Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I will explain in this post how to make 3 kinds of turtle traps using welded wire (rabbit cage material). These traps will rust. If you can find coated welded wire, it would work better. Plastic is an option, but needs to be reinforced and that can get complicated. Also stainless steel would be nice, but I dont even know if they make it, and im sure it would be extremely expensive. The image below shows the 3 basic turtle traps that I have made. Once you build a couple and use them, you will discover for yourself what works best, and your traps may evolve new features. The trap that works the best for me for a diversity of species is #1, the hinge door. basically you make a cube with your welded wire (mesh size and wire guage should depend on the size and strength of turtle you wish to catch. You can close off one end, or make a door on both ends. For the door, cut a piece of mesh with a width smaller than your cube is wide and longer than your cube is tall. The turtles will walk into this door and it will lift to let them in, then close behind them. Thats basically it. For the hinge and to connect pieces of the mesh, I like J clips, which are available where rabbit cage materials are sold. Get the tool designed for them, its an extra $3(or more), but well worth it. You can use pliers but rather than a second for each clip, youre looking at 30 seconds to a minute and thats after youre good at it. Once youre done, youll want to bait it. I usually smash up small fish and crayfish, or use canned creamed corn. youll want to use some kind of small container with a lid, with a couple small holes in it to let the scent flow. Its best to attach the container to the inside of the trap. Also, to ensure your captives survival you will want the trap to float. The poor mans version is to attach a couple 2 liter bottles with the lids securely on to the side of the trap. I prefer to use PVC pipe. Get a length of pipe that will go all the way around the trap, and 4 90 degree corners. use pipe cleaner and pipe sealer to make sure its air tight, follow the directions on the cans. for a small trap, 1 1/2-2" pipe will work, for my larger traps I use 4" black plastic pipe (whatever its called). just make sure its securely fastened to the trap and that it can support the weight of the turtles too. Also, attach your trap to land somehow so it doesnt float away.

Trap #2, the funnel trap. Basically an evolution of the gees minnow trap. You can make it square or round, making a round funnel takes a lot more welded wire. This one is pretty self explanatory. Look at the picture, and ask me if you really need more detail. One thing tho, youll need to make a door on the side or top so you can get your turtles out. The first ones I made had no door, and pulling the turtles back thru the funnel was quite a challenge. I got bit by a large slider on my thumb, and thus the side door was born.

Trap #3, the basking trap. This trap is basically a large cage with no top with ramps going up the side. Youll want to use larger plastic pipe for the float as you want to make climbing over the pipe a challenge. Put the plastic pipe INSIDE the trap, otherwise the turtles will just crawl up the sides and back out. This is one that could be made out of plastic mesh without much support. One trouble with this trap is it pretty much needs to stay away from the shore, or it will get hung up and turn sideways. I suppose you could attach a weight of some kind with plenty of slack in the line so it would sit on the bottom of the pond and not come to shore as easily. This trap isnt very effective for snapping turtles since they rarely bask.

I have never caught turtles much smaller than 4" in these traps, but then ive always used large openings, and 1x2" mesh. I suppose you could catch smaller turtles with these designs, but you would want a small opening for the funnel trap. I dont know that a baby turtle would go into a door trap, unless you really had some good food he was after inside. The basking trap might work, but you would want to hide it in some good cover as you wouldnt want larger turtles getting inside in case they would eat the babies.

Most importantly, check your traps every day. these traps will still catch turtles unbaited!!! Once I removed a trap from the water and left it on the bank. about a month later there was 1 small snapping turtle alive and the carcasses of 2 large snapping turtles that he apparently had been scavenging on.

Also, check your local wildlife regulations to see if trapping is allowed in your area and if there are restrictions on the size and type of traps you can use. Probly not as much an issue on private waters. Here in kansas, turtle traps must be tagged with the owners name and address and be checked every day, there are also restrictions on the size mesh and funnel opening size.

If you have any questions, or if this post has helped you, please reply so it will outweigh the replies of the activists.

about legal restrictions. Wisconsin (for one) now has very definite regulations and substantial penalties for illegal turtle trapping. Besides open season and (fishing or small-game hunting) license requirements, traps must be tagged, checked daily, and of stipulated number, size, design, and materials. For example, no rigid mesh can be used, and nylon mesh must meet size standards. Also the trap must be set with a certain amount of breathing room at the top. Sounds obvious to herp enthusiasts, but meat trappers may not be as concerned.
IMHO, some consideration and protection for herp species is welcome if not overdue, if the regs are reasonable, and formulated with input from people who know something, and not well-meaning but inexpert legislators.

but I've got a few minutes before my next class arrives, so bear with me, everyone who already knows this:
A simple, portable, effective trap design is the gigantic minnow-trap style. That is, a cylinder with funnels tapering inward from one or both ends, size determined by local laws or desired size of captive. Build it out of hula hoops with nylon or other fabric netting around them, stretch it out and anchor it in place with cheap plastic electric-fence / garden posts. It will collapse into a convenient [though wet and perhaps musty] flat donut.

Hoop traps are a neat idea, and lots of people use them. Theyre great because they do collapse when not in use. Ive never actually used them myself, but then, im much more of a cage builder than a net guy. My traps have evolved over the years away from the funnel traps which have a calculated escape percentage to traps which are virtually escape proof. These escape proof traps work much better for me in population studies, and I imagine would be better for relocations as well.
But im always looking for a better trap, so ill keep letting my imagination run wild.

In trap #1 do the turtles just push the door open? Thanks,
Chris D.

yes they do. I discovered this type of trap that someone else had built and left in a pond below the water line. I dont know if they were trapping turtles or muskrats or what, but this trap was only about 5x5 and 24" long, and it was cram packed full of painteds and sliders, all dead of course. It was actually hard to get the door open because it was so full.

Also you want to make sure you put the side of the welded wire with the wire going up and down on the outside of the trap, so it slides over the turtle with ease