
We had mice downstairs (Jerry Jingles and family) and some upstairs too (Kevin and family). Jerry Jingles' lot liked coffee and would nibble through that, and Kevin's lot had quite a fondness for painkillers and would regularly make a beeline to all the tasty medication. They had to go, but humanely.
We tried some of those humane mouse-traps you get at B&Q but they mice were too clever for them, they'd nick the bait and leg it from the trap. So we built a thing (pictured left) using an a couple of old paper-towel cardboard roll, some newspaper and a bin. Bait was inserted into the cardboard roll, which was then carefully balanced on one of the worktops Jerry Jingles' lot like to hang out on. A big bin with smooth sides, demi-filled with newspaper, was placed under the roll -- the idea being that Jerry Jingles and co would go down the tube for a tasty snack, then fall in the bin, with the slippery sides preventing them from climbing out.
We set the trap and went off, and returned to find a Jerry Jingles (that's him on the right) in the bin :D Yay! Next step was removing the little gits from the house-- they have to be dumped at least a mile away otherwise they'll find their way home. We transferred them into a container (don't forget to line with old newspaper and put in some airholes), found a safe spot in some woods and left them there, hoping that they wouldn't bump into Mr Owl. Within a couple of weeks, and several trips to the woods later, we were mouse-free \o/ We even managed to lure Kevin away from the tasty drugs!
Hope they're OK in the woods, they annoyed me thoroughly but I still feel horrible about leaving them to fend for themselves in the woods :'(