So, my apartment has a mouse living in it. I've seen him out of the corner of my eye a few times previously, and figured he was just wandering in from one of the other apartments. Then one day I saw him pop out of a closet, run around my computer chair and then run back to the hallway closet. I investigated the closet and found mouse droppings inside. He's apparently living in there.
I don't want to simply clean the closet, because the mouse will probably just run off and come back later(And probably be happy I cleaned his home). I don't want to set a mousetrap, because the little guy is freaking adorable and I don't want to kill it.
So I devised a trap to catch the mouse.
A plastic bowl, a paper towel tube, and a piece of cardboard. I taped the tube to the bowl to allow a path to the top, and then loosely attached a piece of cardboard to the end of the tube like a little diving board. Ideally the mouse would walk along the diving board, and it would collapse and the mouse would fall in.
Day 1:I read that mice like peanut butter, so I put a little peanut butter at the start of the tube, at the end of the tube, in the bowl, and on the diving board. Trap was placed at a corner of the closet door, in hopes that the mouse would try to keep to the dark corners.
Day 2:No result. I added some raisins and cheerios to the bowl, and put a tiny piece of cheddar cheese at the top of the tube.
Day 3:Noticed that the crumb of cheddar was missing, but everything else was untouched. Could this be a classic stereotypical mouse? I put a slice of Havarti cheese in the bowl itself.
Day 4:The whole slice of cheese was gone, but no mouse! Not only is this mouse a unashamed stereotype, but its apparently able to escape my trap with ease! Did it feast on the cheese entirely and then escape, or did it manage to drag the Havarti off to its closet lair?
A new trap is constructed. No fancy diving boards or peanut butter smears this time. A larger metal bowl, which should be harder to get a grip on is used. The tube is attached to the top as before, and a large piece of cheddar is placed at the bottom of the bowl. And I've added a secret touch to prevent any escape. At the bottom of the bowl is a small pool of olive oil, which should make his little adorable grippy feet unable to climb anything. Mwahahaha.
Day 5:Mouse didn't take my bait. Maybe he's in a food coma from the slice of Havarti from yesterday? Maybe he realizes that jumping into a metal bowl for a piece of food might not be the best idea? Maybe he detests the smell of olive oil? These are questions I will never know the answer too.
I added a small platform from a piece of paper and tape at the end of the tube overhanging the bowl, and put a tiny bit of Havarti on the end of it. Hopefully he will go for it, and the paper will collapse landing him in my olive oil trap! We will see what tomorrow brings, but time is running out. My cruel and inhumane roommate has started talking of setting actual lethal mouse traps. If I don't manage to catch before he overcomes his inherent laziness, it may be too late for the little fella.
Day 6:Still no result! I think he's to clever to just jump into a metal bowl full of oil. Thankfully, I've watched enough cartoons to know the next stage of traps. A pit trap!
So I assemble my trap:
Starting with a shoebox:
And a bowl of water:
Put the bowl into the box:
And voila, an expertly constructed trap that no mouse could possibly figure out! Right? Right!
Okay, maybe its not foolproof. I like to think the mouse will step on the tissue, the tissue will start sliding in and take the mouse with it. No idea if it'll actually work that way, he might just nimbly bounce away as it starts falling in.
Day 7: Gasp! It turns out my nefarious and lazy roommate isn't as lazy as I thought! Turns out he bought and set up a bunch of mouse traps a few days ago without letting me know! Thankfully, none of his traps have been triggered yet. Sadly, neither has mine.
I haven't seen the mouse in a few days now, I'm starting to wonder if he got wise that we were on to him and fled to another apartment.
Author
Topic: To catch a mouse (Read 10714 times)