Now, my relationship with mice, actually my battle with mice goes back a long ways. I live in an area of new jersey where there's a lot of farms around me. There are a ton of fields and there must be a million mice out there. All wanting to get inside my house now i have nothing against mice. I really respect them. I think they're adorable, i think they're intelligent. I would pet one if i get close to it, but i don't want them in the house. Nobody wants them in the house. So it's a constant battle of me, keeping them out and them coming in, and we all know why they want to get in it's sort of like when that reporter asked john dillinger, the late john dillage or the gunfighter john. Why do you rob banks and diligent, looked right at him with a smirk and said because that's, where the money is so the mice want to get in because that's, where the food is the comfort, the warmth, everything they care about inside the house but i'm inside The house and i don't want them inside the house, so all winter it's a battle to keep the mice outside and usually in a given winter, i'll find six or eight of them that i'll get inside the house and then relocate them outside the house. So the battle becomes, do i kill the mouse, or do i capture the mouse now i'm, not a killer, mouse kind of guy? I know a lot of people out there going to buy a standard, mousetrap put a chunk of cheese in it.
Stick it in the basement. You got a mouse, take them out and that's the end of it. For me, i kind of look at it a little bit more philosophically right. I know that's kind of a hippie thing to say, but there's a picture of me in the 70s. I was a full on hippie drink that in for a second anyway. My philosophy is they were here. First, like i live in an area where there were no homes right, so when i showed up, we dug a big hole in the ground, put some two by fours up and built the house and they're, probably out in the field watching me: do that going wait! A minute that was, we were living there yesterday what's that guy doing so, they have a sort of a right to get inside the house, and my job is to keep them outside the house. So i've decided i'm going to use a safe trap like this, where it actually captures the mouse, and then it allows me to take them back out to a big open field, far away from my house and let them go and let them live their lives and We'Re both happy, i don't have to lose sleep over killing a mouse. They don't have to worry about me, killing them so it's, a good balance for both of us plus. I really like the battle of wits because they're, smart and they're getting in and i'm smart, and i and i like that sort of mental battle of me trying to figure out ways to keep them out and them trying to get in.
So this is the perfect answer, because if i fail and they get in i'm, getting them in this – they can't beat this trap, and this is like the sixth generation of trap. I'Ve tried trust me. This has become an obsession of mine every winter. To make sure i catch as many mice that get in the house as possible, and i usually don't worry until they do something goofy like if they're running around the house and my wife says: hey, i saw a mouse. Maybe i'll set the traps, maybe i won't, but i like wise potato chips. That'S one of my my weaknesses of all the potato chips i use wise potatoes are the ones i love and i keep them in a drawer with the bread and if i open that drawer and the bag's been chewed through the traps are coming out so i'm. Looking for mice at that point, and this trap never fails, it catches them, it won't, hurt them and they can't get out of it. It'S sort of a houdini trap where there's no way to get out of this trap and what i love so much about it and i've tried a bunch of others. Here'S, a here's, a clone of this one built by another company it's, got a very similar design but see how cone shaped it is. This guy looks like a little house and i think that's part of the appeal there's a lot of room inside so when they get in there and they get trapped.
They'Re not feeling like claustrophobic this one it's like a big tube they're crawling in so it just didn't work, so i tried these against each other and every trap. I try against this. This is a hundred percent. The other traps are maybe 20 or 30. So this is what i'm going with and they're all about the same money, but i like this trapping off a lot. It also has ventilation holes in it. It'S even got a little it's. Adorable it's got a little diagram of a mouse over here. Talking about you know, a smart trap, a safe trap, so everything about it is just exactly what i want so the way the trap works. It'S really straightforward on this end is a bait door. You pop that thing off and that's where the bait goes. That'S, what tracks them into the trap, so they actually get in there and the way the trap works, is essentially there's a little door a little door here that opens up like that, and it fits under a hinge here that when the mouse walks in his weight Over here or her weight over here closes the door behind him. It'S not snagging them it's, not catching their tail. It'S not crushing their head it's, not doing anything obscene to them, it's, just kind of holding them in that house and then i'll come down and say hey. I got a mouse and i'll take him upstairs and take him to the field and get rid of him.
The other thing is nice about this. Is there are plenty of ventilation holes in it, so it's not like the mouse got stuck and then dies in the trap. I mean what a horrible death in some ways snapping their neck with that other trap is more merciful. I guess then, let them sit in here and then actually starve into death or suffocating so there's plenty of ventilation. I typically set these at night once everybody's gone to bed, i'll come down the next morning and check and sure enough. I'Ll have a mouse or two and then it's on. So what i do is i don't just let them go in the backyard because i'm, not an idiot, if i put them in the backyard they're going to know how they got in they're, going to go. Okay, let us out in the backyard there's the hole. Let'S go back in the house, so what i do is take them far away from the house. But before i do – and this may seem a little strange but it's my routine is – i take them upstairs – put them down on the kitchen counter and i take a picture of them and and all winter. I have a rogue's gallery of all the mice that i've caught up on my refrigerator in case there's recidivism. So if they come back, i compare them to the picture and go wait. A minute you've been here before, and i give him a stern talking to you before i take him out to the field.
Let him go. The other thing that's cool about that is that i get a chance to talk to the mouse and say look dude. I live here. You shouldn't, be here i'm, going to put you out in the field. Don'T come back if they're, smart, they're listening to me, maybe that's, making some sense to them, but anyway they take them to the field and let them go all right. As far as the bait goes, these guys have thought of everything, so the door pops off the bait slides down in there now you might be thinking i'll just throw a piece of cheese in there because mice like cheese, that's, a cartoon thing i'm, not saying mice, Won'T eat cheese, but that's, not the thing that's going to draw them in because to get a mouse in the trap. You need an aroma that permeates the house. So it's got to be something that smells really good but travels really well through the house, and that slot is perfect for crackers. Crackers slide right down in that slot. Now you can't just put a cracker in there because they're not going to go after the cracker it's got to have some aroma to it. So what do you put on crackers, okay, cheese, but also peanut butter? I love peanut butter crackers and this smells so good and it flies all over the house and they smell like peanut butter. They go looking for it and boom.
I got them in the trap, so the rule of thumb is. I take some peanut butter and i love skippy. This is my favorite i'm, not a chunky guy. I like it smooth anyway, you put a little peanut butter on the cracker and you put it in the trap. Now. The rule for me is if i'm going to bait a trap and i'm buttering a peanut butter up a cracker i'll get one and then mike's got one bro. One goes to me. Then one goes in the trap, so you got to spread this pretty thin and once you do it just slides right down in that little hole. Just like that it's perfect, then you put this little door back on and close it and that's it. You set the trap by opening the door like this and then put it anywhere. You want where you think you got mice. So typically, you want to line it up against the side of a wall. So if you've got a wall here, put the trap here, because the mice will run, i get to get this peanut butter out of my mouth. Okay, i'm back the mice are going to run along the wall, so you want to set this up against the side of the wall. The mice will run this way they run inside the wheat springs, are trapped, closed and you've got a mouse. Now. The only thing that's worried me a little bit, and this is why i do it at night, because i don't want them sitting in there for eight or ten hours, because that's they're suffering right, they're scared, they're inside there they're claustrophobic.
So i want to take them outside as quickly as i can so. I'Ll typically set it late at night. Next morning, i'll come out and i'll check all the traps and sure enough there's a mouse. We have the conversation i scold them. Take them out to the field, let them go and they don't come back and then rogue's gallery that's on the refrigerator is kind of a funny thing for me to have it up there but i'm telling you when i compare them with the ones that i've caught. None of them are the same, so either they're really good at disguising themselves or whatever, but i don't have to worry about it, so when i catch them, put them in the field, they're gone and that's the end of it. Now the trap again they're all about the same four five eight dollars whatever they are. This is the trap. I'Ll put a link below where you can actually find it. I don't owe this company anything it's, just a trap that i use but i'm telling you i've tried six or seven generations of traps that are sort of live catch traps, and this is the one that works without question, not that you can't catch mice. In the other ones, but this one's infallible and they've never gotten out of it. Some of the other traps i've tried. I can tell i had a mouse because the cracker's gone or the or the cracker's gone and they've gotten out of the trap and there's little trails or crackers all over the place, this one they're not getting out of so once they're in there you got them.
Take them out to the field you're good to go. The last thing i'll say is that this seems like a simple clip and rick you're talking about a mouse trap, you're a technology guy. What are you doing? I love inventions and i love smart inventions where people have figured out a way to do something better without making it this big, rube, gourd contraption of like all these springs and things that are flying around this design is brilliant and a lot of people have copied It but these guys were the originators, so i like talking about companies that spend a lot of time, thinking about the engineering and building something that's, simple and elegant and incredibly effective, and this product works. So if you want to find these, i got a link below again a couple of bucks. You get them on. Amazon have been a couple of days. This is the time of year where mice are getting into the house, so i'm sure i'm, not the only person that has to deal with mice. If you're one of the people i like to squash mice, you could use one of those snap traps, but i'll implore. You to try this because if you've got kids or if you want to teach, you know the kids something about benevolence, or you know what mice look like. This is a great way to catch. A mice show the kids, then the three or four of you can go out to the field, release them and i'm telling you you're going to sleep better at night.
So that's just me talking, you can decide what you want to do for yourself, but the other cool thing is: it comes with a little warning. Saying: hey don't, leave them in there for days, because you don't want them to die that's. What the yellow thing is and there's an instruction manual that also goes through other ways to prevent mice from getting in your house in the first place, and they talk about how you can seal things up in little holes and everything else, because mice are incredibly clever Creatures and if there's a tiny little sliver, they can sort of flatten themselves to get through it. So that'll help you sort of mouse proof your house, and that was pretty much it for today. So i hope you guys are enjoying these gadget fridays because i play with a lot of stuff, and i spend a lot of time, thinking about technology and all kinds of mechanical things, and something like this to me is the perfect answer for mice. I almost look forward to the season when mice are showing up on my house, and i checked the bread drawer and sure enough. The wise potato chip bag has been eaten through and it's like all right. Man it's on season's on let's, go i'm going hunting and i catch him and take him out to the field so my little way to amuse myself in the winters. But hopefully you find these clips helpful thanks an awful lot for watching.
I promise y'all have some high tech stuff coming this week during the normal clips and then i'll have some more gadget: hero i'm sorry gadget friday, uh important stuff going on on fridays coming up so stay tuned to the channel. For that, if you have any questions about the trap or anything, i've talked about drop them in the comments below and i'll, get back to you as quickly as i can until next time, stay.
