The rodent that is running rings round us

We've had many visitors since we moved here and we welcome them all. But recently we've had a visitor of a different sort. Jerry has come to stay and he is not so welcome. And the problem is, he is double crossing me at every turn. He may be cute (we've spied him/her several times - running along the skirting board, emerging from under the piano, scooting down into our underfloor radiators) but I'm not too keen on sharing our house with a mouse.

To rid our home of this rodent, I initially tried traditional mousetraps. I bought two and researched how to set them, the best place to position them, what tasty morsel to put on them and the little blighter just laughed in our faces! (FYI, nut butter is supposed to be a favourite). Last week I had the two mousetraps positioned and set correctly, with a blob of my own cashew butter on the appropriate part (I may want to exterminate them but at least their last meal will be gourmet) and the little sod (excuse my language but it's very frustrating) licked them clean without setting them off - in fact on Saturday, we worked out that he did this in Richard's presence. Bold isn't the word!

I've now researched further and after reading the PETA website I feel I ought to get rid of the mouse humanely (don't ask me why). (And there's also the fact that I don't know if I can stomach coming down, in the morning, to a corpse in my mousetrap). Until I order a humane mousetrap, this picture shows my attempt at creating one of my own to use in the meantime. The idea is that the mouse uses the bricks/books as steps, lured to the bucket by some nut butter that is sitting at the bottom of the bucket. The mouse falls/jumps into the bucket and then can't get out. Great in theory - the only problem is that my mousetrap has been sitting there for several days and has failed dismally. All that has happened is that my nut butter has melted in the heat and I keep having to walk round the pile of books and the bucket.