Tomcat Press 'N Set Mouse Trap, Plastic, Spring-Loaded Mouse Killer with Grab-Tab, 2 Traps

GIDDY UP! This trap is the real deal. Let me give you a little background first.So I live sandwiched between a cemetery and a park with a creek so mice are a constant. Like CONSTANT. My German Shepherd has become afraid of them, it’s such an issue. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not overrun, but there seems to always be a mouse I need to deal with. Wait, is that overrun? Ugh, I don’t even know anymore. I’m losing my mind here.SOMEHOW, they’re getting around the glue traps (which I’m not a huge fan of, because they’re not humane but I’m desperate here, folks) which I largely use flat, under the front of the stove...like seriously, underneath the entire front of the stove is papered with flat glue traps. And they’re getting past them! How? (We see them, they come and go from under the stove and somehow MISS the glue traps?!?)You may be wondering, WTH, why do mice like this house, has she thought to *deter* the mice? I have indeed. My dog food is in a plastic bin so they’re no longer coming for that. I don’t leave dog food in her bowl, I only put food in her bowl when she flips it over (lol, this is how we communicate lol), there is zero food on the floor - ZERO. Not even a crumb. And I keep open food (like cookies, snacks, etc) in Lock & Lock containers, so they’re not coming for that. Bread is also in a Lock & Lock. I don’t know why this is happening. But I don’t know much of anything anymore. These mice are making me crazy.So, you get my frustration. I ordered these bad boys, because I hate wooden mouse traps and I’m wary of gimmicky traps. This thing looks like it could cut the mouse in half. VENGEANCE IS MINE, YOU FILTHY BEASTS! So, I put peanut butter on my finger tip (I have small fingers, so that helps) and rubbed it deep down in that bait trap well, down to the bottom and around the edges so a mouse would really have to make an effort to get to it, not just hover over the trap like they’re suspended from wires in Mission Impossible or something to get a taste. Now, time to set.I don’t advise setting the trap til you’re close to the place you want to put it because this baby has a hair trigger, and you’re gonna have to carefully hold it open as you get it to where you’re going (at least I did, because I was scared to death of this thing going off in my hand). You can really feel the strength of the trap as you press back on the lever, because the spring is so tight, and you can definitely imagine that any mouse who gets in the way of the jaws of this thing won’t have a chance.So I put this trap right up against the baseboard under the cabinet, next to the stove, assuming that a sneaky mouse could be using that route to get in and out of the kitchen. Of course, this is just the theory of a lowly old college-educated person who’s trying to out-think a rodent with a brain the size of a pea, at best. I don’t know if I’m winning this war, folks, because it sure doesn’t feel like it. It feels like no matter how many mice I kill, there is always another one to take their place. I mean, I kill one or two a week, I guess? That seems like a lot. I don’t know, maybe it’s not, given where I live, given the weather, I don’t know, I just don’t know anything anymore.I’m definitely battle-tested. But I’m weary. I feel like I’m losing the will to fight these filthy bastards.Anywho, less than 24 hours later, VICTORY! I was alerted to this when my dog, a 78-pound German Shepherd, headed toward the kitchen for a drink and then stopped dead in her tracks, and immediately spun around and quickly went in the other direction and upstairs to hide from whatever she had seen. I loathe to say “run” because she’s my beloved pet and I don’t want to embarrass her on a public forum but it wasn’t her finest moment, let’s leave it at that. I knew what she must have seen. ONE OF THEM.But so soon?!? I had set that trap less than 24 hours ago. No way.Yes way! And as I had predicted, that trap’s spring mechanism was so strong that the intensity of the trap snapping on the mouse had flipped the trap onto its side and moved it a few inches over. Huzzah!I am disposing of the whole *thing* however, although I guess one could release the mouse from the trap (gag) and then clean the trap (yikes). That’s not my cup of tea, though. I’m weary, folks. Don’t make me start CLEANING mousetraps on top of everything else. Just don’t. Please.I will definitely be getting more. (I have to, I throw them away when it catches a mouse, so in my case, it’s a good business model for them.)

Why do the destructive little buggers have to be so stinking adorable??? Even dead as a door nail, as a horrifying amount of mice now are after only 36 hours of use of these traps in my garage.What do I love? Most importantly, their effectiveness. We had a dead mouse in 30 minutes after setting these up! The timeliness might be because of the attractant gel, but WHATEVER! The trap immediately did its job. Oh, and on the subject of effectiveness, the design is really great for actually quickly KILLING the rodents which is far more humane in my opinion. The bait and pressure pad are deep enough into the trap that it’s not going to accidentally just get an arm or a leg caught, leaving them in agony and you with the quandary of what to do with an injured, live mouse. They’re also rather substantial, so bigger rodents probably couldn’t carry it off if it was just stuck on their tail or limb. (Yes, it happens with traditional traps!)I’m also totally impressed with the ease of use.These are literally a snap to set up, just fill the bait area (we use the Tomcat Attractant Gel which is EPIC at attracting mice), push down the lever on the opposite side from the jaws part and it clicks into place, open and set to spring.Aside from how effective and easy these traps seem to be when paired with the attractant gel, the best part of this product for me is no SNAP anxiety! The pressure pad is clearly very responsive but it’s set back a bit in the device so placing the trap after setting isn’t traumatizing like it is with the old wooden and metal snap traps. I have been making my husband set and place our traps until now because the probability of the old traps triggering while setting up or placing them scared the heck out of me. These are easy as pie to release as well. Just push the little trigger thing on the back again and the dead pest is released so you can dispose, replenish the bait and reset without having to touch anything gross. I actually did it myself this evening without incident. Granted, I picked the full trap up with tongs, ran like a lunatic to the garbage, attempted to release the mouse with said tongs, failed, then reluctantly used my hands to click and release the mouse into the trash. Easy peasy, no yucky touchy! I then clicked it back to ready again, used my tongs to pick up and carry it since it was “locked and loaded” and I’m a big chicken, and I walked it back to the spot it had been before. I’m sure I looked like a wacko, but I’m telling you, for me to touch the trap AT ALL is a huge thing. I felt confident that I could trust these not to accidentally snap and harm (or scare) me after seeing my husband do it a few times without incident. (On that subject, I read several reviews saying they got limited use from the traps... we are a day and a half in and they have each probably gone off and been reset 3-5 times and they’re still going strong. At this price point, I was good with knowing they might only work a few times but have been pleasantly pleased to find that ours are operational again and again.)I’m feeling a mild twinge of remorse, as their cute little faces are all clearly quite surprised by the fatal SNAP and I know they’re just trying to eat and stay warm... but the amount of time it’s taking to clean up the mess they made out of my pantry and equipment storage shelves (they shredded a styrofoam block into a billion little pieces which got EVERYWHERE, not to mention chewing through packaging, eating and scattering my dry goods all over the shelves) makes me morbidly check the traps embarrassingly often hoping to see that another intruder is toast.Synopsis: These traps are completely awesome, buy without hesitation! I’m so glad we did.Oh, lastly, I couldn’t find the Tomcat Attractant Gel here on Amazon so we had to go get it at the local hardware store. Far better than peanut butter, cheese, etc. It’s well worth the time it takes to track that stuff down. It’s magic!!!!