Gave Up on Bucket Trap!

[dogzrule5]

Well, after a few weeks with a well-baited bucket trap that didn't catch anything but two bugs, I set out four of the old fashioned little snap traps in the barn. I was very careful of the placement so the chickens or geese wouldn't get to them.

Of four traps set, I caught 2 mice the first night. Trap #3 was tripped and all the peanut butter was gone, but no mouse. The odd thing was that I couldn't locate trap #4 anywhere! I know exactly where I put it and have looked everywhere with no luck. I'm either going to find it by the reaking smell of a dead mouse tonight or it will remain a mystery.

Last night I set out the three traps again and didn't catch anything, but they have all been tripped and the peanut butter done.

The mice that I have are so tiny that many times they don't even trip the spring trap, but these have all been sprung and emptied of bait.

I wonder where trap #4 disappeared to?

 

[nccountrygirl]

Phyllis you need some cats to keep the rodent population down, want some?

 

[dogzrule5]

Just what I need - another animal!

Actually I adopted Topaz to be a barn cat but have kept him inside since I got him last fall. I let him out once and within 5 minutes he had a goldfinch.

I'm very, very tempted to put him out but still struggling with it. I have some baby bunnies in the yard and so many birds......

 

[Wolf-Kim]

If the snap traps have been moved around much, it could be a larger animal taking the bait, perhaps a raccoon?

-Kim

 

[lost]

When we moved when I was a kid we had rats under the concrete porch. We had the big rat traps and thgey would just snap. They was that big Some rats get as big as cats in the city

 

[dogzrule5]

I'm not sure what is tripping them but I've set them all again tonight.

No - I'm sure I don't have racoons or anything like that in there or I'd have dead chickens. I had a possum or racoon last fall but then put h/w cloth all around the base of the barn.

These mice are so tiny that they don't even trip the traps a lot of times. I just read today that mice are intelligent enough to figure out a solution to a problem if they have time.

I'll see what I have tomorrow morning and report. Worst case, I'll get those other traps that look like be clothespins - they work great!