Live rodent trap question

I'd like to try making the live rodent trap but I had a question about it.  Once the rodent is caught in the trap, what am I supposed to do with it?

Yes, that's the problem. It's not like a dog or cat that you can rehabilitate and rehome. You probably won't like my answer.

It depends on the species of course, but here are my thoughts, based on direct observation of deer mice and red squirrels.

Rodents reproduce at a rate that assumes massive predation and attrition. They are active and aggressive, and will kill and consume their own kind if confined in a live trap.

Their populations will wax and wane based on favourable (or not) environmental conditions, food supply, cover, predation and disease.

This approach has obviously been a massive evolutionary success, and if you don't want to be overrun you have to work within their parameters. On every country property I've seen, that means enforcing "halt lines" around buildings, wiping out as many as you can, to slow them down. If they want to play in the woods, fine; but they are territorial and so am I. It's the lousiest job in the world, but it is what it is.

Cats are enormously effective, provided they are only allowed out at night. Otherwise they will wipe out migratory songbirds just as effectively. This takes a great deal of management. Frankly, I don't see any local cat owners doing this.

Not everyone will like what I'm saying (and I respect your right to disagree). Rodents are part of the landscape, and on the ground that's how it works. My guess is that long after humans have gone extinct, rodents will happily carry on.

My 2 cents' worth.

I admit I kill rats caught where I don't want them, however I prefer to do so humanely.

If the trap is small enough, I pop it in one of our deep freezers, as I've heard that is one of the kinder ways to go.

Drowning is considered unkind.

I've heard of someone training their chickens to hunt and kill them, so they open the live trap in an open area after calling the chickens. My friend's ducks used to kill them on her farm, yet there were always more that arrived.

I know people who catch and release far enough away that they hope they'll not make it back, but again, my understanding from research with larger animals is that it is not humane as they will be in someone else's territory while not knowing where the sources of food, water or shelter are available.

We happen to know that the local owls eat rats, so I've been known to leave the dead rat where the owls can see it, although when my friend did so within site of his trail-cam, it was a cat that got it instead.

Sadly, night hunting by cats 🐈 in no way prevents predation of migratory birds.  Fledglings, youngsters who have just left their elevated nest, commonly shelter on the ground whilst growing their flight feathers. Depending on the species,  this could be 3 days to 3 weeks stuck on the ground at the mercy of every passing cat.

This does not even take into account that the majority of birds are GROUND or "near" ground nesters.  More so than tree 🌳 or ledge nesters by a significant margin.

It is the loss of these weeks old newly hatched that is decimating the songbird population. When no young survive, after 2 to 4 failed clutches annually, it is not long before the population starts to fail, a few years of this, and the unsustainability of the situation becomes clear.

When any creature cannot successfully reproduce, it's only a matter of time before catastrophic failure occurs - extinction.

There is no "safe" time of day for cats to be permitted to hunt during nesting season.

My live traps for rats are set at night only, to protect the squirrels!  The victims are then placed in a large 2x4x6 foot cage, with baited "tunnel" snap traps.  Despite seeing their cage mates die, one by one they take the bait, about every 10-30 minutes.  The body is removed, and reset for the next volunteer.

Fair enough. It's certainly a problem. I base my observations on the trophies they brought home. During the more vulnerable seasons for birds, I would lock the cats in my old hip-roof barn, which had enough mice and space and hidey places to entertain them endlessly.  

Jay said, "If the trap is small enough, I pop it in one of our deep freezers, as I've heard that is one of the kinder ways to go.

This is the method that I use.  Drop into a plastic bag and seal the bag. then put in the freezer until the rodent dies.

Some other things that can be done if the rodent is in a live trap is to sell the rodent or give them to someone who will sell or feed them to snakes and other creatures that eat rodents.

I do not want to return them to nature only to have to catch them again and do all this over again.

James, the instructions on the live traps from the store say take them 2 miles away.  I once saw a live map of where some rats in a city went who had satellite chips in them, and it was amazing how far they went, miles, coming and going all the time.

I got a couple of those live traps for mice and rats, and call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure that all rodents leave a scent for where good things are and where bad things are, and the next rodent that comes along gets the message.  The live traps worked for a while, even with good cleaning,, and then they didn't.  It happened over and over again.  I know rodents leave a scent marker for where they go, and others follow that scent, which is why they can all find an opening that gets used like a superhighway.  But I'm pretty sure there's more information than that in their scents.

I've found that rats do the worst damage, and are one of the top reasons why cars catch on fire while you're driving, because they chew electrical wires.  They can also start house fires for the same reason.  It took metal plates to keep them out of a motorhome I inherited, because they could chew through plastic as well as wood.  

They also carry diseases, as do mice.

I catch spiders and put them outside, I love most animals, but rats and mice are just too impossible to live with.

Cristo Balete wrote:

I catch spiders and put them outside, I love most animals, but rats and mice are just too impossible to live with.

Actually, we are living with them despite all the efforts we make to trap them! I read a book that said that if you see a rat, there's 100 more in the area. There are a few Islands where heroic efforts have been made to extirpate them for the sake of bird nesting sites, but it's no easy matter!

Hello everyone!  Thanks for taking your time to respond!  It was a real pleasure to read the different ideas and thoughts on what the best method might be.  I will have to sleep on it and think again if I should even attempt this badge.  I have ZERO experience handling live rodents and I think the ones that I'm attempting to trap are on the larger side.  I don't really want to trap them, only to have to release them onto a more lethal trap.  I also don't have a freezer to plop them into.  What a dilemma.

A further thought: the exhaust of a basic internal combustion engine is heavy with carbon monoxide, which offers a reasonably painless path to unconsciousness and death. Like hypothermia, I think it is acceptable to consider this a humane end of life.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:A further thought: the exhaust of a basic internal combustion engine is heavy with carbon monoxide, which offers a reasonably painless path to unconsciousness and death. Like hypothermia, I think it is acceptable to consider this a humane end of life.

Maybe - not as easy as it looks in the movies! Modern cars have so many pollution control devices that they tend not to work.
And I know this why.... my dad had a squirrel problem, so he put his trap out that he hadn't had to use since he'd bought a new car. That squirrel would not die. He had to use the neighbor's older car. Dad's been dead for over 30 years now, so "new car" is a relative term!
I suspect our tractor might do the job, but the exhaust is pretty hot so we'd have to not burn the place down.

Wire chewing is absolutely a rodent issue; so is the risk of disease from viruses, bacteria, and parasites carried by rodents.

Fleas are commonly carried by rats, and are a vector for the bubonic plague; deer mice are a known vector for hantavirus - all these are real and present threats to your health and that of your family and livestock.

I am the first one to suggest and ordinarily support "live and let live" when it comes to coexistence with wildlife,  but I draw the line at rodents,  the risks are simply too high,  for me.

Is it safe to assume that I can't get this badge if I use a snap trap?

Is there a separate badge for that?

Jay Angler wrote: Maybe - not as easy as it looks in the movies! Modern cars have so many pollution control devices that they tend not to work.

Yes, that's true, I agree. Especially when a car/truck is warmed up and the emission controls are operating properly. I was thinking more about basic small engines like lawnmowers and such.

James Kim wrote:Is it safe to assume that I can't get this badge if I use a snap trap?

Is there a separate badge for that?

James, I don't think live trapping one rodent and then releasing it will make one whit of difference in the big picture. It's not like the Earth will spin into the Sun or anything. I suggest you go ahead and do it for the badge bit.

Edit: Just don't release it at my place. The resident landlord is a cranky son of a gun.

Douglas,

Lol, noted.  Stay tuned!