Mouse Trap

This article is taken from Five Gallon Ideas, which features over 100 uses for 5 gallon buckets with more being added all the time.

Ever heard the phrase “build a better mouse trap?” Well that’s phrase is now obsolete because there is no better mouse trap than this!

The bucket mouse trap catches many mice in a single trap and does not need to be reset between mice. It’s also so simple to make that you probably already have all the parts needed lying around your garage.

Neve purchase commercial mouse traps or poison again!

Build a Bucket Mousetrap

So you’ve decided to take care of your mouse problem the bucket way!

You’ll just need a few items to make this quick trap.

Assemble your Soldiers:

1. 5 Gallon Bucket
2. Dowel – metal is best but wood will work
3. Tin can
4. Peanut butter
5. Scrap of wood for ramp

The Process:

1. Drill holes at the top of the bucket, on 2 opposite sides
2. Drill holes in the middle of each flat side of a soda can
3. Insert a dowel through the bucket holes and the soda can holes, to end up with a unit that looks like the image.
4. Bait with peanut butter and add a ramp for the mice to get up.
5. Fill the bottom few inches with water if you plan to kill the mice, or leave it if you want to release them somewhere or feed them live to your snake!

The trap works when a mouse at the top of the ramp tries to jump onto the tin can to eat the bait. The mouse’s weight throws the can into motion, which bucks the mouse off into the bucket below.

Several readers have asked about the green liquid in the bottom of the pail. Some bucket mouse trappers use antifreeze in their pails. It helps “preserve” the mice, preventing them from rotting and creating a huge odor problem. This might be necessary if you’re trapping mice in a vacation cabin or bug out shelter which you won’t visit for months at a time. It will also make sure the liquid does not freeze in an unheated building.

Alternative Designs

The bucket mouse trap community has sort of split into different camps, each backing their own favorite design. At Five Gallon Ideas we stay out of conflicts like this, so we’ll give each design a fair shake!

Rope Method

A similar design uses bits of bungee cord and a yogurt lid to accomplish the same effect.

If Youtube comments can be believed, scaled up versions of this trap are being used for trapping rats. You’ll want to size it up to at least a 30 gallon trash barrel, or even go as large as 55 gallons. There are some really big rats out there.

Walk the Plank

This bucket mouse trap’s being used in a chicken house. Mice can be a big problem for chicken keepers since they love to fatten themselves on those expensive little chicken pellets.

The biggest disadvantage of this trap is you need to reset it after every 2 mice it catches. It’s also likely that your chickens, clumsy as they are, will knock your delicate planks down.

But I’m showing you this so you can make a more useful bucket mouse trap. Observe that this bucket is square. That means it can actually be mounted on that 1×4 behind it. So you don’t have to have your bucket mouse trap on the ground, you can hang it up wherever you need it. Just don’t forget to empty it out regularly.

And did you know that chickens will eat mice? It’s scary to watch. I’ve seen a chicken swallow a mouse whole in under 2 seconds. I respect chickens a lot more now.

For many more ways to use 5 gallon buckets for self sufficiency, visit Five Gallon Ideas. When citing this article, please link to