Humane Mouse Trap by JudoJeff

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

This is an adaptation of Thingiverse user mikejeffs mousetrap. My mice seemed to be pretty tricky and pulled the original latch off from the inside and escaped. I went through a few iterations and eventually desired to have a simple falling latch. Use some super glue to attach a nickel to the pocket in the latch door. I also included the other pivoting latch that didn't work well for me, but might for you. The deadfall latch has the nickel facing inward and the counterweight latch has the nickel facing outward. The top of the deadfall latch can also accept a 1/4"-20 screw and nut to ensure the mouse can't pull the latch inside and release it.
I also modified the back of the trap making a removable door because I had a hard time getting the mouse out the trap door side. (He's fine.) The end cap should fit in with friction alone, but to be safe you can also lock it from the top with a paper clip. I designed it to use bamboo skewers to fit in the inside holes loaded with peanut butter as bait. I also removed some of the air holes from the sides of the main box and made covers for the floor pivots.
Assembly notes:
Clean up the holes and sliding surfaces. See mikejeffs video with a few modifications. Put the floor in first. Then put the deadfall latch in (nickel facing inward.) Then put the door on, putting the right peg in the hole first to start, then sliding the left peg in, all while holding the deadfall latch up and out of the way. Then you can bait the endcap and install it. Lift the door until it sets on the arm of the floor and you're ready to go. Test the trap a few times (with the endcap off for ease) to make sure the door closes before leaving it.
I recommend printing the main box with a brim.