I think you nailed "the decisive moment" there.
I think you nailed "the decisive moment" there.
John, Mice leave their signs. Look for their little terds, which will be about the size of loose black tea, but the individual droppings are more robust. They will mostly be found along the perimeter edges of the room, or along the edges of appliances, as the mice prefer to explore by following such edge routes.
Also, their offending "pee" will fluoresce under a black light, so if you have or can get one of those you'll be able to see (better so under darkened conditions) where they have been moving around within your DR or elsewhere in your home. And since those fluorescing pee trails indicate their major routes of travel and exploration within your home, those will be especially good places to put out your snap traps. And when it comes to snap traps, simply a few strands or a little puff off a cotton ball, wrapped around the trigger flap of the trap, will serve as good as anything. There's no need to waste any of your decent Vermont cheddar, or your peanut butter, though those are not bad choices; as the mice are also foraging around your home looking for nesting materials, and so will be attracted to the cotton fibers. And if you wrap the trap's trigger in the some cotton strands the mice will literally be yanking on their own death trap's trigger before their sudden demise!
... JMOwens (Mt. Pleasant, Wisc. USA)
"If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." ...Michelangelo
mice pee aint nice... it can corrode chrome plated wrenches
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"Say cheese!"
Ha! Caught it! But is it THE mouse
...couldn't quite bring myself to photograph it (and Jim, what a creative use of a mouse trap as flash trigger!).
John, thanks for the tip about fluorescence...I've got a UV "scorpion-finder" flashlight and will keep this in my darkroom!
And kevin, as a (slight) aside...if you find yourself photographing a group but are really not all that into the cliche request - have them say "fromage" (I've actually tried this!)...which will have at least half of them scratching their heads! (but the mice will be fine with this...getting around as they do - they've long since all become multi-lingual)
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