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"Humane" pest control
Mouse traps that catch mice alive so that you can release them somewhere else have one problem: You are releasing them somewhere else.
House mice have spent the past several thousand years adapting to living alongside humans, and do really poorly outside. If they are caught alive and released outside, they will spend all their waking time trying to find their way back into the nearest building. Releasing them "in the wild" is more inhumane than killing them.
White-footed mice (sometimes people call them deer mice or field mice) are starting to figure out what house mice have, but they've only had about 500 years to learn the trick. For them, the human-made shelters they live in just happen to work as well as where they normally live in the wild. They could arguably be humanely put outside. But, if they have come inside once, they will come inside again. They require that you make sure that there is no opening in your house that allows them in--a quarter inch crack, or a dime sized hole is plenty adequate.
Then there is the problem that catching wildlife in one place and releasing it somewhere else is illegal in Massachusetts.
House mice have spent the past several thousand years adapting to living alongside humans, and do really poorly outside. If they are caught alive and released outside, they will spend all their waking time trying to find their way back into the nearest building. Releasing them "in the wild" is more inhumane than killing them.
White-footed mice (sometimes people call them deer mice or field mice) are starting to figure out what house mice have, but they've only had about 500 years to learn the trick. For them, the human-made shelters they live in just happen to work as well as where they normally live in the wild. They could arguably be humanely put outside. But, if they have come inside once, they will come inside again. They require that you make sure that there is no opening in your house that allows them in--a quarter inch crack, or a dime sized hole is plenty adequate.
Then there is the problem that catching wildlife in one place and releasing it somewhere else is illegal in Massachusetts.
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1. Determine what they are eating
2. Try to prevent them from eating that (don't leave pet food out, or dishes in the sink, or put cupboard items in containers)
3. Prevent them from getting into your food areas--seal holes when you find them, install screen or mesh if necessary
4. Set traps, baited with whatever they were eating before. I use snaptraps that have the big yellow bait paddle, and put them in the mouse trails with the paddle side flush with the wall. Put two or three in a row, to catch the ones who try to jump over.
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