Mousetrap Monday. The teardown version.

Technical win. Usage I don't like, I understand that mice population has to be controlled but there are baits that make the mice sterile and it would be simple enough to add an overdose of sedatives so the mouse falls asleep painlessly but permanently. I have had pet rats for years and believe me they are smart, loyal and loving creatures. I don't want or like to see any animal suffer and the fact it's people's own fault they get infested by leaving food sources around that bring them in makes it sad they have to die. All creatures including us have one thing in common and that's the drive to survive and reproduce, the only reason humans are the dominant species is our superior intelligence and all we have managed to do is destroy the planet that sustains us. Not to clever really ! The electronics design is very clever though I think using an IR beam would have been better. We don't know for sure if electrocution is humane as no one can come back and tell us. If you don't want a mice or rat problem in the home then don't provide a food supply.

Mice chewed my auto engine to the tune of $700. I have no love for the little buggers.

I discovered a mouse problem when they destroyed a dishwasher, too much damage to repair and a flooded kitchen. One of them had nibbled the AC flex and cooked itself, caught one a night for a week then never saw another one.

Mice scratched and chewed under the groundsheets of tents at night in S. France. Where some campers quickly found another use for their wooden mallets...

Andrew Donaldson

Hi Clive. I had two of the mouse traps like that, also had one for rats. The circuit was basically the same but bigger, the xformer, transistors for driving the transformer was of higher current. Thanks Clive.

I had to get some traps when we discovered our accommodation at work had a mouse problem. Nutella was the bait of choice and basically caught one a night for a few days and then there were no more sightings.

Big Clive

Ride the lightning!

Neil Tonks

The best (and most terrifying) mousetrap is a hungry cat.

Wim

With spring-loaded traps, peanut butter is hard to beat as bait as it seems to last forever. Before getting our walls pumped about 5 years ago, we were steadily getting mice in the loft, in one case chewing through a plastic water pipe (luckily we were in the room at the time the water started dripping through). We were mice-free until a few weeks ago when my Dad got something in the loft and saw one of the old traps had caught one. Had it been this product, I'm not sure the batteries would have lasted until now after after many years without a mouse.

Seán Byrne

That is surprisingly complex! I think the mouse should at least be given a chance by having it solve a puzzle to win its life. The best laid plans of mice.

Michael Thompson

poor rats...,

Michael Gilchrest

Some people also keep mice and rats as pets, so I can appreciate why they might get upset. But yes, there's a big difference between that and an infestation (thankfully not something I've knowingly had here, though my parents old house did).

Mark Gray

Clive, you didn't mention that Shawn Woods catches, cooks up & eats rats in his video!! Funny thing is, it looks just like chicken..

Gordo

Thanks for the teardown. Those are good for catching "water bugs" cockroaches too. It's a touchy subject, killing mice and rats. Some people are squeamish. But here it's a reality that we have to do something about them or get overrun. Most of the time our mouse and rat traps sit there and not much happens. Then three weeks ago we started getting overrun with rats and got six or seven in a row. And now nothing again. Happens every spring.

Nani Isobel

"... Stay tuned."