5 Gallon Bucket Mouse Trap

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The 5 gallon bucket is a common tool used with mouse traps. While there is not a great trap that uses just the 5 gallon bucket, there are a few mouse traps that need a 5 gallon bucket (or some sort of bucket) to work.

First of those is the Walk the Plank Mouse Trap.

This trap is placed on the side of the 5 gallon bucket and the mouse walks up the ramp, onto the plank, the plank falls out from underneath them and they get caught in the bucket.

This has been tested as one of the best mouse traps ever invented.

It can be used as a live or kill trap and works nearly every time a mouse walks the plank. You can catch multiple mice a night as this trap resets itself.

2nd of the best 5 gallon mouse traps is the Rolling Log Mouse Trap.

This trap is always set! The mouse simply needs a ramp up to the trap. The trap has the bait in the middle and the mouse tries to walk out on the log to get the bait, then the log rolls and the mouse falls in.

This trap can also be used as a live trap or a kill trap. It is easily set up and will catch as many mice as dare to walk across the log.

The rolling log trap has comparative to the walk the plank, in fact some people believe it is better.

How to make a mouse trap out of a 5 gallon bucket?

Each of these mouse traps can be purchased, but each of these can also be built by pretty easily. The walk the plank trap is a bit more difficult to build but there are plans out there that can help make it much easier.

The rolling log on the other hand can be made with a simple wire and pop can. The instructions to make the trap is for another article, but it is not hard to do.

I will tell you that the home made version isn’t always as effective because you need to fine tune it, but it can be done.

A few other 5 gallon bucket traps.

Here’s a trap using a plate like object that releases when the mouse steps on it.
Here’s a trap that is like the poor mans plank trap. Not ideal as you’d have to reset the trap every 2 mice and the mice would easily knock those over without be trapped.

My favorite thing about the 5 gallon mouse traps.

I think the best thing about the traps is that they can be either a kill trap or a live trap. This really means that everyone can use them to eliminate or relocate their mouse problems to another area.

There seems to be some animosity between the kill trap vs live trap people. I see nothing wrong with killing the mice especially if you feed them to wild animals when they are dead. And I think it is great that some people want to relocate the mice. The key thing with relocating is that they really need to be taken deep into the woods and not placed anywhere near someone else’s home. Mice will travel a long way looking for a consistent food source, and you might just make your mice problems someone else’s.

What you shouldn’t use is poison. Poison not only causes a very slow and painful death for the rodent, but is dangerous to other animals as well.

Final thoughts.

The 2 best options for the 5 gallon bucket mouse trap just so happen to be two of the most effective traps ever tested.

Either of these options would be a great way for you to try and eliminate mice. Each can be home made and each can be purchased for relatively cheap.

Good luck catching those mice!