How to Build a Homemade, Humane Mousetrap

I found all the parts for this trap around the house, so this little project was free. I suggest that you find an old box of some sort that you don't mind using, If you use cardboard, you will have to check the trap more often. The mouse will chew a hole though it if you are not careful. I used a Rubbermaid container because that is what I had in the house.

I pulled an empty two liter bottle out of the recycle bin and cut the top and the bottom off of it. The top hole should be just large enough for the mouse to get through. The mouse thinks it is going to see something new and exciting. They like challenges. It think this is why they are so attracted to the trap. The hole at the bottom of the bottle should be the width of the bottle. When the bottle drops, we don't want there to be anything the mouse can grab onto.

When you attach the bottle to the box, you want to create a kind of hinge. I found that the Rubbermaid container was perfect for this. I placed the tape on the outside, up and over the lip of the Rubbermaid container before I attached it to the soda bottle. I then placed another piece of tape on the inside of the Rubbermaid container and strait up to the soda bottle. If you do this right, both pieces of tape should meet (sticky side to sticky side) on the inner side of the container. When you attach the tape to the Soda Bottle, they should attach where the bottle curves towards where the cap used to be.

When you let go of the bottle, it should swing into the Rubbermaid container (or box) without any help from you. Make sure you over weight it on one side.

Next you will have to create a counterweight. This is something attached to the top of the bottle so it will lay flat on the lip of the box 'til a mouse walks in, teetering it back into the box, dropping the mouse into the trap.

To do this I took more packing tape and stuck pennies to it. Then I placed another strip of tape over the pennies so they were secure from both sides. Then I taped the strip of pennies to the mouth of the bottle. It took 12 pennies to hold my bottle level on the lip of the Rubbermaid container. I tested it by placing pennies where the peanut butter was going to go. It took 3 pennies for my trap to spring. This was fine with be because I knew the peanut butter was going to weigh a little bit.

Be careful when you set this part. If you add to much weight to the counterweight, the mouse will not be heavy enough to spring the trap. The mouse will be able to sit there and eat the peanut butter. It will get a free treat on you. So make sure that very little weight will actually set off your trap.

Now that you have your trap built, it is time to set it. I like to use peanut butter as the bait. The reason is because it usually has a strong smell and attracts mice fairly easy. You can use cheese, but it way not work quite as well. I dabbed a little on the back part of the bottle, making sure that it was not enough to set off the trap.

Next you will have to create some sort of ramp for the mouse to get into the bottle. They cannot climb up the side of the box to get into the bottle. If you look at the image at the top of this page, I used some bags of stone that were sitting in my garage. Cardboard works well. Use anything that they can climb. Make sure to wash anything you use after you disassemble the trap. Mice can carry diseases.

The only other thing you will have to do now is wait. I caught my first mouse within 18 hours. I let it go in the woods down the street from our house, reset the trap and had the second one in the morning when I got up. I reset the trap and the third one was caught by dinner time.

When you catch the mice, you could take the whole trap to the woods to let them go. I found that was just an annoyance. I found a small jar and went after the mouse in the Rubbermaid container. They would jump up the side of the container trying to get away from me. I just placed the jar underneath them as they came back down and quickly screwed on the lid. Then I would take a nice evening walk and let them loose in the woods.

If you do this, make sure you either don't leave them in the jar very long, or you poke a couple of air holes in the lid. The mice will suffocate if you don't do this. That would be a horrible way for any living creature to die.

Also, Make sure you go a good distance from your house. If you don't go far enough away, the mouse will find its way back to your house. Then you will just have to catch it again. This is one reason many people decide to kill the mice. A dead mouse does not re-infest. I don't like killing animals if I don't have to.

I hope you learned a little something from this page. Mice may be rodents and unwanted inside our home, but it was a thrill to see this trap work so quickly and efficiently.