We had a mouse at work. That is not the story. The story is how someone from down the hall tried to catch the mouse.

This time the mousetrap was unsuccessful, but it reminded me that I had seen it action before, and it worked. I wondered how I could forget something so awesome, so I decided I better write it down before I forgot again.

1. Get a trash can with high, smooth walls
2. Balance a ruler on the edge of the desk, well out over the trash can
3. Put little bits of cracker or other bait on the end of the ruler

Voilà! The mouse runs out on the ruler to get the cracker, the ruler overbalances, and the mouse falls into the trash can where he waits patiently until you let him out in the morning. Then, when you don’t have the heart to smash in his cute little adorable face, he resumes terrorizing you as normal. It’s kind of a fun game.

I did a quick search on the Internet, and it turns out this is a pretty common trap. (Search for “walking the plank”, which is a fantastic name for this kind of trap by the way)

The results range from the simple:

to the elaborate:

So, next time you need to catch a mouse, you might as well give it a shot. Make him walk the plank! If it doesn’t work, you’re not out anything.