What's Stealing Squirrel Bait? (Have-a-heart)

[frank1492]

I have a Have-a-heart trap positioned to trap squirrels (if any) if they exit a hole in my eaves. They have been in there, but I have reason to believe they were not there when the trap was placed. (I saw a pair run by nervously when I was placing it.) For bait, I used cashew nuts imbedded in peanut butter. My question: Although the trap has never been sprung (I have tested it serveral times) the bait keeps disappearing. Should I suspect mice, or, if not mice, then what? Whenever I have used Have-a-hearts, this has always happened and I have yet to catch a squirrel anywhere! If mice are suspected, what bait should I use that would be more squirrel-specific, and would I have to wire it to the tray? Thanks all for help! Frank

[gfretwell]

You have 2 possibilities, either they are eating it without stepping on the trigger or it is something too small to trip the trap. Try putting the bait in different spots so they have to move more to get it.

[Colbyt]

Stealing without stepping on the trigger would be my guess.

Try tying some peanuts inside an old pantyhose section and suspend it from the top of the cage. I just used about a 14" from the toe up. This suspension cause them to play with the sack and they dance on the trigger.

Really! It worked.

Colbyt

[Andy]

Andy suggests:

I had a similar problem with mousetraps where the mouse learned, apparently, to "lick" the peanut butter off without springing the trap.

I then fastened a piece of popcorn (popped) to the trigger with a piece of wire. I then coated the popcorn with peanut butter.

The mouse ate the peanut butter and then took a bite out of the popcorn and the trap took a bite out of him.....

So, I suggest you glue the bait to the trigger mechanism, or fasten it in some way that the rodent will have to tussel with it.......

Good luck,

Andy in Eureka, Texas

[Sharp Dressed Man]

Don't be such a pussy, Frank. Squirrels don't experience "anxiety."

Take your .22 , load it up with subsonic ammo (BB caps or CB caps) so your neighbors can't hear the shot and plug the suckers.

[Frank]

Make sure trigger is sensitive enough, sometimes traps get a little creaky and may hang up. Peanut butter alone is fine and I'd smear trigger top and bottom so squirrels will have to work at. As others point out, mice can be tough even in mouse traps as they lick gently. If you are using a lot of peanut butter, I doubt that a mouse could consume that much in a day.

Also better seal that hole in the eves. Cost my son several hundred dollars in removing a squirrel that got trapped and died in walls.

[clare]

Take a couple of ragd soaked in ammonia and throw them into the hole. Repeat every 2 days for a week, then plug the hole.

Squirrels, mice, raccoons - they can't STAND ammonia and will move out, pronto.

[Rich]

I have the same trap for ground squirrels and what I do is take whole hard corn (from the field behind me) peel a couple of kernels off the cob and use Elmer's glue to glue two pieces down and a few freebies that they can have but then they come to the glued one's then they trip the trap and I relocate them.

Good luck, Rich

[Stormin Mormon]

I had a Victor mouse trap within sight of the computer. One night, I watched a mouse eat all the food off the bait holder, and not spring the trap. Very, very tiny mouse. I tried to take a picture, but the mouse spooked and ran off.

[The Daring Dufas]

I have fine tuned rat traps to the point that a roach could probably set one off. I found a mouse in one of the big traps once and the bar had smashed the mouse across its butt. I swear to you that the mouse actually had this incredulous expression frozen on its lifeless little face. I could imagine the little creature screaming "FUUUUUCK!!!" before it expired.

TDD

[E Z Peaces]

I've been hearing a squirrel on the heating ducts under my house. If I could get it to take peanut butter from my have-a-heart trap, that would be progress. I think they aren't hungry because gorge themselves on my pecans before going under the house to tear up insulation.

If I trapped a squirrel I'd have to find a bucket deep enough to humanely submerge the trap. So today I resorted to blocking the vent where I thought it was getting in. After all, squirrels dine out during the day. No noise tonight.

In a neighborhood where shooting is unlawful, how do I get those tree rats out of my pecan trees?

[Phisherman]

If you can placde the trap where you can watch it, you'll know what's going on. I noticed the squirrels would reach in from the side of my Hav-A-Hart trap. I wired a square (about 5x5") of hardware cloth on both sides making it Squirrel Soup Time!

I like to use a cracker with peanut butter, using fine wire to secure the bait to the trip plate. Check the trap often. Birds can eat the bait without tripping the trap.

[Phisherman]

I was taking 2 or 3 squirrels a day to a heavily wooded area 5 miles away. After about a week or so, there were very few squirrels left. Since then, there is a red-tailed hawk family that is taking care of the excess squirrel population (some hawks use the same nest year after year).

[Michael B]

[Pat Barber]

I removed "about" 150 squirrels over a 3 year period. That trap requires a lot of screwing around with to get it just touchy enough to catch squirrels.

You need to play with the setting latch so that it's just barely holding the doors open. Use a spray on it to make it even slicker.

I use corn and drop just a few grains around the trap and then I stick a few grains to the lever with peanut butter. Make it just a little sticky.

Hot melt glue also works pretty well.

You will know when you have it right when you can barely get it set with out it going off in your hands.

I was getting two a day during one summer and had to cart the damn things away but I did clear the neighborhood of the squirrels.

Remember...they have to be moved several miles away to really clear them out.

frank1492 wrote:

[E Z Peaces]

As I walked up the street a couple of weeks ago, I saw down falling around me like light snow. I looked up and saw what I took for a red-tailed hawk perched above me. Why eat birds when there are squirrels available? I need to find out what color contrasts best with gray to a hawk's eye. That's the color I'll paint my lawn and trees.

A couple of days ago I found a squirrel lying in state on the lawn. Most of the fur from the head and neck was there, but the skull was gone. I want to find out what did it so I can buy a dozen more.

Next door there used to be a wonderful cat who was good at finding baby squirrels. And I love the sight of a rat snake up in my trees or crawling around my foundation. No music compares to the pop of an

18-wheeler dispatching a squirrel. And I love power lines!

Why can't Disney produce a feature-length cartoon to tell the public what squirrels are really like?

[frank1492]

Thank you all for your thoughtful (and sometimes humorous) comments. I have wired a piece of apple with imbedded cashews and peanut butter. (As an aside why don' t they provide a door on the side of the trap near the tray so you don't have to work so awkwardly from the end???) I have also greased the trigger. I have also placed the bait on the far side of the tray (one end of the trap is closed) so that there is more of a chance that they will step on the tray. I continue to think they're not there as I have heard nothing since the trap was placed (At one time I used to hear scrambling over by LR ceiling.) But I continue to wonder who stole the bait. It looked like the residue the last time was covered with very tiny marks, about the size of a mouse tongue. I hope I am right. If a squirrel by some remote chance was trapped in there, how long would it remain relatively mobile do you think? How long until death? I didn't consider the ammonia/shaving lotion idea because I would have had to put it near the entrance. If they were inside I feared it would only drive them back. I will try the suspended bait idea next if this bait disappears without a hit. Frank

[gfretwell]

You will like this picture

truncate up to the /wildlife directory and there are other pictures of this hawk eating the squirrel

[HeyBub]

Pigeons and the like don't bite.

And, of course, they taste like chicken.

[gfretwell]

Only the young ones. When they get older they are more of a crock pot thing.