We examined whether chronic exposure of traps to disinfectant reduced trappability of rodents as compared to new traps. We tested whether rodents initially chose between treated (disinfected) and new traps and if total number of captures differed between these treatments. Disinfectant did not reduce catchability of traps; rodents actually preferred treated traps. In initial pair-wise choice tests, rodents overall and the predominant North American deermouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, chose significantly more treated than new traps, although this difference disappeared as time of exposure of new traps in the environment increased. Total captures of small mammals and North American deermice did not differ between treated and new traps. Therefore, treated traps were never avoided; this has important implications in general, but especially for long-term studies where censuses are conducted using pre-disinfectant and post-disinfectant protocols.