The NYC Compact group recently had an entertaining discussion.  I've excerpted it here.  Keep in mind that most posts get one or two reponses, max.  This one had at least ten.

Original post

I have a purchase dilemma. Our apartment gets the occasional mouse, usually when the seasons change. Well, Spring Mouse has arrived. I know how he gets in. The hole is in a corner behind a cabinet where I cannot reach, and believe me I've tried...

The mouse is here for the dog food, and it is smart and bold. If Spring Mouse is the same as his predecessors, then he knows to avoid spring traps and jump over and around glue traps, no matter how artfully I arrange them, even taping them to walls, trying to create an unavoidable tar pit and snap trap obstacle course.

My friend said there was a test of wills last night around 3am. The mouse was in the room, the dog was going nuts, and it took the better part of an hour to flush Spring Mouse from her room. She told me about the year she spent in a mice infested apartment building. She swears by the electric trap and has begged me to purchase one. At her old apartment the management put all kinds of poison down, used lots of traps, but they did nothing. Her electric trap caught 26 mice.

If it works as well as she says, I can see getting one. It isn't like I won't need to use it again, and no traps I have tried before have ever caught a mouse in this apartment...If I lived alone, I could wait this out with my snap/glue traps and diligent cleaning and food storage. But with one roommate, one house guest and a dog-- none of whom are on the Compact--argh.  So...I think I'm going to buy a better mouse trap today.

Hi. As someone who is really against killing other species if conceivably possible (which I think in most cases it is), I'd say ... try some other alternatives.  So, a few ideas, based on my experiences:

A.. I have typically found effective putting cotton balls with peppermint essential oil near the point of entry is a good way to dissuade.

B. what about a humane trap... where you would release the mouse in a park or some other green area ? I can't say if that's really the best thing for the mouse but it's better than other alternatives.   

C. is it really so bad co-existing? most mice don't want you to see them. 

We're trying to live with less consumption. I think we can also live with more compassion. I lived with one mouse for about eight months.

Re: Ack! A mouse!

i know some nuns who had a rat problem in their backyard. these nuns are like - when hippies become nuns. the whole group were talking about poison b/c the prob. was getting so severe. so, two of the more alternative type hippie nuns went out to the backyard and talked to the rats. explained that the others were at their wits end and ready to kill them and that they (the rats) had two choices. the nuns swear that the rats left their garden. i'm just saying.

Re: Ack! A mouse! 

I highly recommend the humane traps - conscious killing is still killing.

My response - and here's where I'll lose all the new readers...

Peanut butter and snap traps work like a charm.