A Frugal (and Humane) "Do it Yourself" Mousetrap

by Traci Anderson | More from this Blogger

24 May 2007 10:46 PM

Last night I was busy blogging in my dining room when I heard a scurrying sound in the kitchen. I knew immediately what it was. "Ug...here we go again", I grumbled. A few weeks earlier we had a mouse who had been visiting our kitchen each evening. My husband purchased sticky tape traps and placed them on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, he left for work early that morning and left me with a frantic little mouse to deal with. It was awful. "Oh mommy...he's so cute", my daughter squealed when she saw our very own Stuart Little.

I could stand to watch him suffer so I gently pulled him off of the tape and placed him in the dumpster. I wondered if our new mouse was actually the one I had freed from a sticky death a few weeks earlier. Since my rodent rescue efforts clearly aren't very effective, I spent the evening searching for a humane and homemade mouse trap.

I found one unique solution that I am trying tonight. First, I took an old paper towel roll, flattened half of it and balanced it on the edge of our counter top. At one end of the roll, I placed a small amount of peanut butter and put a swinging door garbage can directly underneath the roll and the counter. If everything works out as planned, my little friend will crawl into the "tunnel" to get the peanut butter which will cause him (and the paper towel tunnel) to tip and fall into the garbage can. Then, I will take a long morning walk with the kids where I can release my visitor back into the woods where he belongs.

I have yet to hear any scurrying this evening even though I am fairly certain my little house guest has decided to stay for awhile. As soon as I find out if the homemade mouse trap works, I will stop back in and tell you about it in the comments section. Wish me luck.

Learn more about Traci Anderson

Traci is a work-at-home-mom (WAHM) from beautiful Big Sky Country (Montana). She spends most of her time trying to keep up with two extremely energetic (but hysterical) Irish twins.

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