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Mouse traps are one of the most efficient and hands-off ways that you can take care of a rodent infestation. They’re cheaper and less of a hassle than calling in a pest control team, and they’re far less stressful than trying to hunt down the mice yourself, so they’re often the first solution you will turn to once you’ve caught wind of some mice, rats or other rodents hiding away in your home.
While the phrase “mouse trap” might make you think of the classic spring-based mechanisms, there is actually a vast range of different designs on the market. Not all of them are lethal, but the various mechanisms and internal workings all focus on the same goal – catching (and possibly killing) at least one pest. Here are ten different mouse traps, both lethal and non-lethal, that might help make your home a little more rodent-free.
Related: 10 Best Roach Killers in 2022
View the Best Mouse Trap, Below.
Victor M250SSR-2 Electronic Mouse Trap
Tomcat Press ‘N Set Mouse Trap
Victor M154 Metal Pedal Mouse Trap
CaptSure Original Humane Mouse Traps
Tomcat Rat & Mouse Killer Refillable Bait Station
Acmind Mice Snap Kill Trap
Catchmaster AA1170 Glue Board Trap
RinneTraps – Walk The Plank Mouse Trap
d-CON No View Mouse Trap
1. Authenzo Mouse Catcher Trap
This re-usable trap is designed to kill mice quickly and efficiently, delivering enough force to ensure that they don’t suffer or feel any pain. It can use almost any kind of household food as bait and will only trigger when a weight above 15 grams is placed on it –sensitive enough to catch even the quickest mice.
The body of the trap is made from polystyrene, an easy-to-wash material that can easily be cleaned to get rid of stains, odors and other debris, allowing you to quickly set it back up after use. The dead mouse can easily be removed from the trap without having to touch it yourself, making disposal much more sanitary.
This mouse trap provides a clean, quick and painless kill to mice of any size, using a simple and convenient design that you can clean out and reset in a matter of minutes.
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Doesn’t retain stains or smells.
3.8 x 1.8 Inches per Trap
2. Victor M250SSR-2 Electronic Mouse Trap
This electronic mouse trap is designed to create as little mess as possible, relying on humane electric shocks to take down pests without drawing blood. Powered by a set of four AA batteries, a single unit can kill up to 100 mice – whenever a rodent enters the tunnel inside the trap's body, it will shock them to death and turn on a green LED to alert you to the kill.
Disposing of the dead rodents is extremely easy since you can pull out the entire tunnel without having to look at or touch the body. The built-in safety features will disable the electric circuits if it's opened from the outside, keeping children and pets safe from accidental shocks.
These traps are perfect for situations where you need to slowly whittle down a big rodent infestation, especially if you don’t want to clean up blood or dispose of bodies with your bare hands.
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6.3 x 3.2 x 1.8 Inches
3. Tomcat Press ‘N Set Mouse Trap
This mouth-like mouse trap is designed for maximum killing power, ensuring that it’ll take out rodents of any size with its sharp jaws. This helps prevent the common problem of mice surviving the trap and slowly dying from their wounds, which can be an incredibly disturbing sight.
Although it may seem like a very basic design, this trap is designed to be easy to use and hard for mice to avoid. The jaw sections increase the chance of them being killed instantly, and the sensitive pressure plate can easily be reset over and over again to clear an area of pests in a short amount of time. Since it has no vulnerable components, you can easily wash away any blood or debris that’s left behind.
Simple, effective, and reliable, this mouse trap is focused entirely around killing rodents quickly and consistently, rather than tricking them into a slow, painful death.
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Maximises instant, pain-free kills.
Spring Trap (with Teeth)
1.5 x 6 x 4.5 Inches
4. Victor M154 Metal Pedal Mouse Trap
These re-usable spring traps can be set up in a matter of minutes and easily laid out around the house, with the strong spring guarantying all but the most robust mice will die instantly. Due to their all-wood base and metal components, you can easily use them as a disposable option if you're traveling or don't have a way to clean them.
The angle of the spring section is designed to hit most mice directly on the neck, killing them faster while minimizing the amount of blood it creates. Even if they do end up bleeding, you can quickly wash off the trap with some water or a cloth.
This mouse trap might be one of the simplest and most straightforward designs on the market. There’s no gimmicks and nothing to fiddle with – simply add bait and wait for it to kill a mouse.
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Can be used as disposable traps.
Designed for quick kills.
Doesn’t use any dangerous poisons or chemicals.
4 x 1 x 4 Inches
5. CaptSure Original Humane Mouse Traps
This tunnel-style trap forgoes killing the mouse in favor of capturing it, allowing you to release it without needing to pick it up yourself. It causes no pain and doesn’t cut off their oxygen, so nothing it catches will die unless you’re not around to let it out.
The see-through design makes it extremely easy to tell when you’ve caught a pest, since you can see it for yourself – the spring-based door will slam shut once it enters, and you can open up the other door to let the captive go free once you’re outside, making it easy to return the mouse to the wild. Since all of its components are waterproof, you can easily wash it with tap water and some soap.
If you don’t want to kill any mice, but still need to get them out of your home, this is an excellent non-lethal mouse trap that’s easy to set up and even easier to use.
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Doesn’t cause any harm to captured mice.
Perfect for catch-and-release situations.
Extremely easy to wash.
6.7 x 2.4 x 2.5 Inches per Trap
6. Tomcat Rat & Mouse Killer Refillable Bait Station
This bait station mouse trap is able to kill multiple mice in a short span of time, both indoors and out, by distributing poisoned bait. Although it’s not the safest option to use around pets, since the bait can affect them as well, it’s ideal for killing off an entire population of rodents that seem to breed faster than you can catch them.
Whether you’re using it by itself or combining it with other traps, this bait station can be a great addition to a house with lots of places for mice to hide. Rather than having to draw them into a trap, you can simply give them the bait and watch as their entire nest is taken out in a matter of days.
This bait station is surprisingly effective when it comes to clearing out groups of mice, rather than individuals. Not only that, but you can use it outdoors.
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Designed to stop children from tampering.
Fully weather-resistant for outdoor use.
Can kill multiple rodents per bait block.
Easy to set up.
17.5 x 6.4 x 9.8 In
7. Acmind Mice Snap Kill Trap
The powerful snapping jaws on this pressure-triggered mouse trap are designed to kill mice quickly, consistency, and effectively, as well as leaving them stuck in the trap for easier disposal. They're designed to be much more sensitive than the average spring trap, catching lightweight or young mice with ease and ensuring that they won't be able to sneak away with the bait you've laid out.
Since they don’t rely on any poisons or glues, you can easily wash them off and re-use them after every kill, so even a single trap can eventually wipe out an entire infestation if you give it enough time.
This mouse trap uses a very simple and straightforward mechanism, combining it with an easy-to-wash body and sensitive trigger that makes catching and killing mice extremely easy.
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Can be reset and re-used.
2.6 x 4.3 x 2 Inches
8. Catchmaster AA1170 Glue Board Trap
This glue-based mouse trap is essentially a sticky board that smells like tasty food, drawing in mice and other household pests to get them stuck on a surface they can't escape from. They dry slowly and can last for up to six months, allowing you to easily lay them down "just in case" and catch any pests that decide to wander in.
Although the intention is to let the pests die, you can also dissolve the glue with certain oils, allowing them to go free once they’re outside the house. If you’re so inclined, you can also use it to hold them still while you kill them yourself – this can be incredibly useful if you’re living in an area with pests that can be dangerous to your health.
While some people see glue as an inhumane way of catching pests, these traps are both long-lasting and effective, and can keep an entire house free of rodents and insects.
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Attracts a wide range of household pests.
Can usually be dissolved as a catch-and-release option.
Great for stopping dangerous or poisonous pests.
8.5 x 5.25 Inches per Board
9. RinneTraps – Walk The Plank Mouse Trap
This unique mouse trap design is built to help you capture and contain rodents and pests without needing a specialized container. You can simply stick them onto the side of a bucket and let the mice climb up to the plank at the top, which will tip and drop them straight into the container below.
The design doesn’t use any other toxic, poisonous or harmful elements – once they’re in the bucket, you can release them or dispose of them however you like. All you need is a small amount of bait, so you won’t have to keep buying batteries or other traps to attract mice. Cleaning is as simple as washing the trap with a cloth or under a tap.
This is one of the few mouse trap types that can be both lethal and non-lethal depending on how you use it. If you’re not concerned with letting mice free, you can fill the bucket with something toxic to finish them off.
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Can be repaired with tape and glue.
Doesn’t harm captured pests.
Can be used as both a lethal and non-lethal trap.
27.7 x 15.7 x 5.8 Cm
10. d-CON No View Mouse Trap
This disposable mouse trap is perfect for people who don’t want to deal with the mice themselves, whether it’s because of a phobia or simply because they’re too squeamish to look at the body. You simply add some bait, twist the trap to enable it, and then leave it lying around for a mouse to find – once it crawls in, it seals and kills the mouse, concealing the body completely.
Once the trap’s killed a mouse, you can simply throw it away with the body inside – you don’t even have to look at it, and the relatively sealed design of the trap’s shell means that it shouldn’t create much of a smell, so it’s just like throwing away an empty tin.
This mouse trap is perfect for people who don't want to stress over killing the mice and simply want something that they can throw away without needing to think about the dead body.
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Incredibly easy to use.
Conceals the dead mouse.
Safe to use around children and large pets.
Doesn’t create any mess.
Can be used as a “fire and forget” trap.
4 x 2 x 9 Inches
Mouse Traps Buyer’s Guide
As the name suggests, mouse traps are designed to trap (and often kill) mice, but not every type will have all of the features you might need. For example, certain traps will only work lethally, and others might only be able to capture certain rodents of a certain size.
If you’re looking to purchase some new traps, you should make sure you know what you’ll need to look for. No two people’s homes and living situations are the same, so something that works for one person won’t necessarily be that effective for another.
One of the more annoying problems with certain traps is that they need to be constantly reset, which can only get more irritating if they’re only capable of killing a single mouse at a time. If you have a large infestation and only a handful of traps, it can take quite a while to whittle down the number of pests in your home, especially if you have a schedule that keeps you out of the house for most of the day.
That’s why some people gravitate towards the most efficient traps they can – poisoned bait stations and sticky glue traps are known for being some of the more effective ways to kill off a rodent population in a hands-off approach, but they have their own drawbacks that can make them poorly suited to certain locations and situations.
Efficiency is most important if you’re trying to clear out pests for a specific date: for example, if you’re trying to sell a house or you’ve invited guests over. The faster you can kill off a nest or group of pests, the more likely you are to have them all gone in time. This can also matter if you have a phobia or allergy to one of the pests you keep seeing, or if you have a pet who could end up being hurt by one of them.
While there are not usually any immediate downsides to killing off a household pest, there can still be a moral element to it, and some people prefer non-lethal methods where possible. While lethal traps mainly focus on killing the pest as quickly and painlessly as possible, not all of them actually achieve this – faulty or weak spring traps are the most common offenders and can leave pests trapped and slowly dying with no way to escape.
It’s also possible for non-lethal traps to result in death if they’re not checked carefully: many are based around containing individual mice until the homeowner can remove them and set them free outside, but there’s often nothing for them to eat in said traps except the bait, which can lead to them starving to death or eating one another.
Certain traps are also intentionally designed to work as both types, depending on the owner’s actions. For example, while all glue traps can be dissolved to free the creatures trapped on them, many are intended to be used to capture pests so that the owner can kill them directly (such as with a hammer).
Bucket ramp traps are similar since the bucket it’s connected to can be filled with poisoned bait to make it lethal instantly, despite the trap itself being harmless. Either way, you’ll need to make sure that the trap you’re using can actually give you the results you want.
Cleaner traps are almost always easier to use, especially if they’re lethal. While cleaning them isn’t always difficult, it can still be a pain to have to wash a lethal snap trap every time it catches a mouse, and certain materials might react badly to being washed over and over again. Some are even explicitly designed to be disposable, either because of the materials they’re made of or just because of how they’re built.
While you might expect non-lethal traps to be cleaner, it’s not always the case. Some lethal traps (such as stronger snap traps and bait stations) are supposed to kill pests without drawing blood, and others kill them so quickly that they don’t get a chance to create any mess themselves. On the other hand, a mouse or rat caught in a non-lethal trap can still leave feces and food crumbs behind, which might have to be washed out before you can reliably catch another one.
Many lethal traps are designed with non-staining materials for this exact reason: if the trapped creature bleeds onto it, it’ll create a smell that the others might avoid, and not being able to clean it off will make the trap far less effective.
Disposal is a similar but equally-important factor. Ideally, you’ll want a way to dispose of bodies (or live creatures, if the trap is non-lethal) without having to touch them, since there’s always a chance that the pest in question could be carrying a disease. They might even attempt to bite or attack you, depending on how aggressive they are. In addition, some people are too squeamish about picking up a trap if they can see the creature’s body inside it, which is why certain designs use a completely enclosed shell to hide it.
Try to avoid putting too much bait onto your traps, especially pressure-sensitive ones. The more weight you add, the less it’ll need to trigger it, which can result in unrelated pests or objects activating it.
In general, traps are most effective when you place them close together in an area where you’ve seen pest-related activity. This leaves more opportunities for them to get caught or killed while they’re wandering through the area.
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