I am a Predator Biologist in southern California, we conduct non-native predator control. I am the lead trapper and looking to improve our operation's effectiveness. Most of the trapping we do is with cages and are having problems with targets ignoring the traps/baits/lure, everything. Anyone have advice or suggestions that may help us out?

Thank you
Shane

Make a wire feed pen. Cut off all other feed. Then you take over. Get them on a feed schedule in the pen.Set a trail cam to monitor. Set the trap when you are satisfied they are committed to going into the trap.

x 2 Control What, when and where they eat.

If i wanted to catch cats and because I have become expert at not catching cats . I would set on poles . Cats love to run down or up any kinda pole . Like a log accross a creek or just one laying on the ground . Cats love to hunt the high ground . You could lean a pole against something and a cat Is sure to run up it . It could be a brick piller or a split rail fence . If you go on LT site ADC billboards you will see the guys from Australia there house cat trappers . There's a bounty on them there . They really truely enjoy every single one they catch. Est some 30 million cats cause epic destruction on the native animals down there . Them guys would love to talk cats with you . Just ask they will go nuts

I get some cats that will refuse wire cages after they see there buddy's caught. Try plastic traps. I get good results with them when they get spooky. Canned cat food works the best for me

I do think that some cats are just uncatchable with cages.

That being said, if you control the food, you will get most of them. If you know where the breeders have their kittens you can block all access to it except through your double door trap.

When food baits stop working, I use cat feces and urine from a friends cat box and make a cat box out of the trap. It's a surprisingly good set.

Try this stuff, it has worked for me in a pinch. http://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/M..._Code=Feral-Cat
I cover my traps and place them where they are known to travel.

Thanks Nic. I'll give it a try.

If you're dead serious about their removal and everyone must go then cage what you can and then break out the footholds. #11 double longs are perfect and not at all damaging. Just be sure to know your laws and be willing to fight it out because the first idiot that sees you do it will have a conniption and haul you in front of a judge. Maybe you won't get a judge like I got that when read verbation state code replied "state law does not apply in Spalding county".
Feral cats would be some of the easiest critters to catch if only we could treat them like any other small non native invasive predator that they are. As it is with cage only our hands are tied.

This may further explain his problem. Originally posted on TRAP TALK-

That could be the problem

Hello all,
Thank you for all your responses. They seem to be along the same line as I have found myself. We don't have to worry about anything but normal trapping laws for this job, and no judges. I have tried many different sets, locations, and styles but haven't improved anything yet. I will have to try some of your recommendations, but it seems I'm going to have to think outside the outside box. grin grin.

Thanks
S

So is he trying to catch the cats? If so when I do ceral cat jobs I go in the evening and stay till my traps are full.
Put down some cardboard on the floor of trap with some catnip on the back of the trap. I also will hang a feather in the back
and or use a laser pointer. Make their instructs take over. My feral cat trapping in done in urban areas mostly and it is
a pretty sensitive issue.

Once again I had a client ask a reasonably intelligent question that I could not answer properly. Since a feral cat is not a cat who has been released into the wild but is actually a cat that has been born in the wild, how do you tell the difference?

Now I know that the standard answer ( which I believe came from Vietnam ) is, kill them all and let God sort 'em out! While that answer is applicable in this case, it really doesn't answer the question.

I don't know I'd have to do a ground check I guess.

I catch three kinds of cats.

The little kitty. This is the one that is just so glad to see me that it's purring. Obviously a pet and thankfully the rarest.

Then there's the one that freaks out when approaching the trap but settles down and waits to see what's going to happen. This is the stray. It may have been a while since it had contact with a human but it does remember.

Then there is the one that loses all control when approached. It will work over a cage like no other animal, trying to escape. When you get to the trap, they turn from escape to attack and will spit and growl and try to get to you any way they can often injuring themselves in their attempt to kill you. This is the feral.

The kitty gets released on site.

The stray gets taken to the humane society and transferred to one of their cages.

The true feral gets taken to the humane society and injected before being taken out of the trap.

sgs, that's about right but I'm always just a bit unsure so I ground check them anyway.

I'm not real sure what ground check means, but I may have done that also.

A southernism arising from the early days of a limited doe season of onr buck per day and one doe per day, the second deer of the day often was "ground checked" or checked for sex on the ground.

Baxter,
I am trying to catch cats. I am a predator biologist tasked with the control and removal of invasive species (cats) for the protection and enhancement of native species. We have tried catnip and feathers for visual attractant. I will have to experiment with the cardboard in the bottom, we have been using dirt/sand/grass whatever is handy and natural to cover the wire bottom.

Any advice for using footholds?

Thanks
Shane

I'd like a job like that. Feral cats really are a blight on the natural world.

smtalley, what kind of environment are you trapping? Are you trapping city, suburbs, ranch land, wilderness?

Are people feeding these cats?

How many colonies are you dealing with?

If legal, I'd use every type trap there is... cages, footholds, bodygrippers and snares.

For the footholds, baited sets, scent posts, catbox sets and blind sets will all be productive.

Fill us in on the details and we might be able to help a little more.

One tastes like cat food and the other like squirrel and mouse..........


Seriously, using the native vegetation to cover the cage bottoms should help AND brush in the sides as well.

Avoiding greys is hard when targeting cats........

Have you dyed or painted your cages? Rolling on some exterior latex in brown and/or tan with a black strip makes them disappear once brushed in. I use 3" rollers for the black diagonal stripe. I've had cats avoid a silver/stock trap but go into a painted and brushed in one.

I'm not sure there is a bait or lure that can avoid greys, IMO.

You may just have to face the fact that releasing greys, and hoping they have been condition trained, to keep out the next time.

Wish I could be more help.

Can you discharge a air rifle in the area? How populated is it?

Using a tube trap, like the spray proof for skunks, would prevent a fox from getting in, just on his size alone.

Around here we call that "not verifying your target before shooting" or "wasting wildlife resources".

I had never heard the phrase "ground checked" before, but having read every post from warrior that I ever saw, I made a great calculated guess!