Squirrels

[DannyK]

Are there any recommendations for make, model and supplier of traps please, or importantly any to avoid.
Last year they had all my apples and plums, disbudded a magnolia, killed a new grape vine eaten shoots on a rose bush.
I'm not keen on break back traps in case birds get in.

[burnie]

First thing if it's Grey Squirrels you should know it is illegal to release an invasive species into the wild, so if you trap it, you have to kill it humanely, that's the law. If you are happy with that then I use an Albion Albi trap 025, which is large enough to catch one squirrel or rat, if you keep catching mice like I do, you can release them alive. Top bait is a bit of pepperami sausage for rats and any bird food for squirrels.

[DannyK]

Thanks Burnie.
Once I've secured a .22 airgun I'll get a couple of traps.
They are getting very precocious and I daren't leave windows open as they are now using the extension roof as a thoroughfare.
Might try the pepperami in my break backs as mice seem to be able to lick the peanut butter without tripping the trap.

[Nicos]

Do regularly check on live traps and make sure you locate them in the shade.
One Year we caught a hedgehog in our live trap and it was situated in the sun. No idea why the hedgehog was out during the day cos it certainly wasn't there at the morning check.
And yes, it did recover but I learnt a lesson there.

[DannyK]

Would love to catch a hedgehog. Haven't seen one for twenty years. I fear the badgers have probably killed them. Unfortunately one can't touch the badgers despite the harm they do.
Trap will be visible from the house

[burnie]

Badgers get a bad press, they do little harm to hedgehogs, most of their diet is worms. https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/badgers

[DannyK]

Interesting article but it missed badgers' going for bumble bee nests. A raided nest is not a nice sight. Something disembowelled a fox cub in my garden.
They do a lot of physical damage. There are dangerous deep holes in the grass verges and a special fence had to be built to stop their debris going onto the railway line. The problem is they have no predators.

[burnie]

Interesting article but it missed badgers' going for bumble bee nests. A raided nest is not a nice sight. Something disembowelled a fox cub in my garden.
They do a lot of physical damage. There are dangerous deep holes in the grass verges and a special fence had to be built to stop their debris going onto the railway line. The problem is they have no predators.

Hmm, what with culls and a fair amount of illegal persecution, I think Badgers have more predators after them now than they ever have in most areas.

[MarkPelican]

I thought if you trapped and killed tree rats, it just made space for others to come in. I don't like them either but is there a different solution? A dog maybe?

[noisycrows]

I'm a bit late but I can thoroughly recommend a WCS Tube Trap. I know you said you didn't want a break neck/back trap because of birds, but this is a metal tube with (optional extra) end caps. You just cut a hole big enough for a squirrel. I get blackbirds poking their head in to get the nearest bits of bait, but they never go in. And I put it away at night just in case a fox or someone starts messing about with it. I think it cost about

[noisycrows]

I'm not sure what's going on but it keeps cutting my post off. Is there a character limit or something? Anyway, it costs about

[noisycrows]

What is going on?! Can I not put prices? I didn't get any apples (from 3 trees!) last year, nor any figs and they caused lots of other damage. I thought there were maybe 5-6 squirrels but in less than a year I've killed about 20! And my apple trees are looking great this year.

PS sorry about all the posts!

[DannyK]

Gave up with the Albi trap after couple of weeks. Bait kept going but no squirrels!

Got a Moorland Stable Wire Cage Animal Trap 5006 on Amazon.

Was getting two a day sometimes , now Mr Tufty 0 Dan 13!!!! There are at least two more.

The foxes are enjoying their Mc Tuftys.

[Plot70]

Interesting article but it missed badgers' going for bumble bee nests. A raided nest is not a nice sight. Something disembowelled a fox cub in my garden.
They do a lot of physical damage. There are dangerous deep holes in the grass verges and a special fence had to be built to stop their debris going onto the railway line. The problem is they have no predators.

Bumble bees do not make honey.
I have identified some that are nesting under my allotment shed and looked up there life cycle.
They are white tailed bumble bees and they feed there young on pollen and the queens just fattern up and hibernate. They just do not make and store honey. There is little of value in a bumble bee nest apart from the bees themselves as they are of value to us for pollenating flowers.

The only people that complain about badgers unwittingly attract them by shreadding grass with very noisy lawn mowers so attracting worms to live close to the surface and then to top it off they use a lawn aerator that loosens the soil making the worms even more attractive to badgers because they are easier to dig up.

They have been blamed for making cattle sick too.
The so called scientists do a DNA test that shows that the virus has been there. Worms contain fragments of virus that has come from the dung of infected cows. The worm immune system cuts the virus up into harmless bits that can still be detected in the lab. These are useless to adult badgers and end up in the sprants.
Worm casts contain a number of natural vaccines and almost all warm blooded infants have a natural instinct to eat worm casts or even worms in order to program there immune systems. The first few worms a baby badger eats give it most of its childhood vaccines.

[ameno]

Bumble bees do not make honey.
I have identified some that are nesting under my allotment shed and looked up there life cycle.
They are white tailed bumble bees and they feed there young on pollen and the queens just fattern up and hibernate. They just do not make and store honey. There is little of value in a bumble bee nest apart from the bees themselves as they are of value to us for pollenating flowers.

It's the larvae and pupae the badgers are after. A lot of protein, fat and general food value in a reasonable number of fairly large insect larvae, all conveniently collected in one place.