To Catch a ?

hm1996

Moderator
Staff member
OK, I'm a predator hunter, not a trapper (obviously) and I need HELP!

Been trappin' possums for years as they compete heavily for the avocado crop off my lone back yard tree. Catchin' possums is easy; they'll eat anything and I usually get one every night (and an occasional feral cat) in the live trap. When I ran out of cull avocados, I started baiting w/a slice of bread w/touch of peanut butter and continued catchin' possums 8 out of 10 nights until last week.

Last week something got the slice of bread but didn't trip the pan. Figured a light possum or feral cat, maybe, checked trigger and re-set. Night 2, same song 2nd verse??

Could it be a rat? IDK, but pulled out the live rat trap.
IT seems to like PB, so why change now? Trap not tripped but bait gone.
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OK, drag out the old faithful rat trap last night and slathered trigger w/PB.

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Well, the good news is IT now has a knot on it's head; the bad news is it's probably trap shy now.

What the h*** do I have? Better yet, how do I catch it? Or do I really want to????
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Regards,
hm
 
possibly a pack rat or squirrel. With a piece of wood. screw a shelf half way up the back of your cage and smear the peanut butter on it. This forces him to cross the pan and work harder to get the bait. you can also twist tie peanuts in the shell to the back of the cage. Good luck!
 
Thanks, spots. Makes sense. Think a large rat is heavy enough to trip the pan on the (large) live trap? I'm sure having to stand up to reach the shelf will help; will also slick up the trigger a bit and give that a try tonight. The shelf will make it a lot harder for possums to steal the bait, as well. Doesn't happen often, but once in a while.

We haven't had squirrels in the past, but did see one down the street just last week....first one in years. We have had (non-squirrel) tree rats that run the power lines and got into my attic a few years back...took months to get rid of them and that's what I'm worried about.

They are stealing the bait after dark (between 2330 last night and 0730 this morning). Are squirrels nocturnal?

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnot
hm1996 said:
Are squirrels nocturnal?

Regards,
hm [/quote

nope

Thanks, slick. I didn't think so but only squirrels I've been around is a few I used to work with.
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Well, we'll see. I wired a few peanut butter filled pretzels to top of back wall of big live trap (shame I couldn't find a small mug to put a thimble full of beer in.
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), and a miniature PB sandwich in the smaller live trap, then freshened up the PB on the old snap-trap. Can't wait to see what morning brings.
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By the way, when I lifted the bail on the old trap to set it, I caught a glimpse of a tuft of hair that blew away in the 20 mph wind. Best I could tell it was mouse grey so betting on a rat.

Have a great Thanksgiving, all.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: crapshootWell?

Still no cigar.
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It (they) have ignored the large and smaller live traps for four nights; tripped the old "snap trap" first three nights, leaving a tiny tuft of grey hair first night, what might have been a trace of blood 2nd night. Fourth night nothing. Don't know if I've educated him (them) or they may have lost their appetite for peanut butter.

Super glued an almond to the trigger of the snap trap and baited small live trap w/same. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Pretty sure it is rat(s)???

Regards,
hm
 
We had some pretty sneaky mice in our trailer this past summer while it was on our mt property in utah. Suckers could lick the PB off the trap and a good number of times without setting it off no matter how light i set the pan. I had to get creative in how and where i set them. We are moving the trailer to a new spot this coming summer that we prepped this past summer. Not looking forward to the battle with mice and rodents again this summer.
 
I thought of mice, but are mice heavy enough to trip a rat trap, Lance? IDK??

The rat trap was tripped first 3 nights. Have never had a mouse problem at the house, but did get tree rats in attic a few years back and that's what concerns me. Our home is ranch style w/relatively flat roof; can't access attic so worry about rats chewing wiring and causing a fire. Took us nearly a year and finally had to resort to poison to get rid of them. Don't believe that propaganda that they go to water to die, either!
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I leave my jeep at three different ranches and sometimes don't get up to check on it for months at a time. Where it is now, haven't had any issues (yet) because the cook has a large house cat that hangs out around mess hall and jeep barn; another ranch has an occasional mouse, but not bad, but third ranch infested w/mice. Everyone there complains of mice in their trailers; not so much on the other two ranches.

I always hang a mesh bag w/mothballs under the hood to protect wiring and hoses and have only had one get inside cab and die(TJ w/rag top). Hate to put moth balls inside the cab, so I just don't leave the jeep at that ranch any more. The moth balls have protected underside of jeep so far. You might put some out under your trailer if you still have a problem.

If the rat trap is tripped tonight, I'll get some mouse traps and try them tomorrow.

Regards,
hm
 
Whodathunkit??

Not sure if it was the glued almond or the fact that I placed the trap inside the large live trap to force the critter to approach from the business end of the trap. I reasoned that w/unrestricted access, the critter might come from behind and the bail would fling it clear when tripped??

Anyhow......here's one culprit
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Who ever heard of a bird with an appetite for a midnight snack?

This does not explain the tuft of grey hair a couple of nights ago, however, it may not be over yet?

Regards,
hm
 
You're probably right, Slick that the bird showed up at first light as sunrise is 0700. All visits have been between 11:30PM & 7:00 AM. We do have a little wren that sings a lot around 0400, however.

Regards,
hm
 
If you want to repel rats and mice, the blue Irish spring soap bars work very well for me. I had a packrat chewing wires under the hood of my 4runner. I threw a bar onto each inner fender and the rat hasn't been back. That was over a year ago.
 
the problem as i see it with the irish spring... its also going to keep the critters he wants to catch out of the trap too, not just his bait thief.
 
Originally Posted By: Savage250If you want to repel rats and mice, the blue Irish spring soap bars work very well for me. I had a packrat chewing wires under the hood of my 4runner. I threw a bar onto each inner fender and the rat hasn't been back. That was over a year ago.

That's good to know. Would probably last a lot longer than moth balls under the jeep hood when I can't get up to renew moth balls. Think I'll give it a try on jeep.

Haven't had any rats in attic in a year or more, but think I'll throw a couple of bars up there as well just because........thanks for the tip.

Regards,
hps
 
I tried peppermint oil in conjunction w/moth balls to see if it would last longer than the moth balls but test was flawed. After working in chemical plants for over 25 years, my sense of smell is almost zero. At least the moth balls give me a visual as to how long they are effective.

Unfortunately, nowadays I'm sometimes not able to get to ranch for months and worry about moth balls dissolving between trips. So far that has not happened.

How is best way to use the peppermint oil. I applied to cotton balls but couldn't detect the odor a few weeks later?? I'm sure a rodent's smell is far superior to mine, though.

Regards,
hps
 
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