This idea works on the same principle as a home's central vacuum system, but instead of being a means of removing dirt, it removes mice.
The main unit is installed in an appropriate utility area. Traps are installed in various rooms of the house. Tubes are installed inside of the walls, and connect the traps to the main unit.
Each trap has a front door made of wire mesh; when the trap is triggered, this closes. Each trap has an airtight rear door; when the trap is triggered, this opens.
Triggering the trap also sends a signal to the central unit, which sucks the mouse out of the trap, through the tubes, and into a container in the central unit.
To make this device humane, it is obviously necessary for the mouse to be dead before it's sucked away. This could be accomplished mechanically or electrically. I expect that the electrical solution would be easier to clean, with less maintenance.
Ideally, the only maintenance needed would be to rebait the traps when an infestation is suspected, and to empty the central unit regularly, and occasionally clean the traps.
I expect that an apartment building is the kind of place which would benefit from this sort of thing the most.-- goldbb, Feb 14 2017 Reference for my anno, for [8th] and anyone else confused https://www.kicksta...rigger/posts/696036See the URL for the original name of the project [notexactly, Mar 06 2017] //To make this device humane...// I would have thought the humane way would be to NOT kill the mouse...-- neutrinos_shadow, Feb 14 2017 Mice < rats < kittens < cats < dogs < babies.
You will have to size the thing carefully or you may be surprised by what it catches.-- popbottle, Feb 14 2017 [+] It could be even more centralized though. Have those tubes lead to some unresistable mouse treat. That way you can get rid of vacuum and have one main trap in the center. Or make the vaccum part of the trapping mechanism. Mouse gets in and the moment it steps in, vacuum is turned on and whoosh... it goes flying into the central trapping chamber.
Something tells me that mice are smarter than that.-- ixnaum, Feb 16 2017 // kittens < cats //
<evil chuckling>
Gonna need bigger pipes …
[+]-- 8th of 7, Feb 16 2017 I am totally opposed to all animal killing so it has to be a thumbs down for me. [-]-- xenzag, Feb 16 2017 // totally opposed to all animal killing //
So, you want every carnivorous species on your planet to starve to death ?-- 8th of 7, Feb 16 2017 No - only the human carnivores. Let them eat each other if they crave meat.-- xenzag, Feb 16 2017 What about chimpanzees ? They are, genetically, only 1.2%* different from humans ...
And they're omnivorous.
* although in the case of some "humans", they might not have the full 1.2% ... you know who we mean.-- 8th of 7, Feb 16 2017 Perhaps a pied Piper's flute could be piped through?-- RayfordSteele, Feb 21 2017 neutrino's shadow: No, killing the mice is absolutely humane, at least when compared with what would happen to them if this system were to instead vacuum them up alive, bouncing them through various pipe bends and finally into a waterless, foodless prison.
popbottle, Cats can fit through any opening the size of their head. A young kitten's head is about 2.5 inches. A rat can fit through a hole one inch in diameter. To ensure no kittens are vacuumed away, the tube diameter should probably be no larger than 1.25 inches.
The more important aspect is ensure that no feline paws can reach into any trap and touch the electrified plates inside. This can be done simply by having the plates far enough from the entrance that no cat's leg would be long enough.
ixnaum, Any odor which come out of the tubes would probably consist of dead mouse smell -- which surely be a repellant to humans, and probably to mice as well.
Thus, each trap needs an odor-containing door to the tube, which needs to stay shut until that trap is occupied by a dead mouse. For the same reason, each trap needs it's own separate bait.
The vacuum can't be part of the trapping mechanism, because that would be horribly cruel.
xenzag, What if I'm not a carnivore, but I still want those mousies dead? Also, how does one distinguish between a vegan, and someone trolling as one for the sake of argument?
RayfordSteele, If you piped a flute through a pipe, it would surely get stuck, even if it were the Pied Piper's Flute. Unless it's a flexible flute?-- goldbb, Feb 28 2017 To be more humane the system could release the mouse! Via a potato cannon strategically positioned to ensure the critter landed several yards over.
[+]-- whatrock, Feb 28 2017 // Triggering the trap //
Be careful to not also mention the action of a traditional mousetrap, or the color of the blood it might release, lest you find yourself being sued.-- notexactly, Mar 04 2017 So ambulance-chasing lawyers are taking business from mice now ? Figures ...
It'll be leeches next ... probably at a discount, out of professional courtesy.-- 8th of 7, Mar 04 2017 random, halfbakery