The last time I had any reason to catch a mouse was during my childhood when I remember a slight infestation in the shoe cupboard as a boy. I delighted in hearing the snap of the trap as another fell victim. Well boys are horrible aren't they? 40 years later whilst opening a drawer in the passage, I noticed shreds of newspaper had appeared next to the bird nuts and tubes of dog food we feed to the foxes that visit our garden. A further inspection made me jump back as a little head popped out and scampered onto the floor. I wouldn't normally be too bothered, except that it had made a real mess. I started to clear out the contents and stopped when I saw the little face again cowering in the corner, looking up at me with pleading little eyes.

"A woodmouse" I thought. We have quite a few in the garden. They are a chestnut brown colour and have sparkly eyes and large ears - they are really sweet little things. As I neared it, it scampered under the door to the front garden. I quickly gave chase, only to see it had disappeared - "impossible" I said, unless..... it must have done a 'u' turn and run into the garage. It had to go!

I invested in a trap and duly laid it with a nice piece of cheddar. I was feeling guilty as we are all real animal lovers. Still at least the end would be quick! A short while later, I returned. No mouse and no cheese. "A smart mouse" I thought, so I loaded up the trap again and was surprised when the same thing occurred.

"There's only one thing for it" I decided, adapt the trap. Obviously the cheese needed to be higher off the ground as the mouse wasn't treading on the pedal to spring it. I wired the pedal so the bait stood 3" off the ground and retreated expecting the success. By this time the family were getting interested. A short while later I again visited the garage, only to find a bare wire with no mouse.

"Mmmm" I thought, obviously the pedal is too small. So a piece of plastic was cut to extend the pedal area to fit just within the spring loaded 'execution bar'. There was no way the mouse could nick the cheese without treading on the pedal now I thought! The mouse was really rising to the challenge however. Another inspection followed, but the trap remained intact. He had engaged in another free meal. By this time I was the brunt of family jokes.

I had to be more ingenious, the platform should be wider. The trap was reset, there was no way the mouse could reach the bait without getting caught. But that was a dumb move as the mouse must've stood on the edge, sprung the trap and had an even easier meal. So it was back to the drawing board.

The height option seemed more promising. After binding some more wire around the pedal, the cheese stood 6" above the ground. This had to be his last performance! I got up early, eager with anticipation. This time the trap had been sprung and was upside down. I felt quite sad as I gingerly turned it over to see ...... no cheese and still no mouse. This was impossible!

Then a brainwave, 'break out' the camcorder. Fortunately it films in zero lux (darkness), so the trap was reset and the camera switched on. A hour later I checked for action but nothing. Then wound back the tape and reset to record. Later that evening I checked again, the trap had been sprung but again no mouse. But I wasn't concerned as the event had surely been recorded. To my dismay however the battery had run out before the mouse came. Either he was camera shy or was rubbing my nose in it.

We agreed that the mouse had earned the right to live, but he still had to go. So I invested in a humane trap and thought I would release him nearby when he succumbed. But the mouse liked my garage and despite the trap being loaded with a large dollop of peanut butter (apparently they love it), he was too smart. He simply didn't want to move house and decided to engage in some more mountaineering and took the 'cheese on a stick' option. Of course he waited 'til the battery on the camcorder had run out until he had dinner.

I was stumped. The platform at the base of the trap was 2" square, the cheese 6" off the ground and the mouse is only 4" high. I set the trap and camcorder one more time. Once again the trap had been sprung and no mouse, but he was captured on film. Click the mouse below to see how he did it.

Outsmarted by a mouse!

This is a windows media file

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