Electronic mouse trap

[HacksawParticipant @hacksaw]

When a mouse with a 45 meets a man with a mousetrap the mouse with a 45 is a dead mouse …Lets see if its true….!

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

When I was a bit younger, one of the blokes at work hooked a radar magnetron HV power supply to two metal flywire screens about 1 1/2 inches apart and dropped some bait between them, then turned it on as we knocked off work.

Next day the smell of crispy crunchy burnt mouse wafted through the office. 20,000V works ok.

The only worse pong was when I attempted to pop the dints out of a table tennis ball by popping it into the brew club's new microwave oven – it lasted about 10 seconds before the mighty flash and the black smoke! Pies never tasted the same for weeks after that.

Don't try this a home.

* Danny M *

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

I built one as a child. It was quite complicated but often worked. IIRC you simply turned the crank that kicked the boot that rolled the ball…….

Regards.

David.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Posted by norman valentine on 08/01/2017 23:37:43:

I had rats in my house. I bought a large bag of poison pellets. Set a few where I had seen a rat and put the bag away in a cupboard. Next morning I found that the rat had chewed its way into the bag and stolen most of the poison. I didn't see any more of them after that.

I had this in my loft, a mouse/rat chewed through the plastic poison container, made an overnight nest in it and.. never came back.

My 4 cats are less good at preventing the rodents than they are at keeping the numbers to manageable levels. Our Maine Coon takes rats up to 7" body length, but won't tackle any that are bigger. Unfortunately we've had 2 Dormice given to us as presents in the last year along with numerous rodent body parts. The Pygmy Shrews also sadden us when we get them. However try telling a cat that some rodents are OK & not others…

Regards,

Richard.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by richardandtracy on 09/01/2017 11:04:20:

Our Maine Coon takes rats up to 7" body length, but won't tackle any that are bigger.

We have a lightly built moggie. I think this rat discovered by my foot in the early hours one morning) was rather longer than 7" before she ate half of it.

She catches half-grown rabbits too.

Neil

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Ewww.

Good reason not to have a cat flap!

Regards,

Richard.

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

I actually thought this was about a new fangled version of the board game mouse trap!

Not the real ones, another bizarre pest is snails, you wouldn't think they would be hard to catch but they only come out at night and disappear by the time the morning comes round, only leaving their trails all over the floor.

Michael W

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by richardandtracy on 09/01/2017 11:04:20:

Our Maine Coon takes rats up to 7" body length, but won't tackle any that are bigger.

Regards,

Richard.

I'm not surprised! I don't think id fancy taking on a rat going on for a foot long.

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

Well I have to say I've got rat catching & mouse catching off to a fine art, poison is not an option for me as they die & stink the workshop out,my workshop being an old cow byre,& the father in law [farmer] kept hens, I caught 30 odd rats in 1 yr,no hens now so few rats, I've caught 36 mice this yr in my 3 workshops, MICE= a good old little nipper mouse trap,first remove the bait spike,"fine tune" it to be sensitive then spread nutty peanut butter all over & under the loop & pin mechanism, it never fails, oh and I put a wood screw in the side to wire a weight to it so they don't run away if they just catch their tail.RATS= a good old FENN MK4 spring trap they're like a small bear trap of old they're legal [google if you're not familiar] but you can only get them from farmers supplies [or the internet] then put a piece of hard chocolate on the platform & wind electricians tape round & round it tightly[rats love chewing plastic] & wire a weight to it as well, you don't want to loose a valuable trap!! never fails.[me]

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

If I found a rat 7" long in My house, I would walk around armed.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

We used a similar method to Clive's to recapture the school gerbil, after it escaped and made a meal of the leads for the P A.  A ramp, baited with food, led to a cardboard circle (with radial cuts) taped to the top of a plastic bucket.  Miladdo was very angry when found next morning!

A good mouser is usually a well fed cat, not one on starvation diet.

My wife used to help at Cat refuge, and the rats dug their way into the pit used an indoor toilet! One of the cats then pee'd down the hole. Don't think that ratty returned, obviously got the message.

A farmers way of catching rats was to put some meal into a tall bin, and leave off the top. Each day a bowlful of meal was removed. Eventually, ratty can no longer manage to jump out. He can then be disposed of in what ever way takes your fancy. A 12 bore is likely to spread the rat and meal all over the neighbourhood though, so don't waste the meal!

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 09/01/2017 17:44:01

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

If you are in to fishing then carp boilies make excellent rat & mouse bait. Especially strawberry ones.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'm not sure which Island it was, but during WW2 dad was based on both Bara, and Tiree as a Radar mechanic, and he told us when we were kids about the rat problem they had. One of the Nissan huts was placed on the track that the rats used to get to the rubbish dump, so the rats just went through the hut, the maintainance crew said we'll fix them, so they blocked all holes and vents with concrete mixed with crushed glass, within two days the rats had cleared the concrete. It ended up in having to move the hut. There were hundreds of rats, not a small problem.

Ian S C

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

True, rats will chew through concrete! The farm had a rat problem and the static machines were powered by 3 phase leccy, rats decided they liked the black, green, red and blue plastic and were able to chew off all the plastic sheathing on the horizontal 3 phase runs.This was extremely dangerous as if someone had put their hand on the ledge they would have got all three phases at once.

I decided the answer was armoured cable so replaced it all and thought that was it, no, within a few days the rats had eaten all the black plastic sheath over the armoured wiring! We had rat shoots every Friday evening, spot lamps and .22 shot guns, rush into shed and the rats scuttle and we all had set points to aim for. I doubt we hardly dented their population. A pair of Jack Russel's were very good and would get up on the beams where the rats were.

I get rats in my garden from next door occasionally, they live under his patio and during the Winter will come down from the fields and have a nice warm lair. They walk along the top of the fences, usually at dusk so make good moving targets. The PCP air gun makes short work of them.

Clive

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Years ago I did a pest control course as research for a magazine article I was writing, and was told that the best mousetrap bait was a Malteser. Subsequent experience proves the advice was good. No mouse problem in my present house thanks to my big ginger tom, but when the cottage next door suffered a major infestation the owner tried ultrasonic deterrents, and all of the unwanted guests had departed in a few days. A lot of live-catch traps work, but unless the mice are released a long way away from the affected property they always find their way back. Sorry to upset the more squeamish readers, but the only good mouse is a dead one….

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Neil

Full marks to your rat catching moggie but the description would be sufficient – your picture has quite put me off my lunch!  🤢

Norman

Edited By NJH on 10/01/2017 12:42:20

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Back in the 1970s I worked for a publishing company which had its own presses. The motors of the presses were served by cable tunnels which were big enough to crawl through, under the machine foundations. One day there was an almighty burning smell from the tunnels, and when the site electrician investigated he emerged from the tunnel white-faced and said that the structures were full of rats, and that half of the cables had no insulation and were sparking. Rat-catchers were called and the rats were poisoned. One chose to expire in the hollow space under my office, and the smell was diabolical. I asked one of the rat catchers why rats ate plastic insulation, and he said they didn't, but they gnawed the plastic to keep their teeth sharp.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I went to buy some rat-poison blocks today, can only buy in 1.5 k packs now for safety reasons, but can buy as many packs as you want. Of course the price reflects the extra packaging. Our cats won't go near a full-grown rat. I admire the way the cats manage to eat everything and just leave a neatly removed gall bladder. BTW a 6" rat is very small, I've seen a rat stuck in a 4" drain pipe.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Mike on 10/01/2017 14:25:27:

Back in the 1970s I worked for a publishing company which had its own presses. The motors of the presses were served by cable tunnels which were big enough to crawl through, under the machine foundations. One day there was an almighty burning smell from the tunnels, and when the site electrician investigated he emerged from the tunnel white-faced and said that the structures were full of rats, and that half of the cables had no insulation and were sparking. Rat-catchers were called and the rats were poisoned. One chose to expire in the hollow space under my office, and the smell was diabolical. I asked one of the rat catchers why rats ate plastic insulation, and he said they didn't, but they gnawed the plastic to keep their teeth sharp.

If rodenst can't chew enough their teeth grow round in a circle, up through the palate and into the brain…

[BrevaParticipant @breva]

Apparently, the enamel on a rat's tooth is the hardest organic material known.

A friend who worked as a Health Officer had an interesting story about being called into a turkey farm that was plagued with rats. The owner had tried everything, as did my friend, but the rats were thriving.

After quite a bit of head-scratching he checked into the contents of the turkey feed. They were adding a vitamin supplement (K, I think) that was the perfect antidote to the poison.

Having sussed that and removing the vitamin, the rats were beaten!

So don't leave the cornflakes laying around.

John

[Author]

Posts