BRIEFLY

To answer the obvious question [does it work?] - yes, it does. If a mouse goes inside, attracted by the peanut butter bait (ahhh... the smell of it) and places its front legs on one electrode and the rear legs or maybe the tail on the other electrode, then the mouse gets zapped and dies. We saw it happen once with this trap. If we are to refine the question and ask "does it work better than a much less expensive mouse trap?", then that's where we need to discuss this specific brand because, as far as actually catching mice, the answer does not seem to be 'yes'.

OUR EXPERIENCE

We only have the occasional field mice in our basement, possibly attracted by the warmth in the winter but, unless chased away or caught, seem to settle and grow families, which we don't want to see happen. We've been quite successful at trapping them and, recently, discouraging them from settling in the first place via an ultrasound-producing device but, before we did that, we didn't like the fact that the cheap, under-a-dollar spring traps had to be moved around and even taken away after a couple of catches because the mice seemed to learn what the traps were about and to avoid them. So, we ordered the Victor because we hoped that, since the other mice could not see their dead comrade, they would be more likely to give it a try.

For a test, we placed the Victor and a cheap trap, about 6 feet from each other. We used the same bait - peanut butter and... the cheap trap caught 2 mice in 2 weeks while Victor caught one.

OPERATION

The Victor kills your mice by the method of electrocution. Apparently, this is considered to be safe and humane because the mice die quickly. To make it work, you will need 4 AA batteries (not included), a little bit of peanut butter attached to the back wall and you turn it on and place it wherever mice were spotted. The mouse should be able to smell the bait, walk inside and get zapped to death. When that happens, a green light will blink for either a day or for 7 days (the documentation is not clear in that respect and we didn't wait for longer than one day with the dead mouse inside). You then turn off the trap (there's a switch) dispose of the dead mouse, clean up the box if needed, place fresh bait and repeat the cycle.

EVALUATION

So far, this trap caught half as many mice the 'cheap' device did but, unlike the cheap trap that would kill a mouse by breaking its neck or spine and, sometimes would catch and cripple the mouse without actually killing it, this one would kill it quickly and that's a plus. In addition, it's possible to catch the mouse and dispose of it without actually seeing it - with some practice, you can remove the lid and let the dead mouse drop into a bag without looking. And, finally, it's possible that, if the other mice don't see the dead one because it's killed inside the box, they are more likely to give it a try themselves but this is only speculation.

I will award this device 3 stars (means "it's okay") because it did catch one mouse in our basement and it killed it as described. I will not return it and, now that I have it, I will continue to use it but, knowing what I know today, I would not buy one unless I really couldn't stand the site of dead little mice but I wanted to kill them anyway.
BRIEFLY

To answer the obvious question [does it work? ] - yes, it does. If a mouse goes inside, attracted by the peanut butter bait (ahhh... the smell of it) and places its front legs on one electrode and the rear legs or maybe the tail on the other electrode, then the mouse gets zapped and dies. We saw it happen once with this trap. If we are to refine the question and ask "does it work better than a much less expensive mouse trap? ", then that's where we need to discuss this specific brand because, as far as actually catching mice, the answer does not seem to be 'yes'. OUR EXPERIENCE

We only have the occasional field mice in our basement, possibly attracted by the warmth in the winter but, unless chased away or caught, seem to settle and grow families, which we don't want to see happen. We've been quite successful at trapping them and, recently, discouraging them from settling in the first place via an ultrasound-producing device but, before we did that, we didn't like the fact that the cheap, under-a-dollar spring traps had to be moved around and even taken away after a couple of catches because the mice seemed to learn what the traps were about and to avoid them. So, we ordered the Victor because we hoped that, since the other mice could not see their dead comrade, they would be more likely to give it a try. For a test, we placed the Victor and a cheap trap, about 6 feet from each other. We used the same bait - peanut butter and... the cheap trap caught 2 mice in 2 weeks while Victor caught one. OPERATION

The Victor kills your mice by the method of electrocution. Apparently, this is considered to be safe and humane because the mice die quickly. To make it work, you will need 4 AA batteries (not included), a little bit of peanut butter attached to the back wall and you turn it on and place it wherever mice were spotted. The mouse should be able to smell the bait, walk inside and get zapped to death. When that happens, a green light will blink for either a day or for 7 days (the documentation is not clear in that respect and we didn't wait for longer than one day with the dead mouse inside). You then turn off the trap (there's a switch) dispose of the dead mouse, clean up the box if needed, place fresh bait and repeat the cycle. EVALUATION

So far, this trap caught half as many mice the 'cheap' device did but, unlike the cheap trap that would kill a mouse by breaking its neck or spine and, sometimes would catch and cripple the mouse without actually killing it, this one would kill it quickly and that's a plus. In addition, it's possible to catch the mouse and dispose of it without actually seeing it - with some practice, you can remove the lid and let the dead mouse drop into a bag without looking. And, finally, it's possible that, if the other mice don't see the dead one because it's killed inside the box, they are more likely to give it a try themselves but this is only speculation. I will award this device 3 stars (means "it's okay") because it did catch one mouse in our basement and it killed it as described. I will not return it and, now that I have it, I will continue to use it but, knowing what I know today, I would not buy one unless I really couldn't stand the site of dead little mice but I wanted to kill them anyway.