Rabbitch

The good news is taht whatever you put out as bait will be enticing. The bad news is, peanut butter is best.

Gird your loins, hold your nose and put out the peanut butter. Set it in a rubbermaid, set on its side. Put the PB near the bottom wait. Put the tub near a wall (they scurry by the baseboard, hence the "rat run" in food warehouses). Wait. Wait some more. While s/he's inside eating, tip the rubbermaid upright. snap on the lid.

Let Ben deal.
 

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Its last meal and all that...cheerios with dabs of peanut butter,eh? Ann, have you ever ~done~ that? Those mousies can be terribly fast...just sayin'.
 

Chocolate spread like Nutella works well too. We use these great traps called 'Supercat' that mean you don't have to touch the dead mouse to dispose of it. Our record was 12 mice in one evening.
 

How's this for stupid? I once had a mouse problem in another house (in spite of several cats who apparently wondered why they were forced to live with someone who didn't even bother to take care of the vermin). I got some of those terribly humane catch and release traps and caught a mouse the very first day. I let him go. I caught a mouse a day for at least a week before I realized that each one seeemed calmer than the last....the first one was panting and panicked, the last was calmly grooming its tail. Yep. I wasn't dumping it far enough away. I caught the same damned mouse about 8 times. No wonder he kept coming back--all the peanut butter you can eat plus a free ride home. Dumbass. I'm a serious dumbass.
 

Realizing the need to kill the mouse in order to get rid of it and not wanting it to suffer needlessly are two separate things, and I don't think you're all that crazy for worrying about the little guy going hungry. I don't know if I'll ever be able to kill a mouse again after the time the cats critically injured but didn't kill one and I was forced to pick the pathetic little thing up and smother it with my own hands to put it out of its misery. (just for Norma I should say "it's misery", eh?). I suppose putting out a trap would be easier (emotionally, I mean), but it was so traumatic for me to have to cradle the dying mouse in my hands, all the time stroking its back and trying to comfort it somehow as I took its final breath away, that I pray to a deity I don't even believe in that I never, ever have another mouse in the house.
 

Trust me you will want to get rid of the mouse before it chews up part of a project, such as a sleeve of a sweater that is being knit for a daughter. Just ask me how I know.

I have no qualms about getting rid of mice; they're cute, sure, but they also pee and poop everywhere and good luck getting rid of the smell! They get into everything and chew up your projects. Peanut butter and nutella work great but I agree with Ms. Knitingale that you may as well kill them as they will get back into your house before you do if you trap and release.
 

I'm all for the snap trap. The old fashioned kind with a metal thingie. That you can wedge one sunflower seed into, then smear it with a smidge of pb. THIS year I finally decided these traps are inexpensive enough that I can toss the whole thing (after it does its job). This was because I was pretty grossed out baiting the old and not terribly sanitary traps. And, when we lived in Syracuse? We REALLY did have rats. In the basement. Guess the 4-5 dogs in the house kept them there? It was a chore getting rid of them. They chewed through 2 inches of concrete! And, they were NOT the couple of inches type...they were the FOOT long type. G-R-U-E-S-O-M-E. I will spare you all the sordid details, suffice that we used a variety of traps (I was then even dating a trapper) and must've caught 8 or more. And one tail. That was 9 inches long.
 

You don't think a diet of cheerios and peanut butter, topped off with nutella isn't going to kill the mouse? I say sit back, give it a few days and watch the bugger explode. And just keep reminding yourself that mice think roving makes the best nest ever.
 

Be brave girl, be brave.
 

I'm just waiting to see what you gird your loins with for your next skirmish with the mouse. Can you beat a short nightie with boxer shorts?

(And a little dangling participle for Norma)
 

Good luck catching it.

They pee almost continually, and the dried pee still spreads retrovirus diseases.

Just kill it quickly.