Begin with a regular sized empty foil or plastic bag of potato chips, or other snack food and a 6-inch high stack of empty pizza boxes or textbooks of various sizes, since you're probably not using them.
Arrange the stack from largest at the bottom to smallest at the top.
Position the bag, with opening upward and within 2 inches of the top of the stack, and anchor the very bottom of it with a heavy object.
The mouse will smell the food, climb the stack, and fall into the bag.
The slippery sides will trap it, and the mouse's movement will produce a loud rustling sound to alert you that the trap is occupied.
Simply take the bag, fold the top over to prevent escape, and release the harmless little guy outside.
Reminds me of a backpacking gizmo I used to make to prevent mice from climbing into my food bag.
This isn't a mouse trap per say but quite similar in effect.
Out in the woods, mice are very agile and can climb up or down the smallest string. Well, when backpacking, most keep their food in a regular old ditty bag that is hung from the rafters in the lean-to/shelter you are spending the night in. No matter how tight you'd cinch the bag, the next morning would all too often produce a bag with a hole in it leading right to the "good stuff" like cheese or GORP or whatever attracted the mouse in the first place.
So one day after getting to camp early after a short 10 mile day somewhere in Vermont (1988 500 mile section of the AT) I decided to do something about it. I took a piece of steel picture frame wire and a lid from jar of peanuts I had packed. I drilled a small hole in the center of the lid, tied a knot midway down the wire and snaked the lid to the knot. Now I had a very wobbly lid swaying around a thin wire. At each end I fastened a hook.
Then at night, I'd hang my food bag with this wire everywhere I went. Sure enough, the mice still smelled the food and would easily find the wire. But now, when they'd get to the lid, they would try to meander around it and would always end up slipping off the thing to plummet to the ground. THUMP!
It's hilarious to watch as these helpless little rodents try and try again squeaking and fussing at trying to get to the food. After a while they just give up and go on to the next person's bag who hasn't my little gizmo... until the next day that is when the person would immediately make one that is...
Worked in an office over a restaurant in the 70's. We used to put a little food in the trash buckets and a ramp up to the edge. Every morning there would be a couple mice in each bucket to be flushed down the toilet.
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