The cannon mouse trap may be the most fun way to deal with mice.
Building a better mousetrap has been the goal of humans for hundreds of years now. After all, the little animals can cause a ton of damage to human food sources, and they spread all sorts of diseases. As a result, many different approaches have been tried to deal with the problem. Some of the more unique ones we have covered before at Wide Open Spaces.
However, none may be as goofy as the cannon mouse trap. This homemade creation is truly one of a kind. In fact, we suspect someone was watching way too many cartoons when they engineered this thing.
Because the trap is a PVC pipe with a plunger on a piston inside. Once the mouse goes inside after the bait, it breaks an infrared beam that sets the piston off, launching the mouse into the air into a waiting collection bucket. We know that sounds totally silly, but YouTuber Shawn Woods shows it really works!
I think I saw this trap on an episode of Tom and Jerry once. Although I don not remember it working as well in the cartoon as it did here. I guess you cannot fault this cannon too much. It does indeed work. Once in the bucket, those mice had nowhere to go and are trapped. Sure, it might be easier to use a different type of humane trap, but it would not be nearly as much fun!
Whoever put this together obviously spent a lot of time on it and thought things through carefully. Our hat is off to them for their ingenuity and creativity in dealing with a mouse problem. It is a good way to practice your engineering skills if nothing else. Although that night with the three successful captures was pretty impressive.
Although we do not think we will be seeing this design come to commercial pest control markets anytime soon. Because selling consumers on something that will fling live rodents through the air is likely a tough sell. It sure makes for an entertaining YouTube video though!
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For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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