Bottle mouse trap

Live Capture Bottle Mouse Trap.

"It's a trap!" -Admiral Ackbar.

This is a simple live capture mouse trap, designed to be printed with a few parts and screwed into a wide-mouth plastic drink bottle (approximately 38mm outer diameter with a 3mm screw pitch).  New edit:  for version 2 of the bottle adapter I designed a new mount that should adapt to any screw pitch. 

The three pieces of the trap are designed to print without support and include:

• Bottle connector.
•  "T" shaped balance bar.
•  Mouse trap lid.

Assembly:
The new bottle connector should screw on to any wide mouth drink bottle of the right dimensions, (38 mm outer diameter, 250 to 600ml volume). 
(The old bottle adapter had a fixed pitch so didn't fit all bottles.) 

Insert the "T" bar into the slot at the base of the bottle connector, with the top of the "T" towards the bottle end. The slot is cut so the balance bar can only fit in one way. It may need slight sanding to fit properly depending on the tolerance of your printer.

The lid is designed to sit precariously on the edge of the bottle connector, tiling on the groove in the lip. Next, adjust the position of the T balance bar backwards or forwards to account for the weight of the bottle and the sensitivity of the trap. If set too far back the bottle won't tip once the rodent is inside; too far forward and it may trip prematurely.

Bait the trap with some food pushed to the back of the bottle. I've used a dab of peanut butter on the end of dry spaghetti to get it there. You might even try a small metal lid dabbed in peanut butter, held in place on the inside of the bottle with a magnet on the outside.

When the mouse climbs inside, the shift in balance should tip the bottle causing the lip to shut over the opening. Please make sure to check your trap regularly else it won't actually be a 'live capture' anymore will it?

Hope this is useful. Please let me know if it works for you or if you have further design suggestions.

So the backstory here is that I was staying at a friends place, waking to find her sleeping on the couch. A mouse had dropped on her bed from an air vent, which proceeded to scurry around the room. An elusive mouse, the critter crawled around night after night even climbing on the bed, depriving her of much sleep. Due to a local mouse plague, you could not buy traps for love or money. So, what do you do if you have a 3D printer and a bit of time on your hands? 

Inspired by some of the other tilt-bottle traps I came up with this design, aimed to be adjustable for the trigger point as well as easy to print with no other parts required, other than an appropriately sized plastic drink bottle.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Bambu lab

Printer: 

Carbon X1

Rafts:

No

Supports: 

No

Resolution:

0.20 mm

Infill: 

20

Filament: 
Any

Notes:

Should print well without any supports.
Print the pieces flat oriented as in the third picture.

The version 2 bottle adapter has an adaptable screw thread that should adjust for most 38 mm outer diameter drink bottles. 

Category: Household