homemade live traps.

[akashia26]

my husband uses 2 types around our house.

the first is what he calls a rat trap trigger trap. the cage has a pressure plate in the back attached to the trigger on a rat trap. the bar of the rat trap is attached to a pin that holds a slide door open. critter steps on pressure plate and sets off the rat trap, which pulls the pin out of the door. the gravity takes over and closes the door. trapped critter.

the second type he calls a stick trigger. it has the cage with a sliding ring door. if you have never seen one it's hard to explain. anyway the trigger is 2 sticks one goes through the wire of the door and extends along the top of the trap to a notch in the second stick that extends down into the trap and a notch catches on the wire. when a critter bumps the trigger stick it slips off the wire and the door closes flipping the first stick out.

we used to use another trap for larger predators, like bobcat or cayote. was a large chain link dog pen. attached a couple of bundgie cords to the door and held it open with a stick attached to a wire with the bait in an old sock. the door had a kickstand brace on it, it would slide when the door was closing but dig in if you tried to open it from the inside. when critter tried to take the bait he pulled the stick loose and the door got pulled close and the kickstand held it close when they pushed on it.

anyone else make their own live traps? and what kind of triggers do you use?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Please post photos!

 

[akashia26]

trap #1 rat trap trigger. the door fits into a slide.



rat trap is attached to the top of the back of the cage, where it closes towards the back of the trap. a wire runs from the rat trap trigger, through the rat trap and into the cage attaching to a trigger plate in the back of the cage.



cord is attached to the bar of the rat trap.



cord is attached to the pin in the door. animal presses down on trigger plate hard enough to set off rat trap the rat trap trips and snatches the pin out of the door. the door slides shut. i use lard to grease the door. don't use grease it doesn't smell good to the critter so he will avoid the trap.

 

[akashia26]

trap #2. as you can see the stick is stuck through the wire of the door. the rings at the top of the door slide down when door closes.



this is close to the back of the cage. stick 1 (horazontal one) si stuck in the door. stick 2 (vertical one) is held in place by tension from stick one. as you see stick 2 catches on the cage and is held up by stick 1. bait the bottom of stick 2. just a little movement will dislodge stick 2 from the wire. this allows the door to close. rings slide down and locks animal in.

hope this helps everyone trying to build their own traps. does anyone else build their own and what trigger do you use? pics please.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Nicely done - thanks for the photos!

 

[OHSpartan]

I will definitely look into this as a modification to a couple traps I have the don't work very well. Thanks for sharing.