Many years ago,  all of a sudden there was a mouse under my roof (and once also in my bedroom). So I developed this mousetrap (to catch them alive, of course). Here is a description with pictures (of the trap and the mouse).

All you need is a double pack of champagne bottles. First you have to drink the champagne…, no just kidding! What you really need is the wooden box, that comes with the champaign.

The working principle follows the KISS rule (Keep it simple, stupid!), that is why it works so incredibly well. The aluminum shield is held on it’s lower edge by two stripes of adhesive tape, which act as a hinge. It is positioned in a way, that it almost tips over, to cover the open part of the wooden box. When the mouse touches the cardboard, that is fixed to the metal pin that goes down into the box, the aluminum trips. It is heavy enough not to be pushed open by the trapped mouse.

And here is the evidence that the trap really works. Of course I had to put some Plexiglas on top of the box, to make the photos. Over a couple of days, I have caught one mouse every night, until all of them where gone.

Of course I have set free all of them. I put the box in my car and drove a while, before I released the mice out in the fields. I just wanted to be sure that they do not become  second Lassies and find the way back to my house. That was the first and only time I had mice under my roof, the never came back…

And for the animal lovers, here are a few more pictures of a caught mouse. Cute, isn’t it? Well, to be frank, I do not like the thought very much that it was roaming around in my room.