Busted!

I told you all I would update you on the mouse situation (see "Mice"), and after returning from trivia last night I discovered that my trap had caught its 6th mouse. He put up a good fight, avoiding the trap for 3 days, and actually taunting me by running around on the rafters while I was sitting below him. But in the end it is clear that man vs. mouse is no competition - if only it didn't take two degrees and seven years of education to prove this.


Here is the actual trap.

Mice walk up the ramp (a bulletin board) and onto the Gateway box. There they walk through the cardboard tube (left over from Christmas wrapping paper) which is propped up by PS2 and XBox games (Gamecube games won't work because they suck). They then see the sweet sweet chocolate sitting on the paper towel. This paper towel is suspended over the top of the garbage can. The mouse sees the chocolate and must jump onto the paper towel to get it. The only problem is, the paper towel is strong enough to support the weight

of the chocolate but not strong enough to support the weight of the mouse. So when the mouse jumps onto the paper towel, he, the paper towel, and his precious chocolate fall into the garbage (just make sure the garbage can is deep enough to keep the mouse from jumping out, they can jump surprisingly high). Simple, cheap, clean, and harmless (I guess you could put sharpened bamboo sticks in the bottom to kill the mouse Vietcong style, but good luck finding a convenient supply of bamboo here in the states you cruel prick). The only unexplainable thing is that on two occasions the trap caught two mice in one night. So, either mice are like Lemmings or they are quite skilled at synchronized jumping.