God knows how, but we have a little visitor in our first-floor, concrete flat. I saw the little terror legging it across the kitchen floor after I heard an unfamiliar skritchy skratchy sound.
He's somewhere behind the cooker/ cupboards chuckling at us.

Anyway, I get paranoid about rodents nibbling through wires (I had a succession of rats as pets and know what vandals they are) so he/she needs to be caught. Alive of course; we are nice people.

So far I have cut the top off a baited plastic bottle and inserted it back in the bottle the wrong way around; kind of like a funnel so it can't get out. I have also got an upside-down jam jar with peanut butter stuck on the bottom, with one edge balanced on a penny. Whe it jumps up to get the treat it will hopefully unbalance the penny and be trapped in the jar.

Any more cheap, quick and preferably effective DIY trap ideas?

I've seen some "humane" traps that catch them alive on some sticky paper or something, but you may have to mail-order them. By that time, he'll have moved in the Mrs. and all the kids probably.

Your plan sounds good to me, but I have no experience at all. I think they're fairly easy to fool, though...Good luck!

Sorry, I use cats!

Our old lilac point Siamese (who'd never seen a live mouse before) caught his first two (and only two) and word got out on the Mouse Grapevine.

They've boycotted the place ever since!

Those sticky traps are dreadful, I understand. There's no way to get the mouse off in good health. And I won't use poison, either. Cats are organic, anyway.

Thai Shan was not allowed to eat the mice. I didn't want him getting parasites.

Good luck with your humane traps

A cat?

You are much nicer than I am to try to trap the little suckers alive. When we get mice (house was built in 1900; mice are inevitable), we have to poison them. Traps have never worked for me.

Hide the Whiskers for a day or two. Should do the trick.

Andy

You can use a tall bucket or trash can (at least 2 feet high) - just put a little ramp going up (an old piece of wood or cardboard) and some bait in the bottom of the bucket (peanut butter works well and is fragrant enough that the mouse can smell it from the outside). That way the mouse jumps in to get the bait but can't jump out.

I guess I'm old-fashioned- I like the spring traps. That way the mouse never knew what hit it and there's no mess- just throw the whole thing out.

It has foiled my attempts so far and is full of peanut butter from my failed jar-trap.
I'm off to buy a proper humane trap tomorrow.

It's like an episode of Tom and Jerry. We have a cat, mouse and an infuriated housekeeper, now all we need is a gruff dog mixed in.

Stil no joy. The mouse seems to have amazing capabilities. He can spring the traps, eat the treats and is still nowhere to be seen. Clever mice should be rewarded but I will win eventually. I've bought the only humane trap I can find but i don't think meeces are heavy enough to spring it.

The saga continues...

..this morning we awoke to find a trap licked clean, he (I thinks it's a chap) even left a tip, several small brown ones in fact. He even had the cheek to climb up and nibble the Matzos with his peanut butter feast whilst leaving peanut butter footprints!

I have now attached a threat to the spring mechanism so that if we see him in the tra we can get him.

Trust us to get a cat burglar mouse with Einseinian intellect.

I hear that cheese actually overheats their blood. Maybe you can make him die happy.

Scratch that, apparently they're not fond of cheese. Perhaps if you make a bread and peanut butter "dough" and squeeze it around the trigger so it can't be pulled off?

The trap is just a weight activated platform so, in theory, once he's wandered to the back the trap, the door shuts behind him. Unfortunately he needs to put on a few ounces before he's heavy enough to set it off. That shouldn't be too much trouble as he's having a right old feast so far.

Mission accomplished. He was obviously waiting for me to spend more money on a foolproof trap and then let himself be caught by the existing one while I was at work.
He's a devilishly handsome young chap and it would have been unthinkable to crush his spine and pop his intestines out with a murderous 'traditional' trap.

He shall be feasting on raisins and peanut butter tonight before being released into a suitably friendly looking field tomorrow where he will, no doubt, regale his furry friends will tales of derring-do in the human-house.

I have named him Cyril.