From: snipped-for-privacy@hovnanian.com (Paul=A0Hovnanian=A0P.E.) Palindrome wrote: I was interested to see that electronic traps had largely replaced the spring-type, on the stand in my local farmers' shop. Now the blurb on the box stated that 4xAA cells would kill ~50 mice. If, very roughly, 4xAA gives 20kJ - that's 400J per mouse. Which, if you pardon the expression, seems to either be massive overkill (10J being enough to put the average adult female human into VF) - or pretty inefficient design.. Anyone know what the electronics design of one of these units is? Incidently, the average mouse weighs around 20g. 400 J should raise its temperature by around 20 deg C. So, are these units not actually electrocuting the mouse, but cooking it?? Mmmmm. Mouse.
-- Sue
From Paul: One company made a 'humane' trap, which consisted of a tube with a motor-cocked spring-loaded piston. The motor would push the piston near the open end of the tube, where it would latch, waiting for a mouse. When one entered the tube (where the bait was), it broke an IR beam which released the catch on the piston. The piston, driven by the spring would retract down the length of the tube rapidly, drawing a vacuum and pulling the mouse in. A ways down the tube, the bottom opened into a container into which the mouse, still alive, was deposited (no doubt thinking "WTF just happened?!!"). The motor would then drive the piston back to its cocked position. You were given the choice whether to kill the mice or release them (far, far away, of course).