Best Mice Trap Bucket

20 min read| Updated for December, 2019

DID YOU KNOW?

Though it may seem like your house pets are the perfect solution to taking care of rodents in the house, mice can actually spread parasites and disease to them.
Keep your pets safe by preventing mice coming into your home.

The Best Mice Trap Bucket

If you have a mouse problem but want a humane mouse trap, consider a mouse trap bucket device. These types of mouse traps utilize a bucket to catch, and a ramp with either a plank or rolling rod that causes the mouse to fall into a pail gently.

With a minimal amount of water or sawdust to prevent escape, you can take these rodents far from your home without killing them—and without the concern of poisons, spray chemicals, or potentially dangerous snap and electric mouse traps.

How We Found the Best Mice Trap Bucket

 

7 Reviewers

18 Products Considered

3 Products Reviewed

3 Top Picks

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BEST

Overall

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FABUTA Walk The Plank Mouse Trap from Oak Wood

Pros

  • Outstanding reviews
  • Auto-reset to catch multiple mice
  • Affordable price
  • Live, humane trap
  • Company based in the USA

Cons

  • Bucket not included

OUR VERDICT

The vast majority of users found this humane plank mousetrap to be an incredible success. With proper bait positioning, you can catch mice live and relocate them somewhere far from your home.

Our Review

FABUTA Walk The Plank Mouse Trap from Oak Wood is made of durable oak wood so it can be used again and again. We love the idea of humane traps that actually work, and this one tops our list overall with its low price and high success rate. Some individuals prefer to fill the bucket partially with a quarter inch of water if sawdust is not available.

The auto-reset of this trap and gently slides a mouse into a bucket (use one large enough to prevent escape) and quickly resets itself to trap more than one mouse a night. With enough bait, you can catch a few mice or rats in one setup. We recommend peanut butter mixed with a bit of kibble dog food as a lure with this safe mousetrap.

BEST

Plank/ Auto Reset

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Hoont Walk The Plank Bucket Mouse Trap

Pros

  • Auto-reset for multiple catches
  • Available in two-pack
  • Ramps included

Cons

  • Bucket not included
  • If used outside, can accidentally catch squirrels

OUR VERDICT

This two-pack of auto-resetting plank mousetraps is a humane, simple way to catch more than one mouse at a time. With the reset feature, the plank pops back up to capture more mice without you needing to do a thing.

Our Review

The Hoont Walk The Plank Bucket Mouse Trap is a well-designed auto-resetting mouse trap with ramps that include small grips for mice to climb. With a little bait placed on the mouse-shaped “diving board” mice will be lured up and out onto the plank, and then softly dropped into a bucket. We recommend using peanut butter with sugar in it or a strongly scented cheese as bait at the end of the plank.

Putting water in the bottom of the bucket should prevent mice from jumping to escape or from chewing through the bucket. We like the auto-reset functioning of this particular humane, wildlife-friendly mousetrap. So, if you’re looking for an auto-reset option this is an excellent choice for a kind and pet-safe mousetrap.

BEST

Rolling Trap

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PAWMATE Rolling Mouse Trap

Pros

  • Exceptionally high user ratings
  • Budget-friendly
  • Fail-proof design if mice climb to the bait
  • Stop disk prevents mice running across the pole
  • Pet-safe, humane mouse trap

Cons

  • Bucket and ramps not included
  • For best results, must drill holes to fit at the top of the bucket

OUR VERDICT

We can’t argue with the outstanding ratings by actual users of this rolling mousetrap. We found it successful and as a bonus, super affordable, too.

Our Review

PAWMATE Rolling Mouse Trap is one of our favorite humane designs of a trap. The ratings of the PAWMATE rolling mouse trap say it loud and clear: this device works. You will need a bucket and to set some form of a ramp for mice to climb. Once you have these in hand, you can drill holes in the upper portion of the bucket for the thread-pole to hook into, or if set well, you can just place the rolling trap on top of the bucket.

If you’re good with woodworking, you can even craft a ramp with a slight notch at the top to set the thread-pole of this trap into for a perfect fit. Then fill a bucket with a small amount of sawdust, a quarter inch of water to prevent escape. Placing the ramps in a direction mice will follow and then setting crumbs up the slope with a larger piece of bait in the middle of the pole will lead mice up and have them rolling into the bucket.

Setting a Mice Trap Bucket

One of the crucial things to remember when setting up a mouse trap bucket is that you want to prevent escape, but you also don’t want to drown the mice. This is why it’s recommended you put one-quarter to one-half inch of water (no more) or sawdust in the bottom of the bucket. This will prevent chewing through the bucket, and in the case of the water, will also hinder efforts to jump out. Greasing the sides of the bucket with cooking oil will prevent mice from clawing up the sides. If you use your mouse trap bucket outside, only use water in warmer temperatures.

Air that is even as warm as the 70s can cause water to become too cold for an animal to sit in for long periods. If you want a humane trap, and likely are not able to check it every ten minutes (including the night) be sure to keep the conditions genuinely kind to animals.

Mice Bucket Trap Ramps

If ramps are not included with your bucket trap, you can easily cut slopes from wood, and adding groves in the ramp on the way up will help mice to climb to the top. The less of your scent you get on the trap, the better, so wearing gloves while doing this or even setting the trap is a smart idea.

If you have your wood planks pre-cut to length at a home improvement store, you can always add non-slip grip stickers (like the kind designed for showers or tubs) to add grips to your ramp. Unless it’s incredibly slippery, a mouse should be able to climb a piece of wood as long as it’s not too steep. So, make the length long enough for a mouse to comfortable crawl up, and also wide enough that it will encourage a mouse to find some baited crumbs and continue up the path.

Baiting Mice

Baiting the trap with a bit of lure near the ramp, with a few crumbles of cheese or bread up the ramp will encourage mice up to the top. Then enticing them with a more substantial drop of sweet peanut butter at the end of the plank or center of a rolling trap should draw a mouse out onto the trap.

Some mice are especially drawn to smaller-sized dog food kibble, crumbled cookies, or strongly scented cheeses. You will potentially have to play a bit with the type of bait that works best for the mice in your region. Don’t give up after only one day, though. Try a few locations and a different type of lure if you don’t get a catch in the first few days.

Summary

If you have a reasonable place to relocate mice, or just don’t want to risk kids or pets getting anywhere near mouse poison, we love the option of bucket traps. So long as you don’t fill the buckets with too much water and keep the conditions reasonable for any mice in the pails, these traps are an exceptional method for catching rodents without killing them.

With no poisons to worry about, no offensive snap traps to deal with, and no electric traps that require batteries and should be kept away from kids, mice bucket traps are a fantastic way to eliminate your mouse problem without anxiety.