Peanut butter is one of those favorite staples in most homes all over the world. But, aside from humans, there is another species that loves this tasty spread, none other than the mice.
Mice go crazy about peanut butter and they often go out of their way just to search for this food paste. But, what does peanut butter do to mice?
Peanut butter doesn’t contain ingredients that might be toxic to mice they wouldn’t die if they ate a small amount of this spread. But, the sticky texture of peanut butter is what poses a danger for a mouse. Peanut butter can block the airways of a mouse which can lead to suffocation or choking. This is the main reason why a lot of people often put peanut butter in mouse traps as bait.
A mouse will never be able to resist the temptation of peanut butter so it will most likely approach a trap that contains peanut butter.
This love for peanut butter is probably because mice are nut and seed eaters by nature when they live out there in the wild. It explains why they are attracted to peanut butter spreads every time they gain entry into homes.
There is a scientific reason why a mouse can easily die of suffocation or choking because of the sticky nature of butter spreads.
Mice Lack the Ability of Coughing Up Food
Among the primary reasons why peanut butter spreads are dangerous to a mouse is because mice are not able to help themselves even if they are already choking on this sticky treat. Mice haven’t got the physical ability to vomit food that they ate and this is what makes it dangerous for them to eat peanut butter.
According to researchers, mice lack the necessary circuits in the brain for vomiting. They even discovered that a mouse’s muscles in the stomach and diaphragm are reduced and aren’t structured in such a way that gives them the ability to vomit.
Unlike humans, it is also impossible for mice to drink water in an attempt to flush down the peanut butter in their throats.
Mice and Their Natural Attraction to Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a favorite among mice not only because this is derived from nuts that mice are crazy about but also because it is rich in calories.
Mice love carbs since they require as high amounts of calories as possible since they are aware that there is no assurance on when they will be able to eat something again. Mice are scavengers by nature so they just eat anything they find anywhere.
Also, peanut butter serves as a good source of calories when the season becomes cold. Mice need to maintain their overactive metabolism for them to stay warm during such times. More heat tends to get lost when the animal is smaller.
Finally, peanut butter also gives off a great taste and smell. These are really strong features that make peanut butter an irresistible treat for mice.
Peanut Butter and How to Use It as an Effective Bait to Get Rid of Mice
If you own a pet mouse, being familiar with the dangers of peanut butter is important to ensure that you don’t accidentally feed it to your pet. But, if you are dealing with unwanted mice in your home, this is good news for you because it means that you can use peanut butter as an effective bait for these pests.
Unlike the other common methods against mice such as live mouse traps and sticky traps, peanut butter is in fact among the most humane means of eliminating mice in your home. This is also cheap, easy to use, and almost always available.
Take note that mice are not that particular with the specific type of peanut butter that you use. For as long as they know that it is this favorite spread, it is very likely that they will get near it and would be tempted to consume it.
Among the things that you need to remember when you set up a mouse trap is that mice can smell the scent of humans. This is why it is best that you take extra care and ensure that you don’t mix your scent with the trap using peanut butter. You can do it successfully by using a rubber glove when you set down your peanut butter trap.
When you use a peanut butter and snap trap, you should put the spread on its trigger. As for a live catch trap, make sure that the peanut butter is placed on the trap’s far end.
You also have to make sure that you only use a very tiny amount of peanut butter since it shouldn’t be too much to the point that the mouse can simply nibble on the tips without getting caught. One more tip is to try to put the mouse traps close to dark places or walls since mice often prefer to stay away from open areas. If you failed to catch any mouse at all for one week or even more, it is recommended that you try moving the traps around so that you can increase your chances of capturing the pest.
If you want to ensure that your peanut butter trap is going to be fatal, the best thing that you can do is to mix this with some baking soda. This homemade poison should have an equal amount of baking soda and peanut butter rolled into a size like that of a marble.
In case there is no available peanut butter at home, there are still other alternatives that you can try. These include jelly beans, hot dogs, cooked bacon, a drop of honey or molasses, or even cotton or dental floss.
Now that you know what peanut butter can do to mice, use it to your advantage to get rid of any unwanted pests in your home in such a way that you won’t feel too guilty about hurting a living creature.
