Find the holes they are coming through that's a must or the battle is futile. Cats that live indoors and are fed don't care about mice they may play with them. I put various types of traps in all of the areas I knew they were accessing. I too lived in a community surrounded by corn fields, mice are always around corn fields and in the winter a nice warm house with lots of food is the lottery to them. I actually had the best luck with sticky traps. I would put them out my husband was in charge of removal. You can not always be sympathetic they will be taking over the house. I had pest control company handle the attic and blocking access in the areas I could not reach. It worked pretty quickly but it was something you can't let your guard down. Turns out one of the main access points was a tiny Crack at the brick fireplace. Thank God I have not seen a single mouse here, no corn fields around.

I think your homemade trap idea is pretty clever! I suspect a cat might have triggered it.

I'm with Iowa - plastic snap traps are very effective. If you caught them alive and let them go outside, they will simply come right back in again. Unless you find the hole they're using and plug it up, what's to stop them?

I have had mice in the house on occasion (in the 27 years we've lived here), but never more than one or two. Trap them within a day or two of seeing signs.

Good luck!

While your homemade trap is a great idea, know that mice can climb surfaces. We learned that in our condo where it turned out one of the older residents thought the babies were cute and were feeding them. They would crawl through the walls looking for openings. They found an opening through our kitchen floor and managed to get to the top of the fridge (saw the foot prints) and our counters. So unless your trap was filled with just enough water to hopefully drown them, they would be back.

PS: The elderly gentleman who was feeding the mice was given a lecture and we haven't had a problem since. Plus, pest control found the holes in our unit and plugged them with a wire mesh screen.

Here is a short video where a man rates various live-catch traps. I bought the first one he demonstrates. He doesn't give it a very good rating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyRwsbnIF5I

My contractor built me a simple "mouse water trap" that is very effective. If you Google it, you will find many videos showing how to put one together and how to bait it with peanut butter. Note: you have to be willing to allow the mice to drown in fluid at the bottom of the bucket that forms part of the trap. I had to do it that way because of the sheer number of mice that got in during construction/renovation. There may be ways to live trap the mice in this design but I haven't tried that.

My wife and I visited her sister and watched several mice crawl across her countertops when she didn't see. We are always "too full" to ever eat any of the pies or bread she brings to family get togethers.

I had a pest control company in the past and they placed those black triangular bait stations in the garage and basement utility room and I never ever saw or heard any evidence of a mouse in the house again. I did see some dead ones outside. The boxes are locked and have to be opened with a "key". My cats have never had any interest in the bait boxes - a dog could be different and could likely chew it apart. I was concerned about cats or raptors eating a mouse that had consumed poison. They said the amount a mouse consumes before death would not be enough to harm a larger animal or bird. Not sure if I believe that but my cats are indoor only and I don't think would bother with eating a mouse. I now just buy my own bait boxes and poison blocks on Amazon and no problem with mice and no problem with pets getting into mouse poison.

Mice get smart quickly when it comes to traps. The best luck I've had was to figure out where they used for pathways which is normally alongside a wall. Then buy a few traps and bait them with either cheese or peanut butter but don't set the traps. Let them eat the bait for a few nights and then bait and set the traps.

I have also heard that you can put a number of shelled sunflower seeds in the middle of a floor and count them in the morning. When the sunflower seeds go undisturbed, you know you have caught the culprits.

Caught one! I modified the setup by putting the tray on a lower shelf
and making a construction paper "tunnel" on the bait end (photo); a

Joe- This is your area of expertise. Can't you help her with that? I'd want to know. Ick!!!

So now what do you do with it? Release it so it's someone else's problem or yours again ? Throw poison corn in there with it? Not sure if your trap worked out with a great outcome.

I scooped it up in a cottage cheese carton, took it for a ride out in the woods and released it. I live in a rural area. Before I retired, I used to work with mice in a science lab, but they were certified disease free. This one looks fat and healthy enough - it should after all the cheese and peanut butter I've been feeding it.