About using glue traps for mice and why they are inhumane
There is a range of traps available when dealing with mice in your home, these include catch and release traps, snap traps, and glue traps to name a few. Although there are humane traps available and some mice may survive the use of glue traps, these are widely controversial within the pest control community and the greater public as a whole.
How do they work?
Glue traps are small plastic squares that are lined with adhesive flooring, designed to immobilize the mouse and make it unable to leave. The mouse is enticed to run onto the square because there is also a food flavoring or perhaps even a small piece of food also attached to the square.
When the mouse runs onto the square in search of food they find themselves stuck on the floor and are unable to move, and are then ready to be removed from the property.
Why are these so controversial?
The reason that these are so controversial and largely deemed unacceptable is that the mouse cannot escape, or at the very least cannot escape without being severely harmed.
The first problem with these traps is how the mouse is positioned. Depending on how the mouse approaches the trap, they could be stuck with all their legs, their face, or their tail on the glue.
The second is that this is an extremely stressful situation for the mouse. Being trapped on a small space is highly stressful which can be worsened if the mouse is stuck by their face and is unable to see around them. Not to mention that this also runs the risk of gluing their eyes shut and blinding the mouse.
Most of the time the mouse does not escape, especially if the trap is poorly managed and rarely monitored the mouse is likely to starve to death which can take 6-12 hours. Not only this, due to the strength of the panic reaction in their nervous system mice may chew off their own limbs to survive, and die as a result later on which can be a painful and prolonged process. The mouse may also suffocate from inhaling the glue which becomes lodged in their nose. They can also die of dehydration and exhaustion.
The mouse may be able to escape but will still be in great pain, due to the stress and panic the mouse will face; they may rip themselves free from the glue, tearing off their skin in the process. This is especially harmful if they are stuck by their face/eyes as they may not survive the extremely painful process of tearing themselves free. Another problem with these is that they can trap multiple mice leading to aggression, where mice may turn on each other and resort to cannibalism both from fear or hunger.
How do I release the mouse from the glue trap?
You cannot try to rip the mouse from the glue, which will not only tear the mouse’s skin but also cause the mouse to be terrified and in turn, may lash out at you causing injuries. Once you have the mouse on the glue trap it is then your responsibility to kill the mouse, often people are scared of this and are unsure what to do. The best option in this case is to kill the mouse swiftly with a sharp blow to the head. Although regarded as the most humane approach to killing a mouse on a glue trap, the overall use of glue traps cannot be regarded as humane. The only way out for a mouse of a glue trap is death which comes with stress and starvation or dehydration.
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