Glueboards and Mice

Common house mouse (Mus musculus), wild type. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of people and pest control operators use glueboards to control house mice (Mus musculus). But have you ever wondered if they are very efficient at catching mice?

Glueboards not the Most Efficient Mouse Traps

Dr. Robert Corrigan performed some research at Purdue University and discovered that glueboards really aren’t that good at catching mice.  In a publication entitled “The Efficacy of Glue Traps against Wild Populations of House Mice, Mus domesticus, Rutty” in the Proceedings of the Eighteenth Vertebrate Pest Conference (1998), he says that while mice do get caught in glueboards, the fact is that the one’s that get caught are like young mice or mice that were travelling according to muscle memory and therefore were not paying attention enough to avoid the trap.

Corrigan also explained that house mice frequently learn to avoid the devices as proven by the number of observed accounts where hairs of mice are found on the boards (suggesting escapes).  Furthermore, mice eat insects (e.g. cockroaches) caught on glueboards and thereby become educated to their effect.

Bottomline, if you wish to control mice on a property, glueboards are just not that good at getting the job done. You are much better off using snap traps or other devices to capture mice.

About the Author

Stephen M.Vantassel is a certified wildlife control operator. His latest book, The Wildlife Damage Inspection Handbook, 3rd ed. is available from dealers or by contacting the author.