My first choice was a Dome Mouser, but I was disappointed to find out they're discontinued (and the ones available have gotten very expensive!). So, I improvised...
A vibration sensor simply taped to the bottom of a snap trap works great! The webCoRE piston is very simple as well... If vibration, then send notification, pause piston (while the trap gets reset and piston resumed). I didn't believe my phone when I got a notification not even two hours after setting the trap this evening. Gotcha!
Never would have thought about doing this...I haven't trapped for pests for ages, but if I do again the traps are going to have a vibration sensor on them. Excellent idea. Much better to find and dispose promptly.
Found a mouse in a wok sitting on our cooktop many years ago when I was still in school. Heard scratching sounds coming from the kitchen, went in to see what it was and almost jumped when I saw a small mouse desperately trying to climb up the interior of the wok and get the hell out of Dodge! Kept getting about half way up and then inevitably would slide back down to the bottom, because of left-over oil that was in the wok.
We figured out that he fell out of the range hood, the fan w/screen damaged was right above the wok. Poor little bugger...I took him in the wok out to an empty field nearby and slid him from the wok into the weeds. Hopefully he learned his lesson and stuck to rural climes thereafter.
I've had this set up for some time now. A magnet on the back of the snap trap ( a Trapper T Rex) aligns with the Neo Coolcam Z Wave contact when set. When fired Rule Machine kicks in:
sets a variable that is used in another notifications variable (a pain for me to set up but will now scroll through multiple notifications from individual rules and clear when there are none)
Sends message to my phone
Plays a sample of UB40 - Rat In Mi Kitchen on the Sonos
I'm using Victor trap. There is an app on my phone so I received a notification on my phone when a mouse is killed. But it is only wifi so not included in HE
I looked at these while I was looking for the Dome Mouser. I like the clean up on those compared to a snap trap, but snap traps are CHEAP and I already had the sensor. This journey may not be over...
The good thing about doing your own with a sensor is that you can use it externally. I just taped up the contact which was fairly well sealed and I've had no issue with moisture ingress. The head of the rats I've trapped is twice the size of the mice.
Yup I got a large rat last week and it was a mess - when I checked the cameras I found another of the same size ate half of it an hour later - guts everywhere
Years ago I bought some "Intruder 30442 The Better Mousetrap" traps from Amazon and added a wired contact sensor although wireless would work too. It's worked great the few times it's caught something, no more smelling it before noticing a mouse in the trap.
