How to Make a Mousetrap With a Shoebox

eHow may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.

Things You'll Need

  • Shoe box

  • Y-shaped twig

  • Soft cheese, hot dog or peanut butter

  • Mouse poison pellets

  • Toilet roll tube

  • Cooking oil

Getting a new house-mate can be fun. But not so much when it is a furry, squeaking rodent that decides to move into your residence. Whether it is chewing the wires from your television, spreading germs or causing you to shriek and jump onto on the sofa, a mouse is a pest that must be removed from your home. A shoe box can be a valuable tool in catching the tiny trespasser.

Advertisement

Table Fall

Step 1

Bend a toilet paper tube until one of the sides is flat. The tube should look roughly like a tunnel.

Video of the Day

Step 2

Put a slice of hot dog, some peanut butter or even some soft cheese into one end of the tunnel.

Step 3

Balance the tunnel on the edge of the table so that it is flat, but if moved farther along would begin to tilt. Place the end with the bait hanging over the edge.

Step 4

Position the shoe box on the floor under the hanging end of the tunnel.

Advertisement

Step 5

Coat the sides of the box with cooking oil. The mouse will go for the food in the tunnel, but the extra weight will cause it to fall into the box. The cooking oil will make it difficult for the mouse to escape.

Ramp

Step 1

Position the shoe box in an area where a mouse has been spotted.

Advertisement

Step 2

Place a piece of cheese, hot dog or peanut butter into the shoe box and coat the sides with cooking oil.

Step 3

Position a ramp leading to the top of the shoe box. The mouse will head up the ramp and jump in the box to reach the food, but will struggle to escape once in.

Advertisement

Drop Trap

Step 1

Tie a piece of string to a Y-shaped twig, near the point where the twig splits in two.

Step 2

Wrap the other end around a slice of hot dog or piece of soft cheese. There should be roughly 4 inches of string between the two objects.

Advertisement

Step 3

Remove the lid from a shoebox and turn it upside down. Lift up one of the short sides of the box and place the Y-shaped twig between floor and this side of the box. The edge of the box will be rested between the split section of the twig and the twig will be stood up on the floor. Move the bait as far under the box as possible; you want the string as tight as possible without pulling. When the mouse comes for the food, a slight tug should bring down the box over its body.

Tip

Purchase mouse poison pellets if you want to kill the mouse. A cardboard box is a good trap, especially when coated in cooking oil, but it is not impossible for a mouse to escape. Scatter the pellets in each of the traps.

Video of the Day

Advertisement

references