I set 8 traps and caught 4 voles overnight. I caught an additional 2 voles and 2 pieces of voles today. These are actually foot-hold traps but they work great and are far more durable than Victor traps. They run about 5 bucks a piece when bought in bulk. I did paint them to make them rust resistant.
I also caught a rat in the well-house
I’m a little disappointed with the help.
If I had THAT creeping around and still had rodents, I would be very upset. Ugh.
What are you using for bait?
And curious, why did you start trapping now and not before this?
I smear peanut butter on the pan. I’ve learned that smearing it on the underside of the pan makes the critters work harder, which causes a better catch rate. I do not use any insecticides on my plants, but I do have to a spray the trap with pyrethrin to keep the fire ants from eating the bate. To clarify, I smear the peanut butter on the top and bottom of the pan.
I’ve been trapping for the last couple of years, at least with these types of traps. I move the trap regularly. The voles really seem to love my bamboo shoots so I trap intensely in those areas doing the shooting season for the individual species. I usually keep a few traps in my orchard/collection, but I’ve never gotten this amount. I usually only get one rabbit or vole every few weeks. I thought it interesting that I caught so many. Maybe it’s the changing season.
Yikes!
Maybe that’s what I need. Moles are destroying my orchard, and I’ve been trying to catch them the last month with no success. The scissor/victor traps get set off sometimes, but no catch.
Small leghold traps are available here. Peanut butter is hard to find and expensive, believe it or not. I would also need to spray insecticide.
What other bait would work for moles (I don’t think its voles)?
He looks fat! He’s been eating something
My geriatric cat, long retired, decided to hunt again and got a vole this morning
Love it! PM me and let me know where to order those traps
Mike, here is a link http://www.hilltopoutdoorsupply.com/product-p/dcs1.htm
In case anyone else is curious.
This is where I bought them from years back. Shipping was 10 bucks back then. If you buy a dozen of the Duke # 1’s they come out to $5.25 a piece. I actually bought a dozen Bridger’s and a couple of Duke’s. I think I like the Duke’s better.
I washed my traps to remove all the oil, dried them, and dipped them all in a half acetone half rusty metal primer. If one of my traps gets a little beat up or rusty looking a I will hit it with a wire brush then spray it with that paint that removes rusty metal. This isn’t what canine trappers do, but it works for my purposes.
I have caught some pretty small mice size voles with these. I feel setting these traps to be extremely sensitive is the most important factor in trapping these small rodents. If you never put your fingers inside the jaws you won’t break a finger. Set the sensitivity from “underneath” the jaws if that makes sense? Some people may have a hard time setting these. They may want to buy a setter.
Here are the Bridger’s
http://www.hilltopoutdoorsupply.com/product-p/brcs1.htm
I dunno. The"help" looks pretty big and fat. Maybe he’s doing all he can!
I have no experience with moles so I cannot say. My dogs kill the occasional one but I’ve never noticed them in my collection. My orchard is in a high-tensile electric fence area. No dogs or deer allowed. I would experiment with baits if I were you.
I like the convenience of peanut butter. It’s sticky and easy to apply. I hate the new Victor traps they are a pain in the butt to set and they rust quickly. If you can pick up a couple of leghold traps locally I would go that route. I would hate for you to invest in a dozen of them and they not work.
I’d be more concerned about the rattlesnake than the voles! You must have nerves of steel or a good zoom on that camera! Those things are lightning fast when they strike and can sink those fangs in you 5-6 feet away with no problem. Where I live you would never make it to the hospital. Don’t think most people realize what your helper is!
Clarkins - I don’t have any first hand experience with rattlesnakes. Can they strike from a stretched out position or do they need to be coiled up?
I figured it was a rattler, but I know people have different opinions about snakes.
I, personally, would kill a poisonous snake if I found one in my yard (I have kids) but otherwise I am content to live and let live. Snakes don’t really want to tangle with humans and the only people I have known who have gotten bit are people who were messing with the snake or people who nearly stepped on it (accidentally). There is no snake I know of (in the USA) who will make a beeline for humans and attempt to bite them.
I think the statistic is over 90% of snake bites occur when people try to mess with the snake (kill it, move it, etc.). So, in aggregate, you’re far less likely to be injured if you let the snake go it’s merry way.
If I had acres and acres of land, and walked around in boots and long pants, I’d probably let the odd rattler here and there go. (There’s been a rise in rattlers that don’t rattle, because people will kill the ones that do rattle-whereas the ones who don’t escape detection.)
I do understand why some people won’t tolerate poisonous snakes, and that’s fine (although too many people don’t know what they are doing and kill ANY snake on sight, which is stupid). That being said, I know some folks who have a live and let live approach–they’re not unaware of the danger, but take appropriate precautions (high boots, etc.). I thought the OP might be one of those, since rattlers are good killers of slightly larger vermin.
They are supposed to be coiled but I’ve seen plenty of snakes that did not fully know the rules. One non poisonous snake just leaned back and bit me in the hand once not coiled. They get more distant jumps from a coil for sure but that doesn’t mean they can’t coil in a split second. They jump at you repeatedly and quickly with a good amount of aggression when they are angry. They don’t rattle between jumps when they are in a hurry. The rattle is a formality that says your in my territory get out I’m biting you any second but there is no rule that says he must rattle. The rattle I see as the snakes way of being as polite as his disposition allows. With rattlesnakes family is important and I’ve never seen just one. My nature walk as a child was full of timber rattlers and you had to watch your back. They are considered endangered here so you may not legally kill them even when they are killing you. I would anyway if under attack because as mentioned you won’t make it to the hospital so your options are limited.
Clark-actually, according to the endangered species act, you are fine as long as you killed it in self defense.
Maybe you have stricter state laws? But on the federal level, you’re fine.
Not the rattlers I was raised with. I’ve come close to stepping on them a couple times but jumped out of the way. The only time I heard of people getting bit is when they surprised them and threw a foot right at them in the process of walking fast or running. Give them a chance to retreat or stop moving and I think they will save their venom for prey they can eat. They are actually most dangerous when they are coming out of the winter torpor, laying around in early spring trying to warm up. Then they don’t have the energy to retreat.
Only time I’ve ever killed a viper was a copper head that moved under my house and then only because my son was only one. That was here in the east coast when my property became infested with them because of all the plastic pots sitting idle outside as part of my nursery operation. First they became occupied by voles and then the copperheads moved in. When my neighbor found one in his basement I didn’t volunteer that bit of info, but I did clean out the rest of the rodents and tidied up the pots. The snakes moved on- fortunately, not to that basement.
VSOP,
I know that’s true but they are more inclined to believe a victim with bite marks. Im not going to let them bite me!
Alan,
Those are a different breed ( figure of speech) of snakes you have there if they are that easy going. My family in the south reports sometimes lethargic, slow pit vipers and other times nasty aggressive ones. When they shed their skin your right they are really bad. There is a pond here no one goes to because of the legendary aggressive rattlesnakes! The fishing is excellent if your brave enough to get past the snakes. Likely like people it’s genetics that causes agrresion.
I was talking about the rattlers in the chaparral hills of S. CA. I’ve only seen one timber rattler here in NY, short and real fat, looked pretty scary but not real fast. We had diamond backs in Ariz. but I was too young to study their behavior. I still think you may be exaggerating a wee bit and I don’t want other folks reading that and think it’s automatically OK and wise to kill any viper they see. If I thought they were as aggressive as you make them sound I would kill them on site.
I don’t want everyone to go on snake hunting expeditions but I grew up around timber rattlers and they have never tried to get away from me when I saw them rather they prepared to fight. Here is more about them http://www.snakesandspiders.com/timber-rattlesnake-facts/. As far as other rattlers I have little experience. My advice with these is don’t try and shew them away with a broom because it will be on. Am I exaggerating well maybe a bit because some may want to mind their own business but you never know what your going to get. Much of my family in the south would laugh at me because they cohabitate with the highly aggressive cotton mouths which will happily chase anyone entering their territory. In comparison rattlers are much less aggressive but they do have a bad temper. The red colored copper heads are males or the ones that look like large red worms are the babies. My family always says male copperheads are lazy and don’t bite typically but the female is more aggressive. Cotton mouth is one heck of an aggressive snake and I’m not sure why but I seldom see them accept by water and only southern Kansas has them. They won’t come this far north. I’m glad I don’t have any of the poisonous ones right now on my place! Here is a new sweetheart I have not had the pleasure to meet yet which does not hurt my feelings http://www.snakesandspiders.com/kansas-rattlesnakes-now-include-the-western-diamondback/. I’ve been told by a farmer he saw one very large rattler years ago when picking up round bales of hay on my property with a tractor. He claimed one was under the bale. Who knows it’s possible. He said he had another encounter the same day where a wild cat screamed at him on my property but that sounds like he had bad luck or maybe to much to drink. Whatever he saw or thinks he saw prevented him from ever coming back. I’m several miles from timber rattlers country now where my old middle school was and I miss them about as much as I want a case of smallpox. I’ll take the voles any day!
Clark, no nerves of steel here. I just like snakes. In fact, I shooed this Timber off the driveway with a stick so he wouldn’t get run over. He/she was quite far from the areas I regularly venture.
I hope no one thinks I take these pit vipers lightly. Working in critical care I’ve seen the very sad and horrible results these guys can inflict. Keeping a well maintained/mowed area is probably the best tactic to avoid envenomation. Having a herd of goats and sheep in pastures surrounding the “yard” has drastically reduced the amount of snakes we see.
