My son's first haul

[Arachnodisiac]

He earns 50 cents for each carcass. He's thrilled. (The mask is to protect from hantavirus.)

I hope this photo may amuse some of you more serious trappers... but this exercise certainly has him interested in trapping!

In all seriousness, what's the best kind of mouse trap to use? I found the plastic ones were terrible, and currently, we're using Victor brand with the little plastic cheese to smear the bait on. They're hair trigger though, and difficult for little hands to set.

[bullgetter]

That's awesome! Now tell him he has to skin them Good trap is a 5 gallon pail quarter full of water with a wood ramp running up to it. On top is a paint roller attached over the bucket with peanut butter smeared on it. Mouse gets on rolls off and drowns. Then he can really start making the big bucks.

[Arachnodisiac]

Wow! Great idea!

So, the roller is a couple of inches away from the ramp, and the mouse jumps onto it, and then drowns.

I will craft this tonight, and then I will take a photo and post it here to ensure I've done it correctly, if you don't mind checking back.

How many would one bucket like that get in a night, do you figure?

[GoneFishin']

Hey, awesome catch ...I work at a grain farm cleaning and have the wooden ones and the plastic grey ones as well...I like those because for me they are easier to set lol, although I will agree that they definitely are hair trigger and for smaller fingers they could be tricky...

[Arachnodisiac]

I threw the grey ones out!

The mice were getting caught by just a leg...

I went into the tack room and here was this poor mouse, dragging its plastic trap around the floor, terrified.

Not pleasant at all!

I'm pretty stoked to try this bucket trick.

I've been setting all the traps, and then he goes and places them. But have the time, it goes off in his hand before he sets them down, and then he brings them back to me, and you can quickly see how this becomes a time-consuming process for me.

But after recently researching and writing an article on hantavirus, I definitely decided to take the deer mice population around here a little more seriously! (Picking up a cat tomorrow, too.)

Haven't found any in the house, but with the number running around near the house, it's inevitable.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

But have the time

Journalist huh? Why do I get the feeling I just painted a big bull's eye on all my future posts.

ARG

[Arachnodisiac]

There's a reason why editors exist, you know.

And yes. Yes, you're so going to get it one day!

[Redfrog]

"Picking up a cat tomorrow, too"

I hope not by the tail. A man who picks up a cat by the tail learns a lesson he can learn no other way..........Mark Twain ........or maybe it was Shania.

[Arachnodisiac]

And being that I have to haul it all the way home from Calgary, there wouldn't be much of me left, I imagine.

I'll use the kennel instead.

[Redfrog]

Tell the boy child he did well in controlling the population of rodents. Fortunately he will have an unending money supply as they 'whelp' every 3 weeks.


This may help with the cat transport. I find a sedative saves a lot of misunderstanding and can quickly establish the hiearchy of the 'pack'

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/tools-h...et-115047.html


It claims to be 'no mark' but I've not found that to be the case.

[Sooner]

We did this in the bodyshop, big tall pail, old t-shirt screwed to the top. Hangs down on the outside. Water in the bottom. Peanut butter smeared halfway down on the inside. Mice climb up, jump in and problem solved.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

This may help with the cat transport. I find a sedative saves a lot of misunderstanding and can quickly establish the hiearchy of the 'pack'

Yeah, but it can be dangerous to drive in that condition, not to mention illegal.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

This may help with the cat transport. I find a sedative saves a lot of misunderstanding and can quickly establish the hiearchy of the 'pack'

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/tools-h...et-115047.html

Originally Posted by Okotokian

Yeah, but it can be dangerous to drive in that condition, not to mention illegal.

Thanks you two! Now I have this image stuck in my mind of Arachnodisiac doing a Roger Rabbit impersonation while driving down the QE2. "I can give you stars."

ARG

[Arachnodisiac]

Ok, wait...

What condition?

And rabbits? Can I trap them too?

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

Ok, wait...

What condition?

And rabbits? Can I trap them too?

This girl's got a serious case of blood lust going since she moved to Alberta. If you can catch, trap, shoot, or skin it, she wants to do it! LOL

[jimbo1]

as an aside raisins make a very good mouse bait

and congrats to your son for his sucess trapping i started out trapping mice too lol

[Arachnodisiac]

Thanks for the tip Jimbo! I can see the appeal in trapping now.

Originally Posted by Okotokian

This girl's got a serious case of blood lust going since she moved to Alberta. If you can catch, trap, shoot, or skin it, she wants to do it! LOL

Yes. You have a point.

But, I'm also planting a vegetable garden and picking berries this year, which makes me less of a savage. (I hope!)

[jimbo1]

snares would probably be best for rabbits then they are still good for eating!

thats if you want too eat them of course being british i have a real thing for rabbit stew! lol

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

But, I'm also planting a vegetable garden and picking berries this year, which makes me less of a savage. (I hope!)

LOL Hey 'Rach, no need to apologize or justify. A woman on this board saying she wants to hunt and trap and buy guns is about as appealing as a man on a dating site saying he loves children, long walks on the beach, sunsets, cuddling, thinks the most attractive physical feature in a woman is her smile, and that he owns his own home and earns $200,000 a year.

[Arachnodisiac]

I'd never date that man, for the record.

Great. Now I'm a blood-thirsty lesbian.

Thanks Oko.

Originally Posted by jimbo1

snares would probably be best for rabbits then they are still good for eating!

thats if you want too eat them of course being british i have a real thing for rabbit stew! lol

I have two jacks in the freezer that will be turned into stew. Had two others this year – one made sausage and the other became tourtière.

[jimbo1]

damn that sounds good i have a couple in the freezer mmyself that i picked upp roebuck hunting last weekend im thinking of a rabbit curry!

[mudbug]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

Thanks for the tip Jimbo! I can see the appeal in trapping now.



Yes. You have a point.

But, I'm also planting a vegetable garden and picking berries this year, which makes me less of a savage. (I hope!)

Gotta have a side dish to accompany the main course so you might as well grow your own

[Scottsman]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

I'd never date that man, for the record.

Great. Now I'm a blood-thirsty lesbian.

Thanks Oko.

[Arachnodisiac]

Ok, trap set!

I've used my good mop pail, but I guess all soldiers have to make sacrifices in a war against rodents.

(Please note the red matching duct tape securing the paint roller to the bucket.)

I don't know if I did this right... I guess we'll all know by morning!

[just_dave]

Haha! I want this to work so bad. I want to see pics!

Good luck!

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Originally Posted by just_dave

Haha! I want this to work so bad. I want to see pics!

Good luck!

x 2 better yet set up a video tape LOL

[CamoDerrick]

My brother and I made a similar mouse trap as well. Using the same bucket, wooden ramp, and drowning in water as the killing method. Instead of the paint roller, we took a 20inch long straight piece of copper wire and taped on a rectangle piece of cardboard about 4 inch wide and 7inch long in the middle (3.5inch on each side of the wire). The wire is then placed over the bucket, with one end of the cardboard against the side of the bucket with the ramp leading up to it. The bait (peanut butter) was placed at the other end. So the mouse would run up the wood onto the ramp, get half way, and make the cardboard tip because of its weight and falls in the bucket.

If you slightly weight the non-bait side of the cardboard (with a penny or two), the cardboard should snap back in place once it drops the mouse and thus reseting itself for the next one.

Hopefully that makes sense. I feel that your roller method may not spin with such a light rodent on it. See how it goes

[Arachnodisiac]

I really hope we caught something too!

My son slept on the living room floor last night to be closer to the action.
(It's spring break here.)

I'll wait to check until he wakes up.

[bullgetter]

That should work for ya. I usually mount the roller handle vertically so the roller is above the bucket somewhat. Just make sure the roller you use spins freely. Have seen several in one night caught this way. As others here have said you can use other materials just as long as they end up falling into the water. When I was a kid we had metal pails in the grainery to haul chicken feed. Mice would always end up falling in and getting trapped since they could not climb out

[Big Daddy Badger]

At 50 cents a pop he could make a fair living doing that in the country.

I wonder what it would cost to mount his first trophy...