Bucket mouse catcher

[oilboy123]

Anybody try this? I caught a mouse I saw run in the garage that same night I set it up. Now I have one set up in the kitchen. Some little rascal has pick 2 mousetraps clean without setting off the traps. I will see if I outsmart them this time.

I told my Daughter about this and she was horrified.......


Did mine like this but with one can.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/better-mouse-trap/

 

[ahoier]

I enjoy the "Four Loko" alcoholic malt beverage, and I found it makes for a good mouse trap house.

I cut the top of the can off, lay the can on it's side, and lay the trap inside the can. put peanut butter on the trap, and let it sit overnight.

Something about the Four Loko keeps them coming back. And apparantly the joy of Four Loko runs in their blood, because I've caught 4 so far this way

but yea, I've heard variations of this, using stairs, and buckets, etc.....supposidely more 'humane" so the mouse doesn't die, etc.....the problem is, they keep coming to play with my cats....

 

[wrcsixeight]

I have used a similar method In Baja more than once. The vermin would keep me awake at night as they searched for a entrance into my campervan.

Usually the first night I'd set it up I'd get about 17, and it would taper down each successive night. One time, I'm pretty sure they were able to jump out off the backs of their drowned brethren there were so many in the bucket

I've also had it not work at all despite plenty of obvious rodent activity.

I found they like the peanut butter with the hydrogenated oils better than the 'Natural' PB's whose ingredients list only peanuts and salt.

 

[mongo161]

I've used the same principle for large rats. I have used an empty barrel with old oil in it and old decaying meat or Fish strapped to a large empty coffee can. However, I run the wire through a long wooden dowel with the center bore out of it. The rats never get to the can of rotten meat or fish since they spin off the greased dowel before they reach the can.

The rats don't have time to sound an alarm for help since they are quickly covered in used diesel oil and drown after a while.

They can't climb up the inside of the barrel since they are covered in a slick gooey oil. It's best to set up the trap without bait for a few days beforehand. Just bait the feeding area a few nights before using the trap with rotten stinking meat or fish since they become accustomed to their surroundings and anything new will spook them away.

 

[RnR]

I use something similar, a balanced "gangplank" made out of a thin wood wedge and a PVC coupler glued on the bottom. I stick this on a section of unused all-thread. This assembly sits on top of the bucket with the $Store PB bait on the far end.

As soon as the 4-legged zombies cross the fulcrum point -- splash!

 

[hate2work]

Nice idea, I may have to try this. I've found the best bait to be the chewy nougat part of a snickers bar, for some reason mice just seem to love that stuff. As an added bonus, I get to eat most of the bar

 

[ddrumman2004]

I may have to try this at my wife's old home where mice seem to run rampant. 140 year old house has lots of openings!

As for the spring traps, I had one once where the mice would clean all the bait off and it would not trip. In fact, it took a lot of force to trip it!

So I took a pair of needle nose pliers and gently squeezed the catch for the spring loaded bail. After a few mods, you cold blow on the trap and it would trip! Yes, it took several tries to set it but it worked!

 

[Spazdog]

Where was this when I was having my rodent problem?

Wonder if the parts store will still take waste oil with drowned rodents in it.

Had to go up in the attic once a day to empty the snap traps. Some of the kills were very gruesome. The trap does not always snap down cleanly on the neck.

Finally found their avenue of entry. Since sealing it, they have not been a problem.

I ran my generator in my tool shed with the door closed for awhile to get rid of the mouse/mice. That actually worked pretty well. Haven't seen their droppings or chew marks since.

 

[CivicFan]

This is a similar idea as to what I came up. Mine was not deadly. The mouse would fall into a hamster cage in my device. I like the roll log idea. Mine was a balanced stick with some peanut butter at the end. As the mouse walked towards the PB, the stick would fall in the cage which essentially made it a one time use trap. The roll log is for multiple uses.

 

[Shannow]

The outback method was to use a longneck (750ml beer bottle), neck first over an open "44" (55gal US) barrel. Bait in the neck of the beer bottle.

Rodent would climb along the neck, try to reach the bait, and fall into the drum.

Had a mate on a mining camp during the late 80's mouse plague.

They didn't drown them...

 

[Drew99GT]

Drowning them IMO presents an ethical problem. I know, it's only a mouse, but... It's the same thing as the sticky type traps where the animal suffers tremendously.

I prefer the good ol snap trap. Instant kill, and the new style ones always work perfectly for me. I use these:

http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0321110-Defense-Press-Mouse/dp/B003YL4MG0

 

[Shannow]

Well you won't appreciate the mining camp method.

 

[mongo161]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Drowning them IMO presents an ethical problem. I know, it's only a mouse, but... It's the same thing as the sticky type traps where the animal suffers tremendously.

I prefer the good ol snap trap. Instant kill, and the new style ones always work perfectly for me. I use these:

http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0321110-Defense-Press-Mouse/dp/B003YL4MG0


Those are traps for home invaders or little mice pests and I'm sure that they have their place. In Coney Island we have some mighty large Wharf Rats and those traps would never hold a bull rat and would only spook off the colony after a while. Rats are smart and the traps don't work for nailing large numbers of unsuspecting rats, over a long period of time.

When the rats fall into the barrel of used Diesel oil, from Tug Boat etc....that really quits them down....the struggle does not last long so their are no warnings or alarms to tip off the others of danger.

IMO...these are rats that feed off of all kinds of trash, refuse and human waste. These rats eventually make their ways into peoples homes and restaurants when their population explodes. These rats are covered with sores, fleas, lice and vermin and carry all kinds of infectious diseases. Although they currently make their habitat in storm drains and the sewer system they follow the food chain to human habitats to set up new homes.

IMO...In the interest of public safety, the diesel oil will eliminate vermin and disease that these rats carry on their bodies and the oil also makes for a fast flammable agent for the combustion of the carcases.

 

[oilboy123]

I'm all for ethical treatment of animals. I don't like to see anything suffer.

But I draw the line at rat, mice, cockroaches etc.

Well I put three morsels leading to the can on top the bucket. 2 morsels were gone, but the top one is still there. I'll see if I nailed the little critter in the next day or two........

 

[mongo161]

With any trap and rodents. You have to make them feel safe, secure and comfortable before you set any trap in the area that they frequent.

With the baited traps, it is a good idea to bait the trap but not to set the spring on the trap for the first few nights. Then they will feel comfortable feeding off of the trap. Then a few nights later you bait loads traps and set them all for the kill. You will have the rodents caught.

With my set up....I bait the area for a couple of nights with chunks of meat and fish scattered around and a neat pile on plank on top of the barrel. After they learn the routine, of climbing the plank to the top of the barrel, then I set the spinning dowel.


The spinning dowel is well oiled and there is also thick coat of bacon grease near the center of the trap. The odor of the bacon fat, along with rotting fish and meat, just adds to intensity of the feeding frenzy.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: mongo161

Those are traps for home invaders or little mice pests and I'm sure that they have their place. In Coney Island we have some mighty large Wharf Rats and those traps would never hold a bull rat and would only spook off the colony after a while. Rats are smart and the traps don't work for nailing large numbers of unsuspecting rats, over a long period of time.
...

Oh, it's worse than that. The survivors will feed off of the trap victim.
I worked at a repair shop that fifty years earlier had been part of a Ford factory. Lot's of avenues of ingress for the [critters]
When the nightclub next door closed down we got invaded by their rat population.
On slow days I would shoot them with my .177 air rifle. Even with 900fps and pointed head pellets it requires a perfect shot on the big nasty rats. They'll just shrug off a center mass hit.
I sprayed a really big one with some brake-kleen and a lighter. DO NOT DO THIS!! I had a rat on fire scampering up the 50+year old Spruce that made up the Quonset hut style garage at the back.
Snap traps, little cups of antifreeze, and diligence in removing their food sources and water eventually got rid of them. But not before they canibalized the traps

 

[oilboy123]

Maybe I'll try some bacon grease....... I like the fire rat