Well, as it happens, I haven't been able to accumulate what I need to make a cnc router yet (mainly the cash part for the electronics- I've got plenty of physical materials). Nonetheless, I've been busy. I've been cleaning out the old carport I use to store wood, in order to completely enclose it so that it's a better place to store wood. In the process of this, I've discovered that rats and mice have made it a home (and, in fact, destroyed some stuff). So I need to put out some poison, but don't want to kill my dogs (who would love the taste of the stuff, I've no doubt), and don't want to spring for commercial bait stations. So, off to the junk pile for a bit of plywood scrap....


This was a simple build- the mice don't care what it looks like, after all. I cleaned any nails, etc. out of the wood, squared up the ends, then ripped some 2" strips, and cut a piece to be the base- no idea of the dimensions, as I didn't measure it. I used the bottom piece to cut the sides to length, then cut the ends to leave a small opening for a rodent. All of this is glued and bradded together with 18 guage brads. A finishing nail in the middle provides an anchor for the bait (which is made with a hole through it).







A bit of 1/4" ply off the shop floor cut to approximate size and screwed on (so that it can be removed to replace the bait).



These are going into a cramped area, so I added a handle so that I can get them out easily- these wires are sign hangers from a store (I think), and are pretty easy to bend, so I simply bent one in half, bent eyes on the ends, and screwed it to the box.



As it turned out, the spot I was going to put them was too narrow to fit this in sideways, so I had to move the handle to the end.

I built two of these, and it took about a half hour, including design time. I put them into service immediately. This was yesterday, and one of the baits was almost gone when I got home from work this afternoon! And my dogs are still healthy, so everything is going according to plan.