Question about a mouse trap

[Petethebutcher]

Hi everyone and a happy Australia day,
The mouse numbers are building up in the bush, caught 20 odd inside the house in the last 48 hrs. (good old spring traps baited with cheese)
Some years ago I saw a fello selling a multipe catch trap that looked pretty well thought out.
It worked on a collasping trap door controlled by a magnet to give it a quick release and was made out of plastic covered particle board, I think.
Any body ever own one or know anything about them?
Cheers Peter

[Bob38S]

Not aware of that type of multiple catch trap - the only old one I'm familiar with was actually an octogon / hexagon approx 50mm thick, where each side was an individual trap - bait was in the centre, mouse entered a hole triggering the trap - a metal "U" would come up from underneath trapping/killing the mouse. Don't have one nor seen one for many years hopefully someone else can help.

BTW the most effective bait for mice seems to be pumpkin seeds or peanuts. They attach firmly to the trigger and can't be stolen by a lucky mouse - they don't go "bad, gooey" and you can catch multiple mice on the one bait.

[fenderbelly]

A couple of years back there was a guy selling traps to the local business people.

It was a plastic tray about 200mm x 100mm and had some really sticky substance in it.
once the mouse stepped on it it was stuck there. A mate of mine bought some and had 23 mice on one, once full it went in the bin.


Cheers Fred

[rodm]

A bucket and a cone inverted will catch the critters - much like a pit trap.
Cut off the bottom of a funnel narrow enough to let them go in. Suspend it in the bucket and then some sort of lure in the bucket. Peanut paste is good. Make sure the bottom of the cone is high enough that they can't jump up through the hole. Stick it next to the wall and a stick for them to climb on to the bucket. Mice like to run around skirting boards for some reason. Setting the trap outside might get them before they are lured indoors.
I have attached a photo of a small commercial version made from wire. The cone dimensions are 30mm opening down to 15mm at the bottom and 60mm length of the cone.
Yep you are catching live mice so up to you how you deal with it from there but try to be humane if that is the right word and keep the kids out of sight.

[Woodwould]

A couple of years back there was a guy selling traps to the local business people.

It was a plastic tray about 200mm x 100mm and had some really sticky substance in it.
once the mouse stepped on it it was stuck there. A mate of mine bought some and had 23 mice on one, once full it went in the bin.


Cheers Fred

In my youth, I used 'rat lime' (I can still remember the white cardboard tube with the drawing of a sinister looking rat on it) to catch Finches, Redpolls and Siskins for my aviary.

It was a gelatinous and extremely sticky substance of which a dollop was spread on the centre of a piece of cardboard with a morsel of food stuck on it. The rats/mice would be stuck fast if they even placed one toe on the lime! A dinner plate sized smear of lime could catch 30+ mice. The back of a shovel usually dispatched the mice. That was then of course.

Rat lime was outlawed many years ago in Britain, but many country folk and bird fanciers used to make their own by boiling Holly bark and skimming off the gloop.

[bsrlee]

Living in the country you might do well to upgrade the bucket to a 44 gallon drum and a large metal funnel suspended on metal rods (An old chook feeder turned upside down could supply the funnel cone) and smear the peanut butter on the underside of the funnel exit. If you are in for a mouse plague an ordinary bucket will just be a fun diversion for the little b8gg8rs until enough climb in that they can jump out.

If you are far enough out of town that you have your own dump you can put a few gallons of water in the bottom of the drum & drown them then dump the soup. If not, hook up a pipe to the ute/tractor exhaust and a hole in a clamp on lid to gas them on the way to the town tip.

I think the sticky traps for rodents are probably subject to RSPCA dis-approval - the squealing can be quite disturbing. Enough get caught foraging in cockroach 'motels'.

[Petethebutcher]

Hi Guys,
I have been out of circulation for a while
Thanks for all your replies, some interesting information. I actually built a funnel to Rods dimentions and fitted it into a heavy plastic (4mm walls) chemical container. Added some wheat and screwed the lid on. After several days of casually checking I had no mice in the drum, decide to take a closer look, the little rotters had eaten a hole through the drum and were cotinuing to use it as a self feeder.I quickly changed their menu to ratsack, three more days mice no's dropped back.
I was a little disappointed not to find anything about the trap with the magnetic assisited trap door so if anybody out there can help I would be most appreciated.
I'm still catching 2 to 3 per day in the house and can't find where they get in. Some are suggesting they can drop from the ceiling through the evaporative air con ducts but I can not prove it either way.
Saw some "use once" mouse traps in a store for $5.50 each.Do people really buy and use those things?
Cheers
Pete

[rrich]

Years ago, I heard of a rat/mouse trap that could capture thousands.


It was a 55 gallon drum half burred in the soil. A carefully balanced plank was secured, teeter totter fashion to the rim of the barrel. The barrel was half filled with water and a small mountain of stones was placed in the barrel with just enough space for as single critter out of the water

Bait was securely attached to the end of the plank. As a rat crawled up the plank to get the bait the plank tipped and dumped the rat into the water. When the second rat was dumped into the water, a fight begins for the small island in the water. The noise entices more and more rats to investigate and an even bigger fight ensues.

[petersemple]

I have seen an electonic one that could be reused. Best multiple rodent trap I ever saw was about 2 metres long and scaly.....

Peter

[GavinB]

A couple of years back there was a guy selling traps to the local business people.

It was a plastic tray about 200mm x 100mm and had some really sticky substance in it.
once the mouse stepped on it it was stuck there. A mate of mine bought some and had 23 mice on one, once full it went in the bin.


Cheers Fred

Hmm, yes. Those are called glue traps, and they've actually been banned in a few states.

That salesperson strikes me as a morally shallow individual. So is your mate I'm afraid. You said there were 23 mice stuck on one... and what did he (or you) do? Throw it into the bin while they are still alive? How very humane of you.

Considering the injuries animals get on these things while trying to escape, what a disgusting thing to do. They can't get off, so they will starve to death. I do not understand why people are perfectly willing to throw live mammals stuck on a board of super glue into the rubbish bin, as if they were merely objects. Put them out of their misery first, don't leave them to suffer like that.

Because really, that wasn't pest control, that was just cruelty. If you want to get rid of mice, use instant kill traps or cage traps, and find a quick and painless way of killing them.

[bsrlee]

Reviewing the above posts reminded me that the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has/had a display of various mouse & rat traps dating back to the 1800's. Several of these were teeter-toter type traps where the mouse walks in & causes a tunnel to drop which then only allows the rodent to go into a dead end, then re-sets its self when the rodents weight is removed, ready for another customer. Some were just holders, others had a bucket of water.

They seemed to have been made from wire netting (6mm mesh mouse & snake net?) and gal or tin for solid bits. It may be worth a call or e-mail to see if there is anything available to you like photos of the items, to be sent over the 'Net. I also suspect that in a well made trap the magnet is superfluous & is added to make it look 'modern' & 'scientific'.

[Petethebutcher]

I also suspect that in a well made trap the magnet is superfluous & is added to make it look 'modern' & 'scientific'

Brslee the idea of the magnet is to stop the teetering on the see-saw. The see-saw was set up such that it didn't move untill the mouse was completely in a position of counter balance and then a little bit more and the magnet let go all of a sudden and dumped poor micky into a box. the seesaw then returned to its starting position and became held again by the force of the magnet. The great thing about it was the mouse felt no movement until it was too late.No way to scramble back a little and right the see-saw.
Your drum idea also works well if you forget the see-saw and cover the water with a grain that floats,oats works fine.

Gavin I do think mate would of "donged" the little fellers before butting them in the bin. However it is amazing how inhuman you can become with mice if you have to destroy a lot of them. I can recall a poison program that I had 20 years ago in a mice plauge where we would cart a 6*4 trailer of mice carcases away from the house/shed area once a week for at least a month. You don't have many humane felling for the dirty little buggers after that.

Thanks again for the help but I'm still hanging out for a lead on the
"magnetic see-saw"

Peter

[ftssjk]

my aunty from south korea sends me these rat traps.

it's a very very stick surface on a peice of cardboard.

sort of looks like a folder, and when you pull the two covers apart, there's a very very stick surface with what looks to be two nuts. (not sure which nut) it's round and brown.

[GavinB]

my aunty from south korea sends me these rat traps.

it's a very very stick surface on a peice of cardboard.

sort of looks like a folder, and when you pull the two covers apart, there's a very very stick surface with what looks to be two nuts. (not sure which nut) it's round and brown.

Those are what I mentioned previously.

They're horrible.

[fxst]

Pete when in town go to the newsagents and get a copy of grassroots there is a small ad in there about a multi catch trap that gets used in feed sheds etc. You need to dispose of live mice but its a good one ...
Pete