Lately, we have been having problems with unwelcome mice in our house (yes more than one). I, Travis, not bothered so much by the mouse itself, enjoy the game of trying to trap the little guy in unique ways. Each night, I set up various traps in attempts to outsmart the hungry beast. Let me introduce you to my ideas (mostly stolen from others). In the end, only one was proven to work. Which one do you think it was? (The answer will be posted after I get a good number of guesses):
1) The Diving Board – This trap involves a flattened box precariously balanced on the countertop. Food is then placed on the very end of the diving board so that when the mouse walks out to get the food, his weight tips the box over so that it slides off the counter. Down below this diving board is a bucket of water, or a “swimming pool” if you will. The plastic hose is on top of the bucket so that the box cannot enter the swimming pool, for if it did, it would provide an escape ramp. Then, since he can’t touch the bottom, he has two choices – sink or swim.
2) The Sinking Titanic - This design is quite simple and I came up with it when I was told by a housemate, that the mouse is QUITE LARGE! It’s simply a tub of water with a plate floating on top. On top of the plate is a piece of tomato, which we know our mice prefer over anything else our kitchen offers. When the mouse steps or jumps onto the plate, his weight causes the plate to sink leaving our little friend once again to either swim or join the plate at the bottom.
3) The Phone Booth – As you see here, the phone booth is a clothes-pin propped-up plastic tub with a phone cord running into a hole in the top. It tricks the mouse into thinking that he can make a call to all his mouse friends to tell them about food!…just kiddling. The phone cord is duct taped to a little plate inside the tub. On the plate is slice of red tomato…mmmm. The plate is then precariously balanced on a small vanilla extract jar. When the mouse enters the phone booth, he smells the delicious tomato over his head, but if he even touches the plate it will fall and because it is attached to the tub by the phone cord, it will shake the tub, which very quickly falls off the clothes pin. Then, the little rodent can eat his last supper as he waits for morning to come.
4) The Guillotine – No, it’s not what you think, but the mechanics of this device looks and works a lot like a guillotine (although adding a razor blade could chop off some tail!). Anyway, this trap is made out of an old water bottle, a cardboard box and a CD case. The mouse walks into the water bottle and sees the food through the crack under the swinging hatch. When he tries to squeeze under this hatch to get the food, the cardboard above shifts, causing the CD case to drop, blocking off the entrance. Once again, Mr. Mouse gets to finish his meal in peace, sadly his last.
So which one worked? You tell me.
I vote for the first one. And also, thinks that you are making all of these traps to get out of diaper changing duty! (Or doodie duty)
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that option number 1 worked. These are all pretty clever!
ReplyDeleteKarin
#3 and #4 it looks like the mouse would be able to push himself out of. I also like number 1. I've heard of a similar technique before for catching chipmunks. You fill a 5 gallon (or in your case an 18.95 liter) bucket half way with water. Sprinkle sunflower seeds in the bucket enough to float on the whole surface. The chipmunk will jump in thinking it is ground and be sorely surprised.
ReplyDeleteOf course if option 3 or 4 worked you could follow it with option 5: Micah gets his first pet.
ReplyDeleteWhile I like the idea of #2 I don't think the little guy will be daredevil enough to jump to the plate, and a 1-foot test still leaves three holding to the side and a sunken plate.
ReplyDelete#1 gets my vote, although all the options seem more fun than a boring old wood snap trap.
-Travis R.
Don't you have a job?
ReplyDeleteOh, my vote: I can think of reasons why each of them don't seem likely to work. In the end, I will vote for the guillotine.
ReplyDeleteHey Travis. I'm going with #3, "the phone booth." Part of it is wishful thinking: I like the idea that he or she gets one last meal and as well as a last phone call. It seems proper.
ReplyDelete- Drew Hunter
My vote is for the guillotine. I think the mouse would not feel safe enough to try the others. Maybe the phone booth. ~ Amy H.
ReplyDeleteYea, they each have flaws and the mice here aren't dummies. I'm curious to try to sunflower seed covered bucket of water. Next time.
ReplyDeleteI don't know which one worked, but I hate mice, so your lifestyle would not suit me well at all. I would never sleep or eat and be jumpy every time I heard the slightest noise. As as much as I don't like cats, I think I'd have one just to rid myself of mice (or at least keep them at bay). Yuck.
ReplyDeleteAnything where the mouse has to swim is questionable. Rachel and I discovered during our days at Carson Newman that the little boogers are good swimmers. We caught one and tried to flush it down the toilet. Crazy scene watching those little feet work. It took at least 10 flushes befoe he went to Davey Jones Locker.
ReplyDelete