Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just came up with an idea for a trap to collect wild juvenile snakes.

I started with a humane mouse trap (from Walmart - $1.50 ea).

Drill a 15/16 - 1 inch hole in the back. Screw in soda/water bottle (standard size top). Bait with a pinkie (rub on door, back of acrylic trap, then drop in bottle). Cover bottle with leaves and set in location where snakes sighted or prevalent. Check daily.

The key to drilling the hole is SLOW speed, so as not to crack the trap. I cracked one BADLY (poor patience). One I cracked a little (shown) and repaired with tape. If you have patience and do it right (with practice), you can get the bottle in tight.

Whaddya think?? I'll let you know if I catch the black rat babies I'm looking for. Hope an adult doesn't get stuck in it and slither off (maybe stake/strap down?).

Walt

Catch/release or Catch/Keep depending on the snake. I wrote a thread about this below...

Walt

How are the snakes prevented from escaping? What is the purpose of adding the water bottle? Couldn't the snake merely turn around and go back into the main trap? Or am I missing something?

The box part of the trap has a one-way hinged door. The bottle is because the snake could go half-way in (keeping the door ajar), eat the pinkie, then leave. Since the pinkie is in the bottle, the snake has to come ALL the way in to get the pinkie. Then, the door shuts and the snake can't leave.

Hopefully, as the pinkie rots, the smell will get stronger and attract the snake(s) better.

Those traps work great on mice (without the hole/bottle). You put a dab of peanut butter in there and lay it against a baseboard. It traps the mouse in there and you can take it to the woods and let it go. Unfortunately, if you forget to check the trap all the time, you forget about it, then one day there's a dead, mummified mouse in there...yuck. They're much better than those disgusting glue traps.

Walt

You have one main problem, Black Rats are not attracted to the smell of rotting flesh. In the wild they hunt LIVE prey.

It is a good idea but don't put a dead mouse in your trap. Try a few drops of "MouseMaker." The scent might just lure one in.

Great Idea! Thanks!

If they're still empty after a few days, I'll try that.

Walt

Would a wild snake be attracted to a pinky mouse purchased from a store. I live on the west coast and the rodents we get in the pet shops here are European, whereas the wild rodents are native. They look different, smell different, and most snakes won't go both ways. I caught a wild mouse, alive, not too long ago and tried to feed it to one of my snakes but she wouldn't touch it. I think you might have to use the humane mouse trap to catch a mouse, then secure it in the end of the bottle somehow. Good luck, let us know how it goes, but you may have a hard time getting them to switch so easily.

We are haveing some weird weather here in sw MO this week... it was in the 80's and then it rained and dropped down to 48 in the day time, and gradually got back up to maybe 74 today. So would the snakes still be out or have they most likely gone underground to hibernate already? i'd love to get a black rat before their active season is over.... opinions?
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
0.0.1 Butter Corn "Butters" (South Park)
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"

n/t