Squirrels...@&$?

I’ve noticed that bait makes a difference. They cannot resist bagels. Sometimes I also use left over PB sandwiches after the kids. That works too.

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I did notice that since I put end caps on my tube traps and just bait the far side next to the cap the squirrels have to cross over the mechanism that springs the trap and I get them every time (almost every time) I think tiny mice can crawl over the mechanism without setting it off I think that’s where the bait gets taken.

I don’t remember if squirrels disappear every year this time of the season but I see none these days. Last fall I trapped about 5-6 in a havahart trap.

I am using peanut butter plus sunflower seeds.

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How do all of you “dispose” of the squirrels once they are caught?

I use a havahart style trap, bait with peanuts plus peanut butter. I always put a couple of peanuts with just a touch of pb on them towards the front of the trap to acclimate the wary ones. And I wire a peanut coated with pb to the trip mechanism on the trap. When they grab that peanut and tug it at all the trap trips. I’ve often been able to use the same wired peanut for several squirrels.

I generally have a half-dozen or so peanuts in the back of the trap. The smarter squirrels try to get those without going in. I’ve had two fussing over it a couple of times.

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With a live trap, like I have, you fill a basin with water and dunk them a long time. Then, put them in a plastic grocery bag, tie it up and into the trash.
Caught #10 today.

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I place trap/squirrel in a snug-fitting cardboard box lined with a plastic garbage bag and use CO2 from the beer supply house to displace the oxygen in the trap. It’s very quick. The squirrel goes in the garbage in a plastic bag.

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I usually give them a little lead. Then into the garbage can

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To follow up on the squirrelinator, I have averaged two per day since I started trapping, up to 8 now total. I am definitely impressed with the traps. I caught 2 in one trap today for the first time.

One thing I learned to do was put a “line” of peanut butter on the wire that is right under the entrance, then they lick that in in in to the trap. It seems like I’m getting better results with that, there are fewer squirrels since I trapped a bunch but I am still getting them. So far the birds are eating the sunflower seeds outside the trap but the peanut butter lines and all bait in the trap middle is untouched by the birds.

8 down 40 to go for the year…

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Three up, three down (one at a time!) and yes, 40 to go …

I’ll go for a stretch without seeing them, and then two or three will start competing for tree space in our maples. Right now they’re mating and I particularly want to interrupt that cycle. They are at their most vulnerable right now as their food stores and fat are declining and they’ll be a little less cautious during mating season. So this is a good “stitch in time saves nine” kind of situation.

By the way, don’t refer to the traps as “squirrel traps”. Call them “Rat Traps” -it puts things in a more accurate perspective!

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Sounds like this trap is better than the tube trap?

Disposing of the squirrels is easier with the lethal traps. If the tube trap U was not getting bent and the birds were not stealing the bait I would prefer the tube and Kania traps, but overall I might be liking these squirrelinators the most. They also seem a bit more effective overall, no mis-firings at all since the mechanism is so simple.

One thing I meant to mention was on one of the traps I missed a squirrel in that evening, and a fox came in the night and a neighbor emailed around the next morning asking whose squirrel trap was in the middle of the street… The trap was 50’ from where I had set it - ! Anyway the moral is they need to be checked carefully every single evening, either that or nail them down well. The trap is still in good shape in spite of the abuse so the durability appears excellent.

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What is the average price of the squirrelinator? I can get one locally but not sure if it’s a good price.

I wonder if this would work?

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They work great for mice. It would have to be a very large container for squirrels though

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That’s a rat, isn’t it?

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I bet a trash can or something that size would be big enough but I would say that squirrels have a much greater sense of balance and ability to jump that they might not fall in. The clumsy squirrels probably don’t get a chance to pass on their genes, lol

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they compost nicely. even the bones are gone in a few months in the middle of the pile. :wink:

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