A Better (No-Kill) Mousetrap

This version of a trap door style no-kill mouse trap has been a work in progress over the past year or so.  I build this model in TinkerCAD and incorporated all of the improvements I have made over the past year of trying to get the mice out of my garage without smashing their heads in a traditional trap.  This ultimately involved setting a camera up on the trap and watching how they were escaping the bucket, or avoiding the trap-door all together, then designing modifications that would prevent this from happening.  I have an H2S printer, so the larger build plate allowed me to print a full size model that covers the entire bucket.

Use:

- Designed to be used with a standard 5 gallon bucket.  I use it with a taller 6 gallon bucket that previously contained birdseed.  The taller bucket was part of the learning process, but now that the opening is fully covered, a standard 5 gallon should be just fine. - Smear a little peanut butter on the back wall of the trap.  Try to keep above the trap door so it doesn't interfere with the door dropping. - I put about an inch of wood shavings in the bottom of the bucket.  it reduces the mice's ability to jump quite as high.  (and it gives them something to snuggle down into while they wait for you to come take them outside.) - Place in the likely area mice are visiting, prop a piece of wood or some other material up so mice can get up on top of the bucket, and wait.  Be sure to check the trap every 12 hours or so.

Features of this trap:

- Covers the entire bucket to prevent mice from jumping out.  You'd be very surprised how high and accurately these little boogers can jump. - Extra high sides around the trap door prevents mice from dangling from the top to reach the bait.  They are little acrobats once they figure out that the trap door is there.  (This would happen after a mouse was trapped and escaped.) - Longer trap door prevents mice from stretching out to balance and prevent the door from flipping while they nibbled the bait.  Again, you'd be impressed with how smart they are once they realize it's a trap. - Left a 4 mm gap between the end of the trap door and the back wall of the trap so that if the bait (peanut butter) slides down, it doesn't contact the trap door and bind it to the wall, preventing it from tripping.  I've had this happen a number of times. - The back half of the trap door is solid underneath to prevent mice from jumping up and escaping out the back half of the trap door.  its happened.

Lessons Learned:

- Mice almost always fall for it the first time… meaning they don't realize its a trap until they've fallen in once.  As long as they don't escape, you're good.  If they escape, the next time they will be way more wary and avoid the trap door. - If you do have a mouse that has escaped and is avoiding getting caught, fix the trap door so it won't flip (put some weight on the back side, or tape to keep it from flipping) and bait it.  let them have a night or two of eating the bait without the door tripping.  Then remove the weight or tape and they should have gotten confident in the access to the bait and fall for the trap again.  Sometimes it takes a little while.  It took me 8 full days to catch a mouse in my garage because he kept avoiding the trap… and that was with me looking at camera events every morning to see what he was doing to avoid the trap.  lol!  many of these changes came from that particular battle. Good luck!