Ugh the most horrible thing just happened-alls fine now but...

Mer.kitten

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weve had a daddy long legs problem in my home office, so i bought glue traps for those and any other creepy crawlers (not mice). The bottom part of the desk has a cabinet and theres a couple inches clearance, height-wise, between it and the floor-and its about 2 feet wide, so months ago i slid 2 of those flat paper glue traps under there-no one can access that space but bugs.

So im cleaning just now and i pull them out & theres a few spiders stuck to it so i decide to toss it and put new ones. Im about to pick it up by the non-glue edge when i see something that looks like a brown recluse, so i pause & look closer-and here comes Honeybun. I say "Honey bun NO" bc shes walking towards ghe trap laying on the ground, but instead of turning around and going somewhere else she takes this to mean she should speed up, and she trots right on the glue traps :mad::sniffle::sniffle:

Cue hissing and trying to get away, me trying to figure out what to do-do i grab the board? Try to pick her up? I reach for her and try to grab the board but shes too freaked out and pulls out of my grip. She runs across the room turning and hissing at the trap & i hate to say it but i panic and call for my roomate to come. This glue is CRAZY strong-if i stick the paper glue side down to a door, i CANT pull it off. Maybe a few pieces thats it.

She runs under the kitchen table, i hear more hissing and commotion, we both grt over there-and the glue trap is stuck to the table leg and not on the kitty anymore.

I was SOO relieved. I wanted to just scoop her up and hug her but i know better, so i cleaned up and ignored her, and 10 mins later she wandered over to me wanting cuddles, which she got.

I looked her over & she seems no worse for wear, i dont even see any bald patches even tho there was a ton of cat hair on the sticky pad.

Kind of disappointed with myself for panicking :/ it just all happened so fast-i saw her, sad NO loudly-and she ran right on the traps. If you use them, please make sure your pets cant get to them, especially when taking them out and putting new ones-it literally only takes a second.
 

Caspers Human

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Sorry your kitty had such a bad time with the glue trap :( but I'm glad that all's well, now. :)

Just for reference, in case anybody else needs to know, oil will help release the glue from glue traps if they get stuck on something they shouldn't... Vegetable oil, canola oil, olive oil, baby oil... anything like that. I've even read that you can use peanut butter in a pinch. (YMMV)

Yeah! Glue traps work well if you are careful but, like you say, be sure to put them where kids, pets can't get stuck in them! :eek:
 

Norachan

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Yes, cooking oil is really good for removing glue.

If your cat gets something like engine oil or any other dangerous chemical on their fur out vet told us to cover them in plain flour. This absorbs a lot of whatever they're covered in and stops them trying to lick it off. You'll still need to take your cat to the vet to be properly cleaned and to make sure they haven't ingested any poison, but it's a good emergency measure to prevent the oil etc getting all over them.
 

Willowy

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According to my snake forum (because glue traps can really mess up a snake), if a pet gets stuck on a glue trap, first you cover all the exposed sticky parts with paper or flour/baby powder, so nothing else gets stuck. Then try to cut away as much of the trap as you can, they're usually made of cardboard so that's not hard. Then you can get down to business, and yep, you use oil to get it off. But it's important to cover the sticky part first or everything in the house will be stuck to it!
 

Minnie_Mom

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I'm glad that your kitty is well now and thank you for sharing your cautionary story.
 

Krienze

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Glue traps x.x I will never forget when my derp of a dog got stuck to one.

With a dead mouse on it.

We stopped buying glue traps after that x.x

Glad your kitty is okay!
 

Caspers Human

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Professional exterminators don't really use glue traps. They mostly use either mechanical traps or bait stations.

Any good professional will tell you that your first line of defense should be to keep the place clean and free of things that rats or mice could see as a source of food. Don't leave food lying around. Clean up any spilled food or crumbs. Keep other foods in sealed rodent proof containers. Traps and poisons come afterward.

Exterminators do use glue traps sometimes but they only consider them to be "indicators." They are messy, unsightly and can only catch one pest at a time. Instead, they put down glue traps in locations where mice are likely to run and monitor them to see how many mice get caught. From there, they determine how many mice are likely to be living in the area and take measures, accordingly.

So, unless you are a professional exterminator who understands how to use them, glue traps are useless to most people. They'll only collect dust and bugs and they'll make a mess when children or pets get into them when they shouldn't.

Personally, I don't bother with those stupid things.
 
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