Genius critter or human sabotage? Perplexing finding!

[coppercone2]

When I was a kid mice got into our garage and stashed a bunch of dog food somewhere in the exhaust system of my dad's classic Jaguar. They also ripped a hole in the leather and pulled some of the stuffing out of one of the seats, which I remember he was very unhappy about. He found out about the stash after he started up the car and it backfired and shot a bunch of kibbles up the driveway.

I left the shop vac outside unplugged for 3 months and it turned into an acorn shot gun when I turned it on.

[NiHaoMike]

Time to build a high voltage trap? Could probably build one out of an old CRT TV or monitor, with the capacitance of the CRT delivering the fatal jolt. Even the fastest animal is not going to outrun a miniature lightning bolt.

[coppercone2]

you must really take your crappy cheap spaghetti stores seriously if you do that

99 cent structural dough from walmart

maybe the mouse will die of heart disease if it keeps eating that stuff lol. i think you can throw it in cement to make it reinforced

[james_s]

Time to build a high voltage trap? Could probably build one out of an old CRT TV or monitor, with the capacitance of the CRT delivering the fatal jolt. Even the fastest animal is not going to outrun a miniature lightning bolt.

Not likely, the zap from a CRT (been there, done that) is painful but unlikely to be lethal. Add to the fact that with CRTs well out of production devices using them are quickly becoming valuable vintage gear. You'd be a lot better off using a lower voltage with more current behind it, although in my experience it's pretty hard to beat the simple spring loaded mouse trap.

[CJay]

Time to build a high voltage trap? Could probably build one out of an old CRT TV or monitor, with the capacitance of the CRT delivering the fatal jolt. Even the fastest animal is not going to outrun a miniature lightning bolt.

Not likely, the zap from a CRT (been there, done that) is painful but unlikely to be lethal. Add to the fact that with CRTs well out of production devices using them are quickly becoming valuable vintage gear. You'd be a lot better off using a lower voltage with more current behind it, although in my experience it's pretty hard to beat the simple spring loaded mouse trap.

I ripped apart a couple of NOS electrics mouse traps that'd been in stores at work, they're really simple, made me think of a flash gun boost converter, charging up a 450V capacitor which was connected to a couple of wide strips of foil across the 'floor' of the trap. 

[NiHaoMike]

Not likely, the zap from a CRT (been there, done that) is painful but unlikely to be lethal. Add to the fact that with CRTs well out of production devices using them are quickly becoming valuable vintage gear. You'd be a lot better off using a lower voltage with more current behind it, although in my experience it's pretty hard to beat the simple spring loaded mouse trap.

Is there any study of what kind of energy it takes to kill small animals? I'm under the impression it's far less than what it takes to kill a human.

And while I do agree that it probably wouldn't be good to tear apart a good monitor for that, for every Trinitron out there, there's probably dozens if not hundreds of cheaply made junk that practically nobody wants.

I suppose a "proper" high voltage capacitor would be better but we just want the unwanted animal to stop moving, not blow it to bits.

[edy]

Just to update... I only caught that one mouse so far. No other traps sprung yet, even with "the peanut butter solution" (Canadians may get the reference). I haven't found any more corn chip/spaghetti stashes but as I clean the basement I will continue to look for it.

As a positive note, it has pushed me to clean the basement and as I do that I've been making Youtube videos of some old crap that will be heading for the recycle bin.    That includes a old US Robotics modem (who uses those anymore?), a Vonage Motorola VOIP box and a bunch of CD/DVD IDE drives. I also have a pile of 3.5" floppy drives and a ZIP drive I have to rummage through (I decided to keep a few different drives just in case I have to access old media, assuming I can still find IDE port in new machines, as they all have moved to SATA)... I'm willing to bet I'm going to throw those out too not long from now as they are all getting obsoleted.

[Syntax Error]

It's unbelievable how I found a large round tin in one of my drawers, full of coax cable wrapped in loops for storage.
[etc]

We had Wood Mice who cut a perfect round hole in a plastic bird feed container in the garage and robbed out the contents. We did find the culprits nearby. They had built a citadel inside an old VHS video recorder box up on the shelf. Inside, it was crammed with chewed up magazines. We still have no idea where they found the magazines, but we suspect they cut a similar port in the plastic recycling bin next door. They were driven to the woods and told to not come back.

From spider's webs to wasp's nests, birds nests to beaver dams, we are not the only species that solves complex engineering problems. To them, our engineering antics are just one big opportunity for them to gather food and shelter.

+++ btw, mice seem to love reusing and remodelling abandoned tech. Record decks, VCRs, tape decks, basically anything that had an electric pulse. I think it's because they like chewing electrolytic capacitors or something.

[CJay]

Just to update... I only caught that one mouse so far. No other traps sprung yet, even with "the peanut butter solution" (Canadians may get the reference). I haven't found any more corn chip/spaghetti stashes but as I clean the basement I will continue to look for it.

As a positive note, it has pushed me to clean the basement and as I do that I've been making Youtube videos of some old crap that will be heading for the recycle bin.    That includes a old US Robotics modem (who uses those anymore?), a Vonage Motorola VOIP box and a bunch of CD/DVD IDE drives. I also have a pile of 3.5" floppy drives and a ZIP drive I have to rummage through (I decided to keep a few different drives just in case I have to access old media, assuming I can still find IDE port in new machines, as they all have moved to SATA)... I'm willing to bet I'm going to throw those out too not long from now as they are all getting obsoleted.

Oh good grief, that's your stash? Yeah, I've no idea why but I've a thing for old dial up modems.

[SilverSolder]

Sunflower seeds have an amazing success rate around here - put a sunflower seed in a Victor trap and see what happens...   I would say it works better than peanut butter, and less messy.

[james_s]

And while I do agree that it probably wouldn't be good to tear apart a good monitor for that, for every Trinitron out there, there's probably dozens if not hundreds of cheaply made junk that practically nobody wants.

I suppose a "proper" high voltage capacitor would be better but we just want the unwanted animal to stop moving, not blow it to bits.

Where? A low end 19" color TV will fetch $100+ as a "gaming TV" in the right place. Pretty much any vintage CRT computer monitor is worth $50+ in working condition. About the only cheap CRTs that turn up are the little 5" Chinese B&W TVs but after buying just about every one of those I came across to make mini vector monitors the supply has pretty much dried up. CRTs were getting scrapped like crazy up until about a year and a half ago, then suddenly the piles behind the recyclers around here were gone. That's how it goes with anything, the value bottoms out as nobody wants whatever it is, you can't even give them away and then you notice one day that they're just not around anymore.

[CJay]

When I was a kid mice got into our garage and stashed a bunch of dog food somewhere in the exhaust system of my dad's classic Jaguar. They also ripped a hole in the leather and pulled some of the stuffing out of one of the seats, which I remember he was very unhappy about. He found out about the stash after he started up the car and it backfired and shot a bunch of kibbles up the driveway.

I left the shop vac outside unplugged for 3 months and it turned into an acorn shot gun when I turned it on.

We've all seen this one right?

[SilverSolder]

That's one industrious squirrel!  (or maybe more than one, hopefully!)

[G7PSK]

Mice dont need much space to get into somewhere, if the gap is big enough to poke a pencil through a mouse can squeeze through the gap.

[Ed.Kloonk]

When I was a kid mice got into our garage and stashed a bunch of dog food somewhere in the exhaust system of my dad's classic Jaguar. They also ripped a hole in the leather and pulled some of the stuffing out of one of the seats, which I remember he was very unhappy about. He found out about the stash after he started up the car and it backfired and shot a bunch of kibbles up the driveway.

I left the shop vac outside unplugged for 3 months and it turned into an acorn shot gun when I turned it on.

We've all seen this one right?

That's one industrious squirrel!  (or maybe more than one, hopefully!)

Is this why my phone calls sound wooden?

[CJay]

When I was a kid mice got into our garage and stashed a bunch of dog food somewhere in the exhaust system of my dad's classic Jaguar. They also ripped a hole in the leather and pulled some of the stuffing out of one of the seats, which I remember he was very unhappy about. He found out about the stash after he started up the car and it backfired and shot a bunch of kibbles up the driveway.

I left the shop vac outside unplugged for 3 months and it turned into an acorn shot gun when I turned it on.

We've all seen this one right?

That's one industrious squirrel!  (or maybe more than one, hopefully!)

Is this why my phone calls sound wooden?

ACorny joke Ed, shame on you

[Ed.Kloonk]

We've all seen this one right?

That's one industrious squirrel!  (or maybe more than one, hopefully!)

Is this why my phone calls sound wooden?

ACorny joke Ed, shame on you

That's me in a nutshell.