Electric mousetrap

This more recent type of mousetrap delivers a lethal dose of electricity when the rodent completes the circuit by contacting two electrodes located either at the entrance or between the entrance and the bait. The electrodes are housed in an insulated or plastic box to prevent accidental injury to humans and pets. They can be designed for single-catch domestic use or large multiple-catch commercial use. See U.S. Patent 4,250,655 and U.S. Patent 4,780,985

Mouth mousetrap

This lightweight mousetrap consists of a set of plastic jaws operated by a coiled spring and triggering mechanism inside the jaws, where the bait is held. The trigger snaps the jaws shut, killing the rodent.

New tips and tricks - build your own trap

What you will need

You will need the following equipment which can be found in most households.
1) A large, smooth surfaced, low sided tray
2) A deep, rectangular baking tin of slightly smaller size made of glass or metal
3) A bamboo kebab skewer
4) A cocktail stick
5) Adhesive tape


How to build it

1) Take the bamboo skewer and bend it through 90 degrees approximately 1/4 of the way along its length. Do not snap it completely.
2) Fix the 90 degree bend so it is rigid by attaching a cocktail stick with adhesive tape.
3) Place a small piece of cheese or peanut butter on the long end of the skewer. Alternatively use a bent coat hanger which works just as well.
4) Place the baking dish open side down on the tray and prop it up with the skewer as shown in the diagram. This may take a little practice. Curved dishes roll to the side so a square edged dish is essential. IMPORTANT - do not prop it up too high - just enough for the mouse to get under. If it is too high there is a chance the mouse will get underneath it as it falls and be injured.
5) A mouse can easily enter the space under the dish to get the bait but as soon as he touches it the dish falls and traps him. He cannot be injured as the bait is well away from the falling edge.
6) The tray and dish, with trapped mouse can be taken to a distant location and the mouse can be released without injury.

Tips

You can see what you have caught if you use a glass dish.
You can stabalise the dish to stop it rolling by putting a little bit of bluetac or plastecine between it and the tray.
If the trap has been activated and there is no mouse caught check that the dish is heavy enough to secure the captive. If in doubt set the trap with a book placed on top of the dish.
Take the mouse a good distance away from home before releasing it. I recommend at least a mile.
If you scale up the apparatus for rats then a book - or a house brick - will be essential.
Be careful when releasing rats as they can be aggressive. Do not release them in an enclosed space. Allow them an obvious direction to escape away from you.
Check how the mice got into your house in the first place. Many will enter through open doors and windows which can be closed. Make sure that skirtings and under floor areas are sealed or you will be taking rodents away for ever.

Mouse trap designs-part 1

Springloaded-bar mousetrap

The traditional type (illustrated) was invented by Hiram Maxim (who also invented the Maxim gun). It is a simple device with a heavily springloaded bar and a trip to release it. Stereotypically, cheese is placed on the trip as bait, but this does not work well as, in reality, most mice do not like cheese; they will however take other food such as oats, chocolate, bread or meat. Butter or Peanut butter is also quite effective. Some people set out traps unset but baited for a few days so the mice lose their caution around them. This also helps you see which bait your mice like. The spring-loaded bar swings down rapidly and with great force when anything, usually a mouse or a rat, touches the trip. The design is such that the mouse's neck or spinal cord will be broken, or its ribs or skull crushed, by the force of the bar. Rats can easily escape from a mousetrap, so a larger version is used for them.

Glue traps

Glue strip or glue tray devices trap the mouse in a sticky glue; users can free the mice from the glue by applying vegetable oil if they choose to. These types of trap are effective and non-toxic to humans. However, death is much slower than with the traditional type trap, which has prompted animal activists such as PETA to oppose the use of glue traps. Many mice eventually die from exposure, dehydration, starvation, suffocation, or predation, or they are killed by people when the trap is checked. Others die from injuries or blood loss as they try to chew through their own limbs in an attempt to escape. In the UK, glue traps are used only by professional pest controllers. In some jurisdictions there have been proposals to ban glue traps, or to legally restrict their use.

Article sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_trap

Mouse trap

Probably you've heard the saying if you build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door. I guess many people took that seriously as nowadays there are thousands of mouse traps. One of the most commonly used traps is that shown in the children's cartoons in the last 50 years. Not only is it the most effective mouse trap but it also is very simple. It consists of a piece of wood with a heavy spring device which slams down the mouse if it tries to get the food put in it.
As we are living in the high tech 21st century, there are many people working on a better mouse trap. They want to create something not that simple. There is one great problem with any mouse trap - this is how to get the mouse into the trap. Cheese is considered to be the best bait. Another food that mice love is peanut butter. If not using the first two, then try with rice and some fish.
Having set up the bait, the mouse gets into the simple spring mouse trap and gets killed the same time. End of story. Of course, there are many people who are not willing to kill these friendly, but annoying mice. They can use a mouse trap designed as a mouse jail instead of the common spring mouse trap. When the mouse gets trapped, it doesn't get killed but it cannot escape either. When using such mouse trap mazes you have to take care of the mouse once it's caught. Some of these mouse tunnels are made of clear plastic, so they are see-through and you can watch what your mouse is doing in the trap. Once I came across a mouse trap that could hold up to 30 mice! Amazing, isn’t it!
I'm sorry that the directions offered don’t say what to do after you've caught the mouse in the trap. Should you let it go in the open? There is no doubt that you don't want to release it as you'll have to catch it again. There are some modern models of mouse traps that involve the use of electricity. Some of them give the mouse a lethal shock while others use batteries to automatically close the door after the mouse goes into the trap. I know one more type of mouse trap.
I like that one a lot because it has many advantages. It is simple, cheap and highly effective. The only disadvantage of this model is that it is a bit dirty. All you have to do is purchase a few sheets of fly catcher. Before going to bed put one or two of these sticky sheets of paper somewhere in your kitchen. And don't forget to leave some bait in the middle of the sheet. You can be sure that the mouse will fall into your trap and will stick. Then when you find it the next morning, simply fold the flypaper and throw it away.

Article sources:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Build-a-Better-Mouse-Trap&id=266977

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Morgan_Hamilton