MAKE Flickr photo pool member PLC.Doctor writes –
“I built this after finding droppings on my workbench. The edge of the wire mesh is reinforced with number 8 bare copper wire. I didn’t want the little bugger to squeeze past the edge of the can.” – Link.
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14 thoughts on “Coffee can mousetrap”
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Great Idea!
Good build but not PLC.Doctor’s invention (not that he said it was). This design has been around for many many years.
posted sometime in or prior to 2003: http://marquardts.org/mindspring/mice/index.htm
See Figure 3: http://www.nps.gov/archive/wica/NSS_1959_Expedition_Faunal_Survey.htm
To the author’s credit, the copper ring around the mesh is a good innovation to keep the little buggers in the can.
1. Fill the can half way with water.
2. Put a paper over the top.
3. Secure the paper with a rubber band.
4. Cut an X in the paper.
5. Suspend the bait over the X.
6. Place a stick or small board from the can to some nearby object so the mouse has easy access.
7. In the morning just toss the can out. Ok, you can look. Ya pervert!
Wow, blast from the past.
I made this trap when I was in 3rd grade, in order to catch an escaped class hamster that was living in the wall of the school library (it worked). I first saw the idea in a small book from the 1940’s called “How to Make a Miniature Zoo”.
Steve Lodefink
Some people might find drowning an animal slowely in a can of water a little inhumane.
The drowning is pretty quick – it’s the swimming around until exhaustion sets in that’s slow…
The mesh has gaps as wide as the thickness of a pencil. A mouse can get out…. Make the mesh as small as possible, since mice are very keen to slip trough small holes.
And about the drowning: once I saw a mouse wich had broken a leg (or two). I picked it up (with something else than my hands) and threw it in the toilet and flushed it. My colleagues found that inhumane too. But what is worse? Keep it from suffering or keep it alive with a broken leg (or two)?
Few weeks later the exterminator came in to clean the lot with poison. Talking about inhumanity…
– Unomi –