Said It Here

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.

  1. 1
    Moving the heavy appliance manually to free the animal using oil and hands
  2. 2
    Calling apartment management to handle or dispatch the trapped animal
  3. 3
    Switching to snap traps or letting cats keep pests at bay instead
  4. 4
    Trapping the rodent under a metal bowl
  5. 5
    Plugging nooks with steel wool
  6. 6
    Checking upstairs openings and line entry points

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Pestcontrol2 people · September 2026

“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 ↗

entertainmentfiend · r/Pestcontrol · 5 upvotes

“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 ↗

Sadtransb0ii · r/Pestcontrol · 4 upvotes

Where this came up

r/Pestcontrolanimal welfarehome maintenancepest controlrodents

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