4 ms·

Dizzy Dunker Mousetrap [video]

22 points by dsego 3y ago

qingcharles 3y ago
My problem with these bucket traps -- and I had hundreds of mice and rats at my last home -- is that the rodents don't want to go up the ladder. So, you seed the ladder with food. And then they just take all the food off the ladder and retreat. I used to film them all because I wanted to know how they would always get all the food off the bucket lid flip traps I had.. but they were really good at stretching their bodies to grab stuff without losing enough support to keep themselves balanced if the trap flipped. The rodents have a sixth sense that something is suspect about these types of trap, IMO. At least the city ones I messed with. This is definitely a better trap than the flip lid ones, but now you've massively reduced the visibility and smell of the food, leading to a lot less rodents climbing the ladder. Edit: My solution was a neighbor giving me two kittens. The mice and rats packed their little mouse suitcases the same day the cats arrived and the only time I ever saw rodents after that was a few rare times when they were running upside down Spider-Manning across the ceilings like the floor was lava. They would never dare come near the floor again in fear of the cats.
- cryptonector 3y ago
  But cats eat birds :(
  - dsego 3y ago
    And birds eat worms and insects.
  - qingcharles 3y ago
    Not if they live indoors? And these cats never caught a single mouse or rat that I saw. Their presence was all that was needed.
wackget 3y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the mice in this guy's videos are all tame, or at least used to being trapped repeatedly, aren't they? I feel like it'd be far easier to "trap" the mice after having repeatedly exposed them to several different types of trap. I'd like to see this trap work in a few completely new environments. Edit: just noticed the later part of the video he says the trap catches "wild mice in the barn". Still unsure if these mice have been caught in his other traps before, though.
- compiler-guy 3y ago
  He uses pets for testing, but the ones in the barn are wild. If they are killed in one of his traps they are fed to wild animals, especially the non native species. Some are released far away from the barn, but most do perish.
teddyh 3y ago
This is an ad.
mtlynch 3y ago
I enjoy Shawn Woods's channel, but I'm skeptical of his claim that he's barely breaking even on videos. His production costs seem to be nearly zero, and he makes YouTube ad money from 2M subscribers, and most of his videos are a review of a product for which he's a paid affiliate. I feel like the flaw in the Dizzy Dunker is that you can't just look in to see if it caught a mouse. You'd have to physically remove the top every time or use a translucent bucket. With the simpler walk the plank or rolling log traps, you can see at a glance whether the trap caught a mouse.
jader201 3y ago
I’m not an engineer, but I’m not sure I understand why there is any fixed surface area once the mice enter the opening. That is, why isn’t the hole in the surface of the trap a rectangle (the shape of the cover) instead of a hexagon (the shape of the paddle)? That one mouse (out of 101 mice) that got away was only able to do so since there was a non-spinning surface for it to grab on to. Unless I’m missing something, it seems like a simple solution would be to just make the opening a rectangle, so that once they entered, the only surface they could walk on was the spinning paddle. I’m not sure why the inverter — or the production engineers — didn’t think of that. But again, maybe I’m oversimplifying it.
omgrats 3y ago
I accidentally trapped a mouse this summer, at a campsite crawling with the buggers. I had accidentally left my nalgene water bottle open on a table, and woke up to a drowned mouse. About 4 inches of water, plastic sides, tapered mouth; the poor thing couldn't get a purchase. Mason jars would be cheaper. Granted, bigger rats wouldn't have a problem getting out.
nullc 3y ago
The design limits you to sticky bait. Pretty much any trap works if you have the right bait, so a design that limits you to peanut butter and similar may work fine or it might be unusable depending on if peanut butter will work as bait for you or not. This trap also requires them to go up the ramp-- which they won't do unless your bait is really attractive, exacerbating the bait choices. If there is a really severe infestation then perhaps they'll be less picky, but in a really severe infestation an plain open bucket will also catch mice.

22 points by dsego 3y ago

My problem with these bucket traps -- and I had hundreds of mice and rats at my last home -- is that the rodents don't want to go up the ladder. So, you seed the ladder with food. And then they just take all the food off the ladder and retreat. I used to film them all because I wanted to know how they would always get all the food off the bucket lid flip traps I had.. but they were really good at stretching their bodies to grab stuff without losing enough support to keep themselves balanced if the trap flipped. The rodents have a sixth sense that something is suspect about these types of trap, IMO. At least the city ones I messed with. This is definitely a better trap than the flip lid ones, but now you've massively reduced the visibility and smell of the food, leading to a lot less rodents climbing the ladder. Edit: My solution was a neighbor giving me two kittens. The mice and rats packed their little mouse suitcases the same day the cats arrived and the only time I ever saw rodents after that was a few rare times when they were running upside down Spider-Manning across the ceilings like the floor was lava. They would never dare come near the floor again in fear of the cats.

cryptonector 3y ago
But cats eat birds :(
- dsego 3y ago
  And birds eat worms and insects.
- qingcharles 3y ago
  Not if they live indoors? And these cats never caught a single mouse or rat that I saw. Their presence was all that was needed.

wackget 3y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the mice in this guy's videos are all tame, or at least used to being trapped repeatedly, aren't they? I feel like it'd be far easier to "trap" the mice after having repeatedly exposed them to several different types of trap. I'd like to see this trap work in a few completely new environments. Edit: just noticed the later part of the video he says the trap catches "wild mice in the barn". Still unsure if these mice have been caught in his other traps before, though.

compiler-guy 3y ago
He uses pets for testing, but the ones in the barn are wild. If they are killed in one of his traps they are fed to wild animals, especially the non native species. Some are released far away from the barn, but most do perish.

teddyh 3y ago

This is an ad.

mtlynch 3y ago

I enjoy Shawn Woods's channel, but I'm skeptical of his claim that he's barely breaking even on videos. His production costs seem to be nearly zero, and he makes YouTube ad money from 2M subscribers, and most of his videos are a review of a product for which he's a paid affiliate. I feel like the flaw in the Dizzy Dunker is that you can't just look in to see if it caught a mouse. You'd have to physically remove the top every time or use a translucent bucket. With the simpler walk the plank or rolling log traps, you can see at a glance whether the trap caught a mouse.

jader201 3y ago

I’m not an engineer, but I’m not sure I understand why there is any fixed surface area once the mice enter the opening. That is, why isn’t the hole in the surface of the trap a rectangle (the shape of the cover) instead of a hexagon (the shape of the paddle)? That one mouse (out of 101 mice) that got away was only able to do so since there was a non-spinning surface for it to grab on to. Unless I’m missing something, it seems like a simple solution would be to just make the opening a rectangle, so that once they entered, the only surface they could walk on was the spinning paddle. I’m not sure why the inverter — or the production engineers — didn’t think of that. But again, maybe I’m oversimplifying it.

omgrats 3y ago

I accidentally trapped a mouse this summer, at a campsite crawling with the buggers. I had accidentally left my nalgene water bottle open on a table, and woke up to a drowned mouse. About 4 inches of water, plastic sides, tapered mouth; the poor thing couldn't get a purchase. Mason jars would be cheaper. Granted, bigger rats wouldn't have a problem getting out.

nullc 3y ago

The design limits you to sticky bait. Pretty much any trap works if you have the right bait, so a design that limits you to peanut butter and similar may work fine or it might be unusable depending on if peanut butter will work as bait for you or not. This trap also requires them to go up the ramp-- which they won't do unless your bait is really attractive, exacerbating the bait choices. If there is a really severe infestation then perhaps they'll be less picky, but in a really severe infestation an plain open bucket will also catch mice.