What are your thoughts on glue traps?

[Ice Car]

We were having mouse problems in the office and management had the delightful idea of setting up glue traps. One which was right under my desk. One morning I came in and found a mouse stuck on one of them, it was alive - but in such a very bad state. One of his hind legs were twisted/broken, his belly skin was partially torn off and he was actually in the process of gnawing on a limb in an attempt to escape. The poor thing must have been stuck all night, it looked like it was in an incredible amount of pain. I can't believe *this* is an acceptable way to kill something, to force it to maim itself and starve to death - it's a level of torture you'd expect from medieval times. So quite rightly I was upset and a little pissed at the situation.

A co-worker (who is an asshole) suggested I just throw it in the dumpster downstairs. What, so it continues to suffer like that? No way. It's one thing killing a pest, it's another to intentionally let an animal suffer like that, so I'd have no word of it. I had to put the trap in a plastic bag, tie it up and slam the mouse very hard with the bottom of my thermos. Better an instant death like this then being discarded like a piece of rubbish to die agonisingly. After this was done, I went to management and had a word - thankfully, they agreed and replaced the traps with snappy ones. Had they not have, I probably would have sabotaged the glue traps until they replaced them.

I never really gave such traps much thought until then. Now, I absolutely despise glue traps with a passion and plead/discourage people not to use them. They're unnecessarily cruel - actually, "cruel" is quite the understatement here. They're just plain evil. I'll never understand why people have to be such jerks when it comes to such things, making the death of something as agonising as possible when traps exist to instantly kill the little buggers. Maybe it's because people think "they're just mice", but it doesn't make it right to kill something like that IMO. When killing an animal, it shouldn't be tortured to death, it should be killed as painlessly as possible.

Have absolutely no problems with killing mice, or any pest animal - just that method, to me, lacks humanity.

I completely agree, but didn't realize that until someone pointed out to me exactly that; it wasn't instant death, it was suffering for hours, and hours, of starvation, injuries, and other things. I personally despise them, although it sometimes is the onyl thing available as the other traps are quite dangerous to humans, though glue traps are not, and I have to put them in places that I might hurt myself on.

 

[Fargus]

Way to miss my point, Paul.

Pestilence is a Very Justifiable concern.

It is not justification for dumping a frightened, injured animal into the garbage bin for it suffer who knows how long before it dies. That part of it is cruelty, nothing more. I am not talking about the need to kill mice, or what they can potentially carry... I'm talking about being unnecessarily inhumane to the animal after you have caught it.

You are using the guise of pest control as an excuse, where it is not even relevant.

also, the number of animal-human based infections have been steadily increasing over the past couple of years. Lassa Fever infections have been on a steady rise since 2000, and some reports say that it claims over 5,000 lives each year.

So I suppose chucking it into the garbage, alive, for it to suffer... will reduce this disease more than if you had killed it humanely? That makes as much sense as the point you're making here.

Myself, i'll happily let the thing die from exposure rather then risk a hospital visit.

What a cop-out. What risk? Just kill the thing, don't make it suffer more than it has to. You're not going to expose yourself being merciful to the thing any more than you would being a jerk about it. In fact, leaving it on there would expose yourself even more as the animal will most likely continue to leave it's poop and pee all over the trap. You linked the CDC website yet they do not recommend glue traps for this very reason.

Also a local store here also provides a glue trap laced with poison. sort of a home grown mice trap... weither or not this is global is beyond me, but i consider it one of the better rodent control devices i've seen.

As I said, glue traps are advertised as non-poisonous/toxic. It is the reason why they are used over poisons. What that store is doing, might not even be legal. And again, you claim it's quick and painless but you don't even know what poison it is and how it affects them.

You can rationalise killing them all you want, but attempting to justify what I consider torture is pathetic IMO.

 

[Fargus]

The're just mice. Why do you care so much about pests?

Why do I care?

Because I don't believe it's right killing animals in such excruciating, torturous methods when one can do it less painfully.
Because I think torturing animals like that is wrong.
Because I have sympathy for animals.
Because I think saying "they're just mice" is an attempt to justify stuff like that by drawing on the animal's insignificance, and makes no logical sense.

Mice can feel pain, they're mammals... after all. Same reason why I wouldn't hurt a dog like that - because I know it will suffer, and it's completely unnecessary. Mind you, I have no problem shooting a rabid dog that is attacking me. But I wouldn't stick it in a puddle of glue and starve it. Get what I am saying here? Maybe you don't, because you wouldn't have asked otherwise - I am assuming you just skimmed through and didn't recognise the point at its core.

 

[starkiller212]

It seems like some people don't understand that most of us really don't care about mice. Animals aren't intelligent in the same way humans are. I don't find it pleasurable to "torture" animals or anything (except for spiders maybe), but if glue traps were much more convenient I'd use them without hesitation. I don't think they are, so I use the box traps that catch them alive and then let them go outside without any cleanup required. If I see them again, I put out snap traps and it's done.
Frankly, trying to call people "pathetic" for this kind of thing and being so upset over a goddamn mouse says a lot more about you than anyone who uses "inhumane" traps. There's plenty of other problems in the world that are a lot worse than this, so IMO you should put your efforts towards something more useful.

P.S. Stop trying to empathize with animals like "imagine if you were ___". They DON'T feel or think the same way we do so it's a pointless exercise that will make you more upset than you should be over it.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

Meh, to me, it's just a mouse. I use glue traps and snappy ones. I don't release the mice outside anymore because we tried that once and two weeks later we had at least twenty-two mice in the house. So now we use glue and classic traps, but we check at least four times a day. I also notice the mice like the classic traps more. They have the same bait.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

I hate traps full stop, poor mousys!
How could anyone harm this

This guy thought the same thing

Spoiler

 

[Fargus]

Frankly, trying to call people "pathetic" for this kind of thing and being so upset over a goddamn mouse says a lot more about you than anyone who uses "inhumane" traps.

No, I said the act of throwing a live mouse stuck on a glue trap when it's injured into the bin is pathetic. An act of blatant cruelty like that, I would consider pathetic. Yeah, of course I was upset over a mouse, I don't agree with torture like that. Forgive me for being human.

There's plenty of other problems in the world that are a lot worse than this, so IMO you should put your efforts towards something more useful.

You're going off an irrelevant tangent here. That there are worse atrocities happening doesn't invalidate the premise of this thread. Using this reasoning, one could tell people to stop caring about a single murder because there are starving children in Africa.

P.S. Stop trying to empathize with animals like "imagine if you were ___". They DON'T feel or think the same way we do so it's a pointless exercise that will make you more upset than you should be over it.

They might not think to the same capacity as we do, but they certainly feel it. Mammalian nervous systems and reactions to pain are very similar.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I use the snap traps. Decent compromise and they've always seem to deliver a quick death before.

I would never use a glue trap. That just seems like a horrible way to die.

I wish I didn't have to kill them but theres no choice really.

 

[almostgold]

Eh. Easier to just use and old-fashioned mousetraps. They work too, from personal experience.

 

[Aeshi]

It's a bit hypocritical that people hate these things but turn a blind eye to fly paper, which does the exact same thing (and on a larger scale to boot!)

 

[Fargus]

It's a bit hypocritical that people hate these things but turn a blind eye to fly paper, which does the exact same thing (and on a larger scale to boot!)

Can insects feel pain?

 

[Blaster395]

It's a bit hypocritical that people hate these things but turn a blind eye to fly paper, which does the exact same thing (and on a larger scale to boot!)

Can insects feel pain?

Lets go even futher. You know antibiotics? Think of how many billions of bacteria killed every single time they are used.

Along with that, we even Deliberately wiped out a species known as Variola, which causes smallpox.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Yeah, I don't approve of glue traps, unless nothing else is working.

They make humane traps where it doesn't actually kill the mouse, you just let him go outside.

You know I have tried three models of those when I had mice. Damn mice either didn't go in them, or found ways to eat the bait and get out. Maybe I just had smart mice...

I switched to more traditional snack traps and the mousies started dying.

The 2nd time I had mouse issues a few years ago was coincidentally when I got a new kitten. About the same time the kitty turned 3 or 4 months old the mouse problem just disappeared on its own. Good kitty...crunch crunch crunch.

As much as I love kittens, I don't think I could do that. I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to killing things, even bugs and spiders. I only had one mouse loose in my house. He ran and tried to hide in a shoe that was sitting nearby, so I just took it outside, and let him continue to live his life.

Seriously, I wouldn't even be able to eat meat if it weren't for the fact that honey mustard chicken is the greatest thing ever.

I've had cats catch mice and other rodents in the past, and although it's handy, the cats had a tendency to not eat this one organ of the rodents they were killing. It looked kind of like a liver or something, all dark and shiny, and they tended to leave it right on the doorstep. Gross.

Oh, honey mustard chicken is pretty awesome.

 

[pubbing]

I hate glue traps but not because I think they are inhumane. I had a mouse problem once and I put them all over my house. One of my favorite shirts fell behind the washing machine and got stuck on a glue trap, it was fucking gross because the glue trap also catches spiders which then got all over my shirt and I had to throw it away. I also had one behind my bed and my good pillow fell back there and got stuck on the trap. I could not peel the trap off of my pillow and I don't think I would want to stick my head on it after that anyway.

In other words glue traps = disgusting.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Glue traps are much less dangerous to humans and pets than snap traps or poison. They are pretty cruel to the mice, but if you check them often enough you can prevent that and give them a quicker death.

This. Though, I will say because you (the OP) work in an office and most mice come out once everyone leaves (and I'm sure your management doesnt wnat to pay someone over time to spend all night checking traps just to save mice from agony), that its very hard to do so, so more humane traps should be implemented, even if they are slightly more dangerous (I'm assuming you (the OP) mean the more modern snap trap of course, which are better then the classic stereotypical trap you see in cartoons).

EDIT: More personal thought, I feel that they arent as worthwhile, because they're more of an annoyance (i.e. they get dirty, disgusting, and are pretty much just chance traps. Yo ucould easily catch something else, or have the glue dry before use or have it fill with so much dust and dirt that it doesnt work anymore).

 

[Fargus]

Well, I care about most animals, but mice really don't matter.

So? That doesn't mean it's OK do things like torture them.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I might start using glue traps just to be an asshole to these damn freaks who value life of a pest more than a humans They were ready to steal my jacket during winter it was -28celcius outside and windy. ( I wear leather jacket, because it was gift from my mother), they would have let everyone die who need an medicine to survive that had been tested on literally lab rat.

These people ain't kind hearted, they are monsters.

Did you hear how they "officially" renamed fish as "sea kittens"? In case people were thinking about taking them seriously.