How to make a mousetrap with your own hands

Recommendation points

• Classic trap design
• Hive mousetrap
• Humane hive design
• Bottle mousetraps
• What bait to use and how

In the fall, warm-blooded pests return to the winter quarters, and there is no better place for this than your warm house. To effectively deal with the invasion of rodents, it may take more than a dozen mousetraps. Especially for you, we have compiled several instructions for self-assembly of traps..

Classic trap design

The base for the mousetrap will be a 10-15 mm plywood board with dimensions 80×150 mm. All other parts are made of galvanized steel wire 1.5–2.5 mm thick. A wire for gas welding is perfect, the main thing is not to heat the metal when bending the workpieces.

The main part is a spring clamp. To make it, you will need about 45 cm of wire no more than 1.5 mm thick. It is necessary to tightly clamp a 10 mm round bar in a vice, at the end of which a saw cut with a depth of about 15 mm is made with a hacksaw. Having retreated 50 mm from the end of the wire, lay it in the cut and wind it in tight turns around the bar.

When about 25 cm remains during the winding process, the remainder must be directed to the side opposite to the initial tail, then stretch the spring to 50 mm. The long tail must be bent with a U-shaped bracket with equal sides of 60 mm. The penultimate corner should not be completely folded right away: the edge must be tucked into the spring, and the end must be removed from the back side and turned to the side, leaving a bend of about 5 cm.

To secure the spring to the base, divide it in half lengthwise and drill a 2mm hole in the centerline, 10mm from each end. Insert a 12 cm piece of wire 2.5 mm thick inside the spring, bend the edges down and thread through the holes. Pass the short tail through the base and bend it on the seamy side along with the spring attachment, driving the ends tightly into the wood.

Diagram of a simple trap-trap. 1. Spring and pressure frame. 2. Hinges. 3. Locking spoke. 4. Wooden base of the mousetrap

It remains to make a few simple parts:

1. Two short loops attached to the center of the front and back of the mousetrap.
2. Locking needle about 130 mm long, one end of which is passed through the back loop and wrapped in a ring.
3. Bait hook. It can be made from thinner wire by threading it through the front loop and twisting the ends half a turn. One edge must be bent with a hook around the knitting needle, and the other side must be taken to the side to set the bait.

After assembling the mousetrap, it remains only to cut the spoke so that in the cocked position the hook with the bait is 1-2 mm from the edge.

Hive mousetrap

The second typical mousetrap design is just as easy to manufacture. You will need a block of 50×50 mm, along the axis of which a blind hole with a diameter of about 30 mm and a depth of 50 mm is drilled. On one edge of the bar, you should mark in advance the longitudinal line and two more parallel to it with an indent of 15 mm.

Along the lateral lines with an indent from the front edge of 15–20 mm, you need to drill two through holes with a diameter of about 3.5–4 mm. The outlet holes must be connected with a line along which the cut is made, with a depth of at least the middle of the manhole. It is better to first make a series of small holes, and then cut out the remnants with a chisel or an assembly knife..

A U-shaped bracket made of 2 mm wire must be threaded into the slot formed. Its width should be 30 mm and the length of the tails should be about 120 mm. It is important that the bracket freely reaches at least the middle of the hole, and even better, so that the clamp can be tightened up to 10 mm from the top of the manhole.

The edges of the clamp must be bent at right angles and twisted into a loop. From a 2 mm wire, you need to roll the spring into 4–5 turns with two ends of 70 mm each. One end is rigidly attached to the body of the mousetrap, the second is threaded into the loop of the clamp and crocheted.

Two holes must be drilled at a distance of 30–35 mm from the front edge and 5 mm from the center line. Pass a harsh thread through them, squeeze the spring and tighten a tight knot from above. The bait is laid at the bottom of the manhole: trying to get to it, the pest will gnaw through the thread, and the spring will be activated.

Diagram of a hive mousetrap. 1. Spring. 2. Loop. 3. Thread. 4. Mousetrap body

Humane hive design

Rodent traps are usually created for slaughter. Pest carcasses need to be burned to prevent the spread of diseases; it is strongly not recommended to feed the caught animals to pets. If you still care about humanity, the trap can be made non-lethal.

The principle of operation of the hive trap remains the same, only the hole should be deeper – about 100–120 mm. The bait is also laid 20-25 mm from the bottom of the hole and a thread is used as a trigger, which the mouse gnaws through.

1. Instead of a loop, a tin plate is used to block the entrance when the mousetrap is triggered. 2. In order for the rodent to fit entirely in the mousetrap, it is necessary to deepen the main chamber

But instead of a U-shaped clamp, a steel plate is used, to which two pieces of thin wire are welded. With the same success, you can use an ordinary clamp, on which a pair of loops of thinner wire is tied crosswise, forming a locking grid.

The body of the trap should have a thickened lower part: it will take about 20-25 mm to hide the locking door in the slot. It is better to cut the front edge of the bar with a gentle lead-in part. This option is somewhat more difficult to manufacture, but the caught animal is guaranteed to remain alive and well..

Bottle mousetraps

However, for the humane trapping of pests it is not necessary to resort to such complex tricks. The simplest non-lethal mousetraps can be made from an ordinary bottle and even whipped up.

For one of the variations, you will need a deep plastic bucket, on the walls of which the mouse cannot get out. A piece of thick steel wire or a regular welding electrode must be threaded through a liter bottle or tin can. The trap rests on the sides of the bucket, the bait is neatly laid out in the center. Approaching it, the rodent will inevitably turn the bottle and fall down.

In a similar way, you can use a bottle with a cut-off neck, which in its upper part is fixed with a thread to the table. The bait is placed on the bottom, and the container itself is located on the edge of the countertop. Getting to the food, the rodent will fall down along with the container and will not be able to get out along the smooth sheer walls.

The described options have the main drawback: they are very problematic to hide, plus it is imperative to organize a path for the pest to approach the bait. However, if you cut off the top of the bottle, and dissolve the walls with sharp triangular petals 50–60 mm long and bend inward, such a trap can be placed lying down almost anywhere. Oddly enough, but numerous plastic “thorns” really do not allow the animal to get out to freedom.

What bait to use and how

In conclusion, we propose to discuss the issue of the correct preparation of baits. In order not to wait until the mouse comes close to the bait to notice it, it is recommended to use certain types of products that attract the victim with a smell.

Rodents respond best from natural products of general consumption to jerky, chocolates, canned corn and crab sticks. Barley or peas boiled with butter are also convenient to string on the hook of the trap.

If the mousetrap allows the use of loose baits, a mixture of equal parts of wheat groats, millet and bran, seasoned with unrefined sunflower oil, will work well. When laying the bait, wash your hands thoroughly without soap, and keep pets away from the traps, they can scare away pests with their own smell.

Mousetraps should be placed in dark, secluded places, in corners and along walls, where mice usually plot a route to survey the territory. Catching mice is guaranteed in places where they leave traces of droppings: here rodents eat stolen food and never refuse an additional portion.