Homemade cage trap.....NO LONGER A PROTOTYPE!

Kingzero

Kingzero

New member
A buddy at work just got into trapping last year but all he has are foothold traps and was very limited on where he had permission to use them. We had talked about me building him some cage traps and today I gave it a go. It's made primarily of 1/4" steel rod and some 3/4" angle and flat stock. Stole the idea of the door lock from another forum.

I made a smaller one to test out my ideas. There is a cat that has been terrorizing my dog and crapping on my patio table
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. As soon as I cage the trap in I am going after that SOB.

Any suggestions for the sides?

All I had was my Iphone, sorry for the poor quality.

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Interesting. I used to make traps out of the old metal milk crates. They worked pretty darn good. I would love to see a closeup of the locking mechanism.
 
Finished it up with some expanded metal for the sides. The lock is just a piece of 3/8" x 1 1/2" flat stock with a hole drilled in one corner so it hangs at an angle. When the door falls it knocks the lock forward and when it swings back it prevents the door from moving upward. I had to weld a stop above it cause the door was hitting it hard enough to make it flip all the way around. I have it set up now (with a hot dog) trying to catch the dog.....no luck so far.

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Originally Posted By: sigprosThat is very nice! It'll be heavy and last for sure. Wish you lived closer I could use a couple like that


Yeah, it is heavy but I don't think it will see the field. I think it will stay at the house for neighborhood pests. It has been set up in the front yard baited with apples to try and catch a cottontail....no dice so far.

I have to work up a price for my buddy based on steel prices and probably only tack on another 20 bucks each for welding them up. If I make him some, I will box them out but cage them in with a lighter heavy duty chicken wire or something similar to keep the weight down. I used the expanded metal cause I already had it.
 
Just a quick question but with using the steel for the door, does the door have too much weight for the trip mechanism? IE would a rabbit or raccoon have enough weight for the pan to move and release the door? I like the design but that was the only thing I saw that I had questions about.

I know in some of my older cage traps, I have used emery cloth to remove the rust and allow the parts to move freely to keep things from getting the bait without setting off the trap.
 
Originally Posted By: brad fJust a quick question but with using the steel for the door, does the door have too much weight for the trip mechanism? IE would a rabbit or raccoon have enough weight for the pan to move and release the door? I like the design but that was the only thing I saw that I had questions about.

I know in some of my older cage traps, I have used emery cloth to remove the rust and allow the parts to move freely to keep things from getting the bait without setting off the trap.


By my scale, it takes 2Lbs. 9.8oz to trigger the pan. I don't know if that is too heavy for rabbits, but my buddy will be going after foxes and bobcats. If I can get the other traps to trigger close to that, than I think we will be in business.

I am using apples to bait the rabbits. So far there haven't been any chew marks in them, so I assume nothing has entered it yet. If I find the apples chewed up and the pan not triggered than I will have to do some fine tuning. Like I said before, this is just my prototype. I anticipate some changes.

Any suggestions and or advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
Only thing I see that might need improvement is the door latch/lock. If the trap falls on it's side/tips over it might move enough to unlatch the door. Stake it down well.
Otherwise it looks good-n-strong.
 
Update:

Caught this little guy in my backyard a couple days after my last post in this thread. I found the trap door shut one morning with nothing inside, but the apple was chewed up. I figured it was a small one and squeezed through the bars on the door. I affixed a piece of chicken wire to the door and the next morning he was in there. My boys got a kick out of it and let him go.

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I will be making a couple bigger ones for my buddy before trapping season starts. Ill post pics when I do.
 
Thats a great looking trap!
Im not much of a live trapper, but i am going to give it a try on a few cats this winter, and plan on building my traps myself, so this has been a great help for me. My only question is, what is the door in the back for? and is it nessicary. I assume its just to remove critters with a catch pole, and have a smaller oppening for them to escape through in the process, but it seems like it could be quite a chore trying to get an angry cat or fox through that small hole?
 
Originally Posted By: Jesse lackeyMy only question is, what is the door in the back for? and is it necessary.

It's a bait door. It's a pain to reach all the way to the back and set the bait, so I added a little door to make it easier.
Not necessary, but convenient.
 
An angry Cat or Fox will be no problem getting out of the trap with a bullet in their head....
By the way... Nice looking trap! Good luck with catching the cat.
 
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I once thought of making my own trap but after purchasing all the materials, working up the schematics, and building it I realized it is a giant waste of time and money. In the end you'll have the satisfaction of building your own cage but it will be very inferior to the professional cage traps out there.

About a $100 will get you something like this. A work of art that works perfectly every time, will hold a small mountain lion, has adjustable pan tension so you can avoid catching and wasting time on rabbits, birds, and squirrels. It is the optimum size to catch a bobcat or gray fox with and weights less than yours.

If you want to make money trapping you have to use quality equipment.

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Originally Posted By: LeviSSLooks really nice. What's it weigh?

It's a little heavy, but thats cause of the expanded metal I caged it in with. This one is my around the house cage for pests so it wont ever see any real trapping. That and I have no desire to trap.

Originally Posted By: Neodem01I once thought of making my own trap but after purchasing all the materials, working up the schematics, and building it I realized it is a giant waste of time and money. In the end you'll have the satisfaction of building your own cage but it will be very inferior to the professional cage traps out there.

About a $100 will get you something like this. A work of art that works perfectly every time, will hold a small mountain lion, has adjustable pan tension so you can avoid catching and wasting time on rabbits, birds, and squirrels. It is the optimum size to catch a bobcat or gray fox with and weights less than yours.

If you want to make money trapping you have to use quality equipment.

What I make is quality, and I can make a trap that size for 50-60 bucks. A friend asked me to make him some and this is what I came up with. He is more than happy and, I enjoy building things like this so it isn't a burden. He doesn't intend to make money trapping, he just does it cause thats what he's into.
 
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