There are many good reasons to create homemade mouse traps rather than purchasing them at the store. For one, do-it-yourself traps are cheaper than store-bought ones and make use of objects that are just lying around the house. For another, homemade traps are typically more humane and trap mice without hurting them. Finally, in some cases, a home may already be full of store-bought traps and still need more. When this happens, it’s time to call an exterminator, but if there is simply a mouse or two that needs catching, these home solutions will do the trick.

1. Spoon Trap (humane)

Materials: utensils, trash can, peanut butter
• Set a trash can or plastic tub on the floor against the kitchen counter.
• Cover the handles of a couple utensils with peanut butter.
• Balance the utensils on the edge of the countertop.
• Mice will crawl across the utensil to reach the peanut butter, causing the utensil to fall into the trash can.
• This trap stays active until all the utensils are knocked over.

2. Paper trapdoor (humane)

Materials: paper plate, skewer, bucket, peanut butter
• Hold a paper plate over the top of a bucket so the edge just barely overlaps with the rim of the bucket. It will only touch in one place.
• Skewer the plate through the center of the bucket. This will create a sort of lid that spins if pushed down on the shorter side.
• Spread peanut butter on the very edge of the plate.
• Make a ramp or other pathway to help mice reach the trap. The path may be made of paper and tape, wood blocks, sticks, or most any sturdy material.
• Mice will run across the plate in order to reach the peanut butter, inadvertently flipping over the plate so they fall in the bucket.
• As the plate returns to its position, the trap resets.

3. Dropping cup (single use)

Materials: glass, nickel, peanut butter
• Spread peanut butter around the inside of a glass.
• Turn the glass over and balance it so the nickel is holding the glass up with just enough room for a mouse to slip inside.
• A mouse will run into the glass to reach the peanut butter, knocking over the nickel and becoming trapped.
• The weight of the glass will keep the mouse confined.

4. False bottom bottle

Materials: 2-liter bottle, tape, peanut butter
• Cut the bottle diagonally at the top of where the label would be.
• Spread peanut butter long the walls of the bottom half. Set the bottom half aside for later.
• Cut off the cylindrical tip of the top half.
• Make six to eight vertical cuts into the top about one to two inches long.
• Turn over the top half and place it inside the base so the two rims are touching.
• Tape the bottle pieces in place.
• Build a ramp or pathway leading to the top of the bottle. The hardest part is making the path sturdy enough that a mouse will not be able to knock over the bottle from the inside.
• Mice will follow the path into the false-bottom bottle, falling to the bottom.

5. Balance beam

Materials: bucket, cord, disposable cup, peanut butter
• Make a small hole in the base of a disposable cup. Spread peanut butter along the outside of the cup.
• Feed a cord through the hole in the cup. Tie the ends of the cord to the two ends of the bucket.
• Make sure there is a path to lead the mice to the bucket. Paths can be made out of wires, wood blocks, sticks, or just about any sturdy material.
• Mice will scamper across the cord onto the cup. The cup will spin, causing the mice to fall into the bucket.
• There is no reset time for this trap. It words even if multiple mice attempt to cross it at once.

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