With new and bigger mice popping up in 2007, I decided to keep a similar design to the previous trap but with a new trigger mechanism and replaced the material with aluminium and perspex, as shown in Figure 7,8. Since the circuit only activates when there is a connection between the contact plates the whole thing runs off a rechargable 9V battery, making it quite portable compared to the previous moue trap. Though, for some reason the battery only lasted 3 days, probably due to some current leaking through the transistor even when the circuit is off. Figure 9 shows the two contact plates used to trigger the trap. I added some rubber pads to the contact plate because I did not want the circuit to be on all the time should the mouse decides to urinate. Although the circuit worked when I touched the contact plates, I wasn’t sure if the mouse’s feet would conduct enough to trigger the trap.

I used expoxy glue to join the perspex to aluminium but did not take care to clamp it. Some of the bits are falling apart as a result. Lesson learnt, use screws instead.

As good as the new trap may look, it sadly failed to catch a single mouse. The new mice did not once attempt to go and take the bait. Could it be because the trap is transparent and not a dark box? What were the mice thinking when they saw the trap? Hmmm.

Figure 7: Front view.

Figure 8: Back view.

Figure 9: Underneath view showing the contact plates supported by rubber pads.