OK, this is what we used to use in the steel mill. It is brutal and dangerous but very effective on anything up to a couple pounds in weight.
 
You need 2 steel plates, one large and one much smaller.
A piece of cardboard bigger than the large plate.
4 small non-conductive objects. 
An ac line cord with a plug on one end and alligator clips attached to the black and white wires.
Peanut butter.
 
Place the cardboard in a suitable location and set the large plate on it. Place the 4 non-conductive items on the large plate and arrange them so that they will support the 4 corners of the small plate. Place the small plate in the middle of the large plate, resting on the 4 non-conductive items. Put a healthy dab of PB in the middle of the small plate. Finally, attach one of the alligator clips to the large plate and the other to the small plate. Plug in the power cord.
 
That's it. This will kill most vermin, but will also kill pets, children or you, so I hope you don't actually build it. I have seen this take down mice and large rats. Usually you can tell you got something because when the rodent shorts the 2 plates it will usually blow a fuse or trip a breaker. 

Beepster
So, what are you trying to say, eph?
 
Do they work or not?!
 
;-p

Seems like he actually likes teh pu.............


 
 
 
 
I'll get me coat.

Beepster
I was just in the middle of their food highway.

ROTFLMAO

How about putting some peanut butter about 6" up inside of a shop vac hose. Rig it so the vac comes on if it senses movement in the hose. That might be a humane way to get it in the vac and let it go outside.
 
I'll never forget when I found one in my shed out back as it jumped out and ran across the grass with a baby in tow. It looked at me like oh **** right before I dropped a cinder block on it. It made me feel reeeeealy bad. I had to do it. The thing was eating everything in my shed. 
 
I recently had a very large spider in my studio. The largest one I've ever seen. The vac got rid of it.

When hoovering up insects besure to sterilize the canister/dispose of the bag. Otherwise you risk eggs hatching all up in there and now you've just given them a nice nest to raise their dark army of nuisance.

jamesg1213
The 'letting them go outside' sounds nice and humane and everything, but they'll just come right back in, unless you blindfold them, bundle them into the back of a Volvo 940 Estate, drive them to an abandoned abbatoir just outside Arbroath...oh wait, that was..something else..carry on..

And the local constabulary was nun the wiser. 

bayoubill
This brings about a whole new waste of Becan!

BlastFeemer!!!!
 
Fixed.

bitflipper
Thanks for the advice, everyone. OK, Jif or Skippy...hopefully I don't have to buy a whole jar of that crap, as I'll never eat it. I suppose I could try the brand I eat myself (Adams Unsalted Old Fashioned), but I suspect it may be the partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil in the kiddie brands that the mice actually like.
 
If I do end up making a trip to the grocery store, I'll pick up some peppermint oil as well. That could help combat the ammonia smell, and be better for my equipment than the incense sticks I'm using ATM.

No, any kind of (healthy) nut butter will work.  I have used cashew butter with notable success.
 
Also, I have had great success with humane traps (clear green plastic devices about eight inches long).  Assuming you don't have an entry port (as opposed to the creature entering when you had the door open), the released mouse can't get back in.  If you do have an open crack (it can be pretty damn tiny - the size of a dime might be enough for the mouse to gain entry), then the mouse will return unless you either kill it or drive it some distance away to release it.

bapu
It seems that rats are adverse to moth balls. 

Have you ever smelled moth balls??? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(How did you get their little legs apart?)

 
They say it's the second mouse that gets the cheese...  We'll see about that!

Fortunately I don't have a grain silo in my apartment.

Yeah they can be problematic little arseholes and need to be dealt with harshly if they start getting out of hand.
 
Just sayin' there are ways to deal with them that aren't quite as brutal before it gets to that point.
 
Ounce of prevention and all that. I just prefer not to hurt things (especially mammals) if I don't have to.