If you are easily bored, I’d avoid reading the diatribe herein, and move on to the next thread. I get a bit long winded.
The older version of the Victor M023 trap worked well for over a half century in our old farm house. Then for some reason they changed the spiked bait holder to a broad toothed style so our tried-and-true half filbert was difficult to load. As the 50 year old traps wore out, for our suburban home I was forced to modify the newer version so it would take a filbert without splitting the nut. Some cheap knock-off traps have the old spike baitholder, but have trip mechanisms I’m not fond of. Victor’s rat traps still use spike bait holders though. The mouse version must be to hold peanut butter better.
http://www.victorpest.com/victor-metal-pedal-mouse-trap-bm154-24 Too many times the critter made off with the peanut butter unscathed when I tried it. Sans filbert availability, half an almond or walnut works almost as well.
The model with a broad yellow step plate is likely more for peanut butter also. I prefer the firmly spike-held half filbert so the mouse has to pull harder on the bait. He’s forced to position himself for traction, resulting in fewer “misses”... his brain can’t trigger other reaction muscles quickly enough for him to move in the micro-second that the trigger arm lets go. Also, placing the trap with a wall along one side forces the pest into a more vulnerable stance.
I know, too much information. It’s just that 47 years on a farm breeds necessary invention, and details matter. And oh yes, it was a filbert (aka “hazelnut”) farm. Nowadays I’m forced to use long-nosed pliers to make today’s broad-toothed bait holder more amenable to accepting the nut, but it’s still not as easy to use as the old style. Now I have to carefully squeeze/nudge a half nut under and into the holder; an undried, moister nut doesn’t split as easily, but of course stores won’t have fresh undried nuts.
Once again, I know: “Joel, you need to get a life Dude!”
I’ve tried other types of traps, and won’t use poisons obviously because one ends up with a smelly body somewhere inaccessible in the house (or coach). Our “resident” 2 week traveling companion chinchilla or packrat or whatever it was in 2016 did use parts of a dryer sheet to nest in, so so much for that idea. He had few other nest material options, being trapped in our bay. I do stuff dryer sheets around the power cord, and sewer and hose openings, though, to at least discourage small vermin.
When you catch one, usually the male of a pair, you hope you catch it’s mate before she’s nursed a nest full to maturity. Otherwise you’ll be emptying and resetting traps for a week or a month. On the farm it wasn’t uncommon to get 6 mice in succession in the same trap over 2 days. I went to placing two traps in the same spot. On rare occasion a mouse got half-caught (my apologies here to the squeamish), and absconded with the entire trap to some remote inner wall where it likely expired. To prevent the double whammy of smelly body and lost trap, I went to installing a short wire on the traps, the other end secured via a simple end loop to a cup hook in nearby wood. I recommend that in an RV. And if you catch a slew of them, pop your bedroom/wardrobe floor engine access panels and examine your engine for a nest.
