The 400-Year-Old Mousetrap is Truly Brilliant In Its Simplicity

If you have a mice problem in your house, you may find yourself in this classic dilemma – how to catch mice without killing or hurting them. The common mousetrap that all of us are surely familiar with is an effective tool, but the snapping motion can hurt the mouse real bad.

Now this really old mousetrap, we mean old as in 400 years old, is probably the simplest solution you have for a more humane way of catching mice. What makes it even more awesome is that fact that you need only two items that you will normally find in your kitchen.

In his YouTube video, Shawn Woods demonstrates the centuries-old mousetrap concept that uses a bowl and a tool called fillboll.

The design was explained in detail by Leonard Mascall in his 1590 book.

The book describes the fillboll as a curved stick used to scrape leftover food from the bottom of the bowls. It’s more like a spatula in our present time.

You may have a hard time finding a fillboll but you can use alternatives in its place, anything that can prop up the bowl steadily and can be attached with a piece of food on the free end.

Turn the bowl upside down and prop it up with the stick. When the mouse smells the food, it will go inside the bowl and goes for the food. The movement will trigger the stick and knock it over, causing the bowl to fall and trap the mouse without harming it.

Woods tested the simple trap on his own pet mouse, Batman.

He made some improvisations to the trap, keeping it secure by placing it on top of a piece of wood that has two nails on it for support.

When that worked, he placed the bowl outside the house and managed to catch wild mice with it.

Aside from the mousetrap, Mascall’s book also describes other inventions and contraptions that will come in handy for the people at home.

If your home has a rampant mice problem and you want to catch more than one mouse in one go, here’s another cool mousetrap idea that is very easy to do.

Here’s how you can do the 400-year-old mousetrap: