page_title: Mousetrap
section_title: Live-capture mousetrap
hierarchical_section_title: Mousetrap / Mousetrap types / Live-capture mousetrap
context_page_description: A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch and, usually, kill mice. Mousetraps are usually set in an indoor location where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. Larger traps are designed to catch other species of animals, such as rats, squirrels, other small rodents, or other animals.
context_section_description: An early patented mousetrap is a live capture device patented in 1870 by W K Bachman of South Carolina.  These traps have the advantage of allowing the mouse to be released into the wild, or the disadvantage of having to personally kill the captured animal if release is not desired.  To ensure a live capture, these traps need to be regularly checked as captured mice can die from stress or starvation.  Mice would need to be released some distance away, as mice have a strong homing instinct. House mice tend to not survive away from human settlements in areas where other small mammals, such as wood mice, are present.
  There are many methods to live trap mice. One of the simplest designs consists of a drinking glass placed upside down above a piece of bait, its rim elevated by a coin stood on edge. If the mouse attempts to take the bait, the coin is displaced and the glass traps the mouse. Another method of live trapping is to make a half-oval shaped tunnel with a toilet paper roll, put bait on one end of the roll, place the roll on a counter or table with the baited end sticking out over the edge, and put a deep bin under the edge. When the mouse enters the toilet paper roll to take the bait, the roll (and the mouse) will tip over the edge and fall into the bin below; the bin needs to be deep enough to ensure that the mouse cannot jump out.  See also bucket trap.
  A style of trap that has been used extensively by researchers in the biological sciences for capturing animals such as mice is the Sherman trap.  The Sherman trap folds flat for storage and distribution and when deployed in the field captures the animal, without injury, for examination.
caption: A live-catch mousetrap. Uninjured mice can be released.
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