Mouse stuck in a glue trap under the stove
Finding a live animal trapped in a hard-to-reach area causes intense panic, guilt, and a feeling of paralysis about how to handle or humanely release it. People are left distressed and uncertain of the best next steps to stop the suffering without having to face or finish the task themselves.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Mouse stuck in a glue trap under the stove
- 1Moving the heavy appliance manually to free the animal using oil and handsDid this help you?
- 2Calling apartment management to handle or dispatch the trapped animalDid this help you?
- 3Switching to snap traps or letting cats keep pests at bay insteadDid this help you?
- 4Trapping the rodent under a metal bowlDid this help you?
- 5Plugging nooks with steel woolDid this help you?
- 6Checking upstairs openings and line entry pointsDid this help you?
- 7Releasing the pest several miles away from any houses or buildingsDid this help you?
- 8Putting a snap trap at the bottom of the container to kill itDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Can anyone help identify whether this is a mouse or rat? I don’t have any traps on hand and have just trapped it in a metal bowl. What are the best next steps here to get rid of it and any potential others?”source ↗
“Mouse stuck in trap under stove in apartment I feel so guilty and don’t know what to do or how to help it”source ↗
“I know how horrible and painful they are and I really don’t want the poor thing to suffer but I can’t bring myself to look and I don’t know if I could kill it if it needed it”source ↗
“I’m crying just thinking about it, I heard panicked squeaking and the car is sitting in front of the stove.”source ↗
“I want to help the poor thing I feel so terrible, but I just am paralyzed with what to do.”source ↗
“We’ve been trying to trap a mouse that we’ve seen signs of in our house for a while now, and I just found him inside of a trashcan, unable to get out. He’s alive. What should I do? Should I try to release him in the wild? Should I kill him, and what’s the easiest and most humane way to do that?”source ↗
“I got one worse…..a rat had babies in our strainer. 😰”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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