back to article More brilliant Internet of Things gadgetry: A £1,300 mousetrap

Pest control firm Rentokil has developed an Internet of Things mousetrap that gasses rodents and automatically calls out a disposal bod – and it can be yours for a cool £1,300. The mousetrap was featured by an entirely straight-laced BBC video reporter, who asked a Rentokil rep: “This could be quite an expensive proposition. …

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  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Get a cat.

      The size of the cat will also depend on how many mice it catches...

      1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
        Pirate

        Re: Get a cat.

        The size of the cat will also depend on how many mice it catches^W can steal off the cats that actually hunt them.

        Which is why the two of mine that actually hunt no longer bring any of the results home. And the 6.5KG one has stopped putting on any more weight.

    2. Graham Hawkins

      Re: Get a cat.

      Yep. Cats catch them alright.

      Then bring them in through the cat flap, and bat them around the floor for a bit until they end up under the fridge.

      No internet connection is necessary to find the rodent corpse. After a week or two, you can just follow your nose. Or the trail of maggots.

      Cats are the perfect solution...

      1. goldcd

        Re: Get a cat.

        Maybe somethign similar to Photosynth could be used to assemble images of the mouse-components, to more easily allow you to identify whether you've got the full mouse, or there's a rogue leg that's been stashed in your slipper.

        1. VinceH

          Re: Get a cat.

          No.

          But I won't be getting one of these daft mouse traps either. £1300, FFS.

          And I bet they charge a fee for responding when the trap has been triggered.

          1. Mark 85

            Re: Get a cat.

            You forgot the monthly "connection charge" for providing this vital service...

            I do wonder if they charge for "false alarms" say where some script kiddie gets access and starts sending messages that the trap caught another one. After all, it is IoS and security is probably crap.

          2. P. Lee

            Re: Get a cat.

            Well you have to pay for the dedicated fibre link and the salary of the guy who sits there and watches the videos... of the cat catching the mouse.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Get a cat.

        "Then bring them in through the cat flap, and bat them around the floor for a bit until they end up under the fridge."

        Mine mostly operates a catch-and-release system into the house. I now have a (humane) mouse trap set under the fridge for just such occasions - ironically never needed one before having cats :-D

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Expensive cat food you're feeding your cats there

      Try Aldi, my cats wolf down the select cat food. You could definitely feed a cat that's supposed to be mousing for under a tenner a month.

      Of course, there's other expenses that make cats more costly : insurance (or vet bills), anti flea/tick application, and medicine if you're unlucky enough to have a cat with a chronic condition.

      Still, they're very efficient at investigating anything that looks like it might possibly contain prey.

    4. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
      WTF?

      IoT = Internet of Traps?

      Now it all makes sense.

      (Internet of Trash would too.)

  2. Spudley

    It's been decades since my childhood brain made the connection, but I still can't see "Rentokil" without my internal auto-correct turning it into "Rent-a-ghost".

    1. VinceH

      Odds bodkins!

  3. John H Woods Silver badge

    Someone added a zero?

    Ridiculous. Humane traps are a tenner each, add a wifi cam with movement detection and you're up to 50 quid. Depending on build quality, etc, I can see this being 130, but 1300?

    BTW, be careful about thinking cats are necessarily effective. Some cats increase the rodent problem by bringing them in from outside, where they were minding their own business, and releasing them in your house.

    1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: Someone added a zero?

      Or its its like mine.... catches and kills them outside, then brings the body in as 'evidence' its got a house mouse and gets a reward as a result.

      fortunetly, the more kitty treats it gets, the fatter and slower it gets therefore is unable to catch as many mice outside and get as many cat treats.

      I suppose there is an formula for the optimal number of mice kitty can catch without fatter or slimmer.

      But I cant be arsed to work it out

      1300 quid for a mouse trap..... jeez rentokill has been taking lessons from BAE in fleecing the government

      1. Peter2 Silver badge

        Re: Someone added a zero?

        I think the functionality of the cat bringing in the mice is something that can be disabled in the options.

        My ex had a cat, and she didn't have a cat flap at the time. The cat brought a mouse to the door twice, at which point she closed the door on it before it came in.

        The cat obviously got the message as it never then brought home anything home again, ever even after she then fitted a cat flap. She gave it treats when it behaved, and it responded to them well. Honestly, I've worked with people stupider than that cat!

        1. m0rt

          Re: Someone added a zero?

          "She gave it treats when it behaved, and it responded to them well. Honestly, I've worked with people stupider than that cat!"

          So you could say the cat conditioned your ex to give it treats by NOT doing something...

          Bloody genius if you ask me.

          1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

            Re: Someone added a zero?

            So you could say the cat conditioned your ex to give it treats by NOT doing something...

            Certainly not dumb. My 6 vary in intelligence from the big ginger "me crush" via the airhead "ooh - look. A car! I wonder if it's friendly? Ow ow ow.." to the very intelligent half-siamese that's taught the other cats road safety (apart from the aforementioned airhead).

            But one thing they are *all* very proficient is human (ie me) manipulation.

      2. tiggity Silver badge

        Re: Someone added a zero?

        We had a cat that was a keen hunter, it would proudly leave the occasional corpse on the tarmac area outside the door.

        Provided a few embarrassing moments.

        Chatting to neighbour when cat drops rat at neighbours & my feet.

        Once it struck the psycho hunting cat equivalent of gold and there were about a dozen rat corpses around the door area, unfortunately I only noticed them after the postie had been, I don't think she would have enjoyed navigating a route through rat corpse central..

        We had zero mouse grief when that cat was around, no rodent was safe, indeed nothing below fox size was safe.

        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

          Re: Someone added a zero?

          Chatting to neighbour when cat drops rat at neighbours & my feet.

          Cats[1] (and ratting dogs) will very, very rarely eat rats unless they are really, really hungry. Which is understandable when you think about what rats will eat (ie everything). They must smell pretty disgusting to more acute noses than ours.

          [1] We only know if there are rats around because we find their corpses in the garden. All almost entirely undamaged apart from a single bite to the back of the neck.

        2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

          Re: Someone added a zero?

          indeed nothing below fox size was safe.

          Our big[1] female cat regularly sees foxes off - she loves dogs and is completely unafraid of them so I think she just sees the fox as a strange dog and sends it packing..

          [1] At 6.5kg she's not that far off the weight of a small fox.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Someone added a zero?

      "add a wifi cam with movement detection and you're up to 50 quid. "

      A weight triggered microswitch under a false floor of the trap costs only pennies. Presumably it has that already if it has to trigger the killing agent and switch on the electronics to send a message?

      1. Stoneshop

        Re: Someone added a zero?

        A weight triggered microswitch under a false floor of the trap costs only pennies.

        How to connect your conventional spring-loaded cheese-laden mouse trap to the Internet: take a length of CAT5 cable with an RJ45 plug at one end. Strip back the other end and connect the RX and TX pairs by loosely twisting them together. If you plug this cable into a switch or a free interface in a system it'll see link up. Now position (and fix) the wire joints over the mouse trap in such a way that the trap triggering pulls the twists loose. The system or switch will see link down, allowing you to send any message anywhere based on this anywhere.

        Total cost over a conventional spring-loaded cheese-laden mouse trap: a length of CAT5 cable that you can probably find in your junk pile valuable parts stock.

        1. Roj Blake Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Someone added a zero?

          So ~that's~ why they call it CAT5...

    3. Mage Silver badge

      Re: Cats

      UK domestic cats eat about 5,000 species, so they may not pay much attention to mice.

      A plastic trap with peanut butter is extremely effective (the cheese thing seems to be US Tom & Jerry?).

      A terrier or ferret is alleged to be better for outside rodents, I've not tried that.

      Certainly an off the shelf $10 module will detect a trap being sprung. I've found that peanut butter works within a day of spotting a mouse. The rats are a little more suspicious. A large drop door cage with bird mix "glued" on the trigger plate using peanut butter works best for rats, especially in the garden. Accidentally caught birds can just be released. Though dealing with a large, scared and angry live rat in a cage may be a problem for some people.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Cats

        "A terrier or ferret is alleged to be better for outside rodents, I've not tried that."

        In the 1920s my father used to earn pocket money by staying in a local bakery overnight - armed with a terrier and an airgun.

      2. Mark 85

        Re: Cats

        A terrier or ferret is alleged to be better for outside rodents, I've not tried that.

        We have a Yorkie who's basically an inside dog. Yet, she will kill any mouse that gets into the house and doesn't fall for one the old-fashioned traps, She then bringa me the corpse for her reward. No missing parts, just one dead as a doornail mouse. Her reward... praise, a tummy rub, and treat. She'll then prance around the house looking all smug and happy.

        She wasn't taught this.. she just does it. No playing with mouse, no chewing it up. Just a very efficient and happy little mouse killer.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Someone added a zero?

      It's not like they're the first company to try to sell something to do with cloud, IoT and agile for way much more money than it is worth.

      cough.

    5. Annihilator
      Pint

      Re: Someone added a zero?

      " Someone added a zero? "

      There'll be a line on the invoice somewhere for 'consultancy'

      1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

        Re: Someone added a zero?

        Seriosly though , who the hell would ever buy that?

        Was it just a training exercise for the bullshit department so theyd be ready to handle PR incidents?

        Publicity? is a astyronomically overpriced product still good publicityt?

  4. Magani
    Facepalm

    Don't mind if I do...

    It would seem that Rentokill R&D have been drinking too much of their company's Kool-Aid.

    1. m0rt

      Re: Don't mind if I do...

      I would hesitate to drink anything provided by Rentokil, tbf.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    'provide the best solution to the customer as well'

    Sorry, how was best solution demonstrated there? Thank fcuk its so expensive. The price barrier is about the only thing stopping the internet from melting down right now....

    1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: 'provide the best solution to the customer as well'

      Of course it is the best for the customers. their customers *have to* be fools. And it is demonstrated that fools can't be trusted with money.

      So, this company is in the business of parting fools from their money before they do anything with it. Looks ok to me.

    2. Whitter
      Trollface

      "best solution"

      The next question really should have been "Do you know what the word 'best' means?"

  6. frank ly

    Good planning

    "... had Agile techniques employed during its construction."

    So it can deal with agile mice.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Good planning

      Nah - I think that means that there's a facebook like button for the mouse.

  7. Tom 7

    Homebrew

    seriously - if you have some beer brewing and dont cover it properly the little buggers are attracted by the smell and will drop in and the CO2 sorts them out asap. To make it more efficient you just need some see-saw things round the lip to tip them in.

    If you homebrew cider I believe it will dissolve the bastards and improve the flavour.

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: Homebrew

      Improve the flavour of what, the mouse or the cider?

      1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

        Re: Homebrew

        Yes

    2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: Homebrew

      If you homebrew cider I believe it will dissolve the bastards and improve the flavour.

      Somewhere in the house we have an old countryside recipe book. Amongst other theings, it has a recipe for "Cock[1] Ale". Which includes adding some chicken[2] meat to the brew a day or so after the yeast in order to add extra body.

      [1] Stop sniggering at the back you. Yes - you.

      [2] Most likely from cockerel long past it's cook-by date. Aparently, male chicken meat from older birds isn't particularly nice. Once they are too old to err.. 'perform' then they are pretty much too old to eat. Or at least, without lots of suspicious foreign spices[3][ anyway.

      [3] You know - the stuff that we liberated from poor foreigners in the Indian Subcontinent. It was for their own good, honest!

  8. 0laf
    Facepalm

    Cat

    A cat in good working order will not only catch many mice but dispose of them in the area before dropping the waste into the garden of someone you don't like.

    However, cats of that calibre are pretty rare and as described above what you'll probably get is one lazy fat cat that might catch a mouse but will only bite it until it bleeds a bit then smack it round your kitchen for a while until it expires. Then the fat lazy cat will eat some of the mouse before it remembers that it really prefers your dinner and will leave the arsehole, lower intestines + contents and the odd kidney in a bloody smear in the middle of the floor before regurgitating the whole lot (plus more) into several piles around the room preferably on any bags / shoes you forgot to remove. Then the cat will take a horrific dump in the litter tray (or corner of the room depending on how evil your cat is) before sloping off to sleep and moult on your stuff somewhere else.

    And I've two of the little bastards

    1. Rich 11

      Re: Cat

      And I've two of the little bastards

      Dump the cats and get children instead. They won't chuck food around and crap on your... no, forget it, stick with the cats.

    2. Roj Blake Silver badge

      Re: Cat

      You don't actually need your cat to be a good mouser. Mice tend to avoid the area once they get a whiff of the feline aroma.

  9. HKmk23

    Down here

    In SW France we have a 2m rat snake that keeps the rodents down in the garden and the dog keeps the snake out of the house.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Down here

      And a crocodile to keep the dog out of the front garden and a gorilla to keep the crocodile in the front garden?

      I think I saw that episode of the Simpsons.

  10. DJO Silver badge

    An ordinary mousetrap, humane or deadly and something like an Amazon button (£5) pressed when the trap closes would do pretty much exactly the same for a significantly lower cost.

    1. no-one in particular

      Mousetrap, some wire, bit of glue, a battery and a flashing LED - if you want it to appear on the 'Net then get 'Er Indoors to tweet when light blinks.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "[...] a battery and a flashing LED"

        A spare radio bell push with the button held down. Then a switched wire jumper in the battery compartment. Might be annoying when the bell rings in the middle of the night though.

        I use a system like that triggered by a photocell detector - to tell me when the post/courier has arrived. The bell pushes have two chime settings so there is differentiation between "visitor alarm" and "ringing door bell".

    2. David 132 Silver badge
      Happy

      An ordinary mousetrap, humane or deadly and something like an Amazon button (£5) pressed when the trap closes would do pretty much exactly the same for a significantly lower cost.

      "Honey! We caught another mouse in the trap yesterday!"

      "How do you know?"

      "Another box of Andrex has just been delivered to the front door."

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