Jim Clark made a mousetrap of unimaginable complexity, expense and coolness. Hooked up to a camera and strobe lights, it captured the nightly misadventures of a mouse that took up residence in his kitchen.
There was a humane and happy ending, too: once he finally caught it (rather than just took photos), Jim ensconced the mouse in a well-appointed cage.
Building a better mousetrap [Strobist via Wired: Gadget Lab]
Very nice photos. Every fall we have to apprehend a few invading field mice and relocate them. They are devastatingly cute up close.
Fun article – it’s well worth clicking through to see the other photos.
One disappointing thing is that they don’t say what the strobe interval is. If we knew that we could work out exactly how fast the little critter was running. Impressive acceleration though – s/he seems to go from standing to full speed in less than one flash interval.
I was going to make a joke about using that info to calibrate a turbo-charged Roomba as the ultimate mouse hunting robot. Memories of Ethel, the amazingly cute kitchen mouse in an old house of mine, mean I can’t bear the thought.
I have sad memories of trying to keep a field mouse that I caught; it was so super cute. But apparently cheese is not a good meal for a teensy tiny mouse. She/he was dead by the morning.
I hope Mr. Clark’s mouse fares better!
I had an uncle who uses to make me drown any field mice I found on the farm in a five-gallon bucket, so I’d always have to keep them out of sight.
Excellent post, amazing photos, thanks!
Technically the strobe/camera had nothing to do with the trap, but I do like the “teetering cutting board with the food on the end with a trashcan below” technique, very nice! (For folks trying this at home, make sure the board cannot fall all the way into the can or you might end up with an injured mouse.)
#3/DCulberson: yes, that is a serious misnomer, mice do not like cheese! They like grains, a slice of wheat bread would have been perfect if you don’t have whole grains around the house, or white bread but only if whole-grain is not available.
#4/Joel: Aw, that sucks, I hate needless/wasteful killing. Ya should have caught a snake and fed the mice to the snake, at least you’d know the mice went to good use.
Cute mice for sure.
I had a dog that took care of any mouse problems we had. There was no stopping her. But I felt better about her killing them then buying traps. After she passed away I got the humane traps and released them into the wild.
that is incredibly cute. thanks!
The guy who caught the mouse had better be careful…although the mice bred specifically for use as pets or snake chow are pretty harmless, wild mice can carry some pretty nasty viruses, including typhus and hantavirus–many of which can be fatal if not treated quickly and properly. Ignorance of proper diet for the critter often results in the death of the mouse, too, and they are surprisingly delicate when it comes to respiratory illnesses. Keeping a wild-caught rodent as a pet is a recipe for tragedy.
That said, the little booger is awfully cute and I hope it lives a contented life.
yeah i hate to admit it but dogs are way better at catching mice than cats! we had two cats that were outdoor cats, problem was they were terrified of mice and rats! they would run away from mice, and the mice would chase after them, i could never figure out why..
When I lived out in a small town, our cats were great mousers. Problem was, they would bring them home to show us. They wouldn’t kill them, they’d just keep them as toys — until they got bored, at which point there was a live mouse running around the house.