. When the mouse runs in the right direction, its chances of surviving increase.
Disinfect and bleach the trap right there
Just before I forget, just make sure you bring disinfecting materials before leaving the house. No need to take the infected trap and to put it back into the car.
Rinse and Repeat the process if you catch more mice
So if your trap catches another one and you want to dispose of it, I guess you’ve already known the best way to dispose of a live mouse. Just follow the steps stated above, and that’s a job well done.
How to dispose of a live mouse in winter
There is no better way to dispose of a live mouse in winter. You would either “humanely” kill it or risk its chances of survival by letting it outdoors. Either way – one way or another, it would still die.
If you don’t want to risk having the blood of a mouse on your hands, then you ought to take care of the mouse till spring.
Where I catch a mouse in my house during winter, here’s what I do;
This advice was given to me by a VET friend, and he asked me to place the mouse in a little box with some food and a few scraps of paper towels as nesting material. It would help support the mouse for a while till it adapts to a new environment.
Here’s what Audrey Groff Said about disposing of a live mouse in winter
“In my situation, when I caught a little bugger in my house, it was quite cold, so I didn’t put him outside. I made him a wooden home and found a way to give it food till the spring.
After that, I found a way to let it go back into the wild, which I guess ended up becoming a permanent home for him.”
So now you have choices on what to do if you catch a mouse during winter. You either kill it yourself, let it out in the snow, or keep it, feed it, and let it go when the temperature becomes normal.
How to dispose of a live mouse on a glue trap
The bad news about a live mouse on a glue trap is that it would still die after all. The glue reacts badly with the fur of a mouse, and if nothing is done, it will die.
So if you come across such a situation, the best way to dispose of a live mouse on a glue trap would be the following;
Step 1
Put on your Gloves to avoid any contact with diseases.
Step 2
Place the trap in a box and take it about a mile from your home
Step 3
Use a stick to push out the rat from the glue trap. Be careful not to entangle the rat further with the glue (if you intend to use the trap also).
But if you want to purchase a new one, then you should pour vegetable oil on the mouse and the glue trap. This breaks down the glue from the mouse’s body and lets the rat run free.
Step 4
Dispose of the glue trap in a bad and throw it into the trash can.
Step 5
Dispose of the gloves, and wash your hands properly with disinfectants.
Conclusion
No matter how much you love these cute buggers, remember that they are host to a lot of diseases. So please, make sure you handle with care or you just kill them as soon as you come in contact with any. If you already have a mouse-infested house, always call professionals to help.
