Simple, Humane Mousetrap Made from Soda Bottle

We love this capture and release mousetrap, made from little more than a 2 liter soda bottle, wire, two chunks of wood, and some hardware. The video shows you the trap in action and then runs through the simple steps of putting it all together. The basic of the build are outlined below.

Besides the bottle and the wood, the main components are two wire brackets for the bottle-balancing axle in the middle of the bottle and the adjustable wooden piece that blocks the bottle’s opening when the mouse tries to escpae.

After you have found the balancing point/center of gravity of the bottle, the axle is mounted across that point with washers and a wood screw. This bracket can be adjusted to get the balance just right once the bottle is installed.

With the bottle properly installed, the wooden “door” block goes on and gets adjusted so that the bottle can swing freely to let the mouse in and then to swing down to keep the mouse from escaping.

A paper clamp is used to hold the bottle in place for operation. Once you have caught a mouse and wish to release it, you simple remove the clip, pull the bottle away from the trap, and release the mouse back into the wild.

Be sure to check out Chris Notap’s YouTube channel for more projects done with soda bottles and other crazy, clever builds.

[Via Boing Boing]