OT: "If you build a better mousetrap..."

[leno...@yahoo.com]

Here's a great DIY trap - it's pretty simple. (Also, if you prefer, AND the bucket is as deep as the one in the video, you can put 2 inches of water in the bottom. You don't want the water to be too high, and you don't want it accessible to pets or children, of course.)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03xMecBdVvk

One nice thing about it is that the video itself is non-verbal, so it's intelligible to any interested person in the world with Internet access!

I suspect one reason it works is that it doesn't look anything like a regular trap, even though any mouse or rat could detect the human smell on it.

There's also a video - from Cambodia? - that's even simpler. The cardboard was replaced by a sticky piece of long tubing, maybe an inch across, that was perpendicular and longer on one side of the wire than the other, so that the edge of the bucket would stop it. So, aside from the drill and the wire clipper, all you needed was the bucket, the "ramp," the thick wire, the tubing, and the bait. The problem was that the bait seemed to come off too easily.

Here's an even simpler one - AND it doesn't involve drilling holes in the bucket.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eVTI_0K9Dqg

Only thing is, rats, at least, seem to be too smart for it - we've all heard how smart rats are. After all, this one allows the rodent to see how deep the bucket is, unlike the one with the cardboard disk. But rats can escape from a 5-gallon bucket anyway, so you'd need a much bigger container.

Comment from Dave Jan:

"Was MASSIVELY infested w mice on Alaskin homestead. Made similar only used a .5 gallon fruit juice can & a board for the ramp. Smeared peanut butter on can & put a smear up the board. Worked GREAT! First night filled the bucket (5 gal) & the bears found it & ate the drowned mice..second night almost filled the bkt & bears came & ate them too. Every day fewer mice caught & by end of month, NO catches at all. We quit having mice destroy our food cache & bears got a free meal, WIN WIN!!"


(Only problem with that is, you don't want to attract bears to your property! Also, elsewhere, it said that you do NOT want animals - such as your cat or your pet snake - to eat them; the mice could easily be contaminated when they live in a human habitat.)

Also, someone mentioned that it's a good idea to make sure the bait is fresh. Then, someone else claimed to use the same Tootsie Roll over and over - with the cardboard-disk trap, maybe. You could use glue or a nail. At any rate, that bait wouldn't spoil easily.


Lenona.