Norman Jester's Meshtastic Possum Trap Keeps the Critters Caged for as Little as Possible
A simple pull-cord trigger system activates when the trap's door swings shut, and an alert is immediately sent out via Meshtastic.
YouTuber Norman Jester has been trying to work out how to painlessly relocate possums and rats from his property without leaving them trapped for long periods — so built a possum trap that sends real-time alerts over the Meshtastic network.
"Ever wanted a smart way to trap and release possums and rats without constantly checking your trap," Jester asks, by way of introduction to the project. "I built a Meshtastic-powered possum trap that sends real-time notifications when an animal is caught!"
The heart of the system is, naturally enough, an off-the-shelf small animal trap. The target creature — rats and possums, in this case — is lured inside the cage, when the door swings shut. It's harmless, but the longer the animal is trapped the more likely it is to become stressed or even hurt itself attempting escape.
Jester's solution is a Raspberry Pi, connected via a LoRa transceiver to the Meshtastic network — a community-driven project to create a long-range low-power low-bandwidth mesh network accessible from cheap radio devices. The trigger: a length of fishing line tied to the trap's door, which pulls out a 1/4" headphone jack when the door swings shut — keeping the electronics safely away from the now-caged animal.
More details, and footage of the rats and possums being released into their new homes, are available in the video embedded above and on Jester's YouTube channel.
