Justin and the mousetrap

Justin is the sweetest mouse.


He was caught by our little cat Evey, and Evey has the annoying habit of catching animals, taking them in our livingroom, and then 'loose them'.
And our big cat Sophie hates everything that Evey does, so she did't want to touch Evey's mouse.

So Justin was camping in our kitchen for a while, and then we made a raid to catch him but he escaped to another room and disappeared.


Bodil doesn't like mice, so she built some barricades.




Since Justin was to clever to be found, we had to built a mini version of our famous Earl-Trap (the tunnel of doom).
The trap is triggered by the weight of the incoming monster with a microswitch.


The tunnel is a plastic pipe with metal net on the end to close it.
The pipe lays on a bar that also carries the microswitch.
Sliding the bar towards the end or beginning of the pipe lets you adjust the 'trigger-weight' of the trap. A standard mouse is approx 20 grams.


We made 4 improvements, compared to our 1st generation tunnel trap:
1) front part of the tunnel is made of metal, in order to discourage the monster from gnawing its way out.
2) the tunnel is inside a closed box, so if the monster manages to destroy the tunnel, it can still not escape.
3) when the tunnel-door closes, it is secured by a spring so even a rat cannot force it open.
4) a remote warning light will switch on when the trap has been triggered.



This picture shows the CD-drive that pulls a steel wire out of the door, so it falls down and locks:



Schematics:



Here is the trap set up and ready to catch Justin. Inside is some cheese at the end of the tunnel.
You can also see a little mechanical trap that doesnt work, and oatmeal-flakes that had tempted Justin to reveal his presence in this room.




He was caught 24:00 without any problems.
Next day we take the trap to some nearby forest to set Justin free.



Door is opened.



Justin is a bit afraid to come out.



But finally he jumps away into the woods, starting a whole new life....