I have had excellent results with some squirrel control products from Mossberg.

If it's that bad, though, I'd consider a dog.

You can start with the Kania web site: www.kania.net. I have had good luck with the Havahart traps for squirrels, and they are cheaper to purchase...but you then have to decide how to "dispose" of the live, trapped squirrel. Amazon seems to have good prices on the Havahart products. Just keep in mind that, as you reduce your local squirrel population, you will get at least some neighboring squirrels invading to take over the newly-available territory, so you may be in for the long haul.

Dave, see link below - you buy them directly from the manufacturer in Canada. I have not had completely consistent catch with them but usually I do pretty well. Here are some tips if you decide to get some:

2. Peanut butter/pecans has been the best bait for me. There is a special spot for the bait. I push the PB down through the wire mesh so the squirrel is tempted to try to lick it.

3. Check the bait every few days and freshen if needed. I have ants that regularly eat it.

4. The traps come with two places to screw to a tree on the top side. I also drilled holes in the bottom and screwed that to the tree, since it was jiggling and I think scaring away the squirrels before I had it well-mounted. I would make sure you cannot budge the trap after mounting it on the tree.

5. There is a little wire ring that is the trigger. That ring can get bent various ways, make sure it is level and centered when you are re-baiting or otherwise checking your trap.

6. I would also put a drop of grease in the spot where the trap release is -- it is a small round metal rod going into a flat rod of metal. It should be obvious when you have the trap in front of you, it is where it needs to slip to release the hammer.

7. Put some mast outside the trap entrance. I have found pecan halves dipped in peanut butter to be the best. I wedge the pecan under the metal bar just inside the entrance. Its obvious once you see the trap. I have sometimes had problems with birds taking the mast.

8. ALWAYS release the spring before fiddling with the trap - changing bait, adding mast, etc. Your hand will get crushed if it gets caught. The spring is very strong; better be safe than sorry here. Related to this always mount high enough on a tree so kids won't poke hands in, and warn any kids that it is dangerous and to stay away.

9. Get two traps to increase the overall odds -- two different locations, catch two between checks, etc. If you want to limit the $$ start with one.

I have caught several dozen squirrels this year, and though I have lost a few fruits it is nothing compared to past years. Just this morning I pulled one out.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: Kania traps

Scott wrote: "I have caught several dozen squirrels this year, and though I have lost a few fruits it is nothing compared to past years."

That has been my experience too. I was really surprised last year how effective it was by trapping and removing them. I actually got nuts for the first time in 2 decades.

I've wanted to make one of these but I figure living in town and my nut tree is in the front yard it wouldn't be good to have squirrels hanging around like Christmas decorations.

I'll be amazed if I get any nuts this year. I've been using bon-bons out front and in back and while I was doing some concrete in the driveway today there were three in the tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: squirrel pole

scottfsmith Those look like imposing traps, thanks for posting the link, eventually I'm sure I'll get a few.

Here's my take on the traps I've used.

1. Havahart single door trap- This trap has been the most successful trap so far. The door release mechanism was to hard trip at first, so I bent and filed it so it takes little pressure to trip. I still have problems with getting it just right, sometimes it goes off by itself, other times it seems too hard to trip. I drill holes in pecans and screw them to the trip plate. I also try to put some high visibility bait in the trap, like an ear of corn, or a pile of pecans. I've witnessed two or three squirrels not being able to find the door. Even though I've caught many squirrels in it, I still give havahart a "D" for their trap. It's really a cheaply made piece of junk, that I have to tinker with to get it to work.

2. Tube trap- This was a big pile of junk. I think I caught 3 squirrels with it before the spring rusted in two. None of it was made of galvanized metal, so it was a rust bucket. Additionally, squirrels didn't seem to want to go into it. It seems our squirrels do better if they can see the bait, that's why I've been reluctant to try the Kania traps (Scott, you're testimony is causing me to reconsider.) The tube trap killed one bird.

3. Havahart double door trap- I've had this trap for just a few days. My thought was squirrels would be able to find either door easier, and be less apprehensive on entering the trap. So far, this seems to be the case. I caught one squirrel the morning after I put the trap out. The trip mechanism is much easier to trip. However, unless the bait is fastened to the trip plate, the squirrels will come in, grab the bait, and back out without ever crossing the trip plate. The first day of use, I screwed three pecans to the trip plate and put two half ears of corn on either side of the trip plate. The next morning, both ears of corn were gone, but there was a squirrel in the trap. The greedy bugger had taken out the corn and gotten trapped when he went back for the pecans. The biggest drawback of the trap is that the trap doesn't seem to be long enough. I watched a squirrel, after stealing an ear of corn in the trap, go back for the screwed down pecans. He tripped the doors, but one of the doors hit his backside and wouldn't close. The squirrel then simply backed out of the trap without getting caught. Maybe this was a fluke, but this trap hasn't left a good first impression.

4. Rat traps- An old Nafexer claimed they worked for him. By attaching them to a board and mounting the board on a tree trunk using a shelf bracket, the squirrel supposedly runs up the trunk and runs out on the board to investigate, where he finds the trap. These also, I've only been using a few days. I have my doubts about them. They seem too small for the well fed squirrels we have around here. I've baited them with peanut butter, but no takers. I couldn't get them to eat bon bons either. Our squirrels have very discerning tastes.

I caught a squirrel with the havahart 1 door trap the other day. DIdn't take long at all. I put it back out, but his buddy doesn't want to come near it. I set mine right under my apple tree thinking he'll stop in before grabbing my apples.

Havahart traps for squirrels!
I was not expecting any squirrel in the trap because there was no bait except a rotten half plum but when I passed by it I saw a skunk tarpped and you can imagin that I will say "Oh, no".
I carefully covered the trap with a tarp and opened the trap door. The skunk jumped out and ran out through cedar hedges but with the traffic on the road and a sunny day, it ran back to out backyard and went under our concrete steps in the backyard, so I had to say again '"Oh, no".
I thought I should just wait for the night and it will go out by itself.
I am afraid to put that trap again.

I don't know what your laws are in Canada but it's illegal to release skunks in my state. Too many have rabies to risk it.
Covering the trap was the right thing but then you drown them.

I love my skunks and always release them. Only once did a tarp get sprayed. I have to kill enough animals to get my fruit, it's nice not to have to kill skunks as well.

Judging from the drift of this posting, peanut butter bon-bons have failed all of you, right? I was afraid that they were too good to be true.

I have found the tangle trap extremely affective if I apply it (about 6-8" lengths)below and above the alluminum flashing I use to keep off coons and possums. Obviously is won't stop a starving animal but I have found traps to be completely inaffective over time- word gets around somehow.

olpea, thanks for the report on those other traps. I totally agree on the tube trap - worthless. I have some of the double-door Havaharts and I have caught squirrels with them, but the neighborhood dogs now turn them over to try to get the bait so I had to give up on them. There are different versions of the double-door trap, and the one they call the squirrel trap is too short - you need the 24" one they call the rabbit trap. The way I would bait them is to put bait on both sides of the trip plate so they would want to step over it, and then would set it off. I still occasionally have the bait swiped so screwing it down sounds like a good idea.

Harvestman, I don't know if the bonbons worked for me or not. I was still trapping lots of squirrels when I had them out, but maybe I was getting some both ways. At some point the birds were eating them all (and, the squirrel population had diminished to almost nothing) so I stopped putting them out. I will probably keep trying them in peak periods of squirrel problems. I figure even if they are not working I am glad they are eating bonbons and not my fruit!

Scott

I can't say if bon-bons have worked or not. Powerlines are squirrel highways and I have them out front and out back. My subdivision is from the 40s, has plenty of huge trees to reflect that age and it butts up against a large park. Other than mine I have not seen another butternut around here, I've been told they were around but if they were they must've been rare when I was young (came from a butternut infested woods in NJ and missed them) and almost extinct now, so my tree is a draw to any that discover it.
The way the habitat is here and how they breed like rats I doubt if I could make a noticeable difference on my own, I know I've never made one trying to thin them out on my hunting ground on the other side of the park.

I just built one myself. Its not very difficult if you have the tools and a little instruction. I built my first one when i was a kid and have built a few since. They keep improving. Here are a few pics of the one I built a few days ago:

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construct the floor with cracks so rain water will not collect
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a piece of wood in the far back prevents critters from stealing the bait from outside the trap, behind it
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a rear trap door allows you to set it without having to reach in from the front
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my cat is roughly the size of a gray fox (getting a gray fox to enter a trap is another story but it can be done)
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the part i hate the most
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this is where you have to be crafty
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critter walks in, steps on board which pushes down on triangular shaped piece, pushing it back against trigger string, which is under tension from the weight of the trap door. plastic cutlery is used here to ensure the pieces remain slippery under rainy conditions, which create friction btw wood pieces
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i spray painted the finished product camoflauge so it doesn't catch the eye's of passers-by
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the catch mechanism is simple. a stout staple tack-hammered into the side of the opening where the trap door shuts. a nail through the side of the trap door passes by the staple upon the door slamming shut, but then it won't go back the other way unless you use a tool to pry it by.

Scott,

The double door trap I have is the 1030 model, which is 24" long. If you haven't had any problems with squirrels setting it off and then backing out from it, maybe what I saw was an isolated exception.

I've found by using baits only squirrels will eat, it helps keep the trap from being raided by birds and other animals. If the pecans are whole, our birds will leave them alone. Likewise they'll leave dried out sweet corn alone. I don't know what the squirrels natural source of food in the winter time for NJ is, but here, they like hedge apples. I put some of those around the trap, or in the trap, as a highly visible bait. I think a pile of acorns would do the same thing. I find they won't eat the bait, if they don't sit in the trap too long. I've started attaching the corn to the trip plate using a long twist tie.

Thomis, nice bit of construction. However, I'm unclear on how the door stays latched. How does the nail swing past the staple?

I've used a live trap from Tomahawk (model #102 linked below) for years with great success. It appears to be similar to the Havahart but I've never handled one of those, so I don't know if the mechanisms are the same. The only fiddling I've ever had to do with mine has been to bend the wire that attaches the spring plate to the release mechanism when an over exuberant squirrel has bent it while trapped. It's not an issue. The single caveat I can think of is that my squirrels are ground squirrels, so this trap may be quite a bit less effective for those of you dealing with tree squirrels.

As with any live trap, you have to either release the caught animal elsewhere - illegal many places and not really generous to the animal, at least not around Reno, NV, as there is about a 95% chance it will die anyway as it tries to compete with established populations in the area you release it in - or you have to figure a way to kill it that doesn't bother you too much. A pellet gun works for me. I trap and kill an average of 50+ per year around here and they still eat my fruits and veggies if I don't take other protective measures, but the pressure on my orchard/garden definitely eases when I euthanize as many of the inexhaustible local squirrels as possible.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomahawk Traps

Thanks for the suggestions.
Scott: How do you select the trees you attach your traps to and how high up (I assume you don't put them on your fruit trees)?
Harvestman: I think you had this in another post, but what length of aluminum flashing do you use and what do you put the tanglefoot on?
Thomis: Pretty piece of craftsmanship. It seems too nice to put it outside. Also probably beyond my carpentry skills.
Anyone tried using those sticky pad mouse/rat traps? I tried putting a couple around one tree trunk last night just to see what whould happen.

Thanks PatureDoc for the post. I've never heard of Tomahawk traps, but they appear to be superior to Havaheart. I like the doors made of wire mesh instead of solid material. It seems to make the trap more open.

Here a trap idea that works but is kind of inhumane. Take a 4" or 6" piece of PVC pipe about 5' long and plug the bottom with a cap. Tie it to a tree in the area they are messing with and put peanuts in it or peanut butter around the inside a bit down from the top and a bit in the bottom of the tube and they can't resist going after it and they can't get back out. Need to check it often because it does work and better to kill them than let them suffer to death in the tube.

Also, You don't have to shoot or drown them in a trap,take a 1/2" plastic pipe about a foot long, and run a length of 16 gauge stranded wire through it doubled so that It has a loop at one end, and enough wire at the other for a good grip.
Surprisingly, they don't mind this loop around their neck, til you pull it tight.

24" width flashing is the minimum. Every once in a while a really big tom coon can pull himself over it and I need another 6" or so. 24 is usually the widest you can easily purchase though and extensions are a hassle.

I think the best traps to use are called Safe-t that I buy from Gemplers because they have some with removable back doors that make it easier jettison the corpses and any crap sticking to the bottom. They spring lock and can't be opened by overturning. Just make sure you properly close the back door when you re-set it.

I use traps on my own property- the flashing is for clients. If I don't trap out my raccoons the place starts to smell like a stockyard- so many animals come for the drops. Their feces is a legitimate health hazard according to my vet sister.

Dave, I have my Kania traps about as high as I could put them so I could still easily change the bait from the ground - maybe 6' up. I have many trees that are not fruit trees on my property. One trap is on a big maple in the front and another is on a huge cedar in the back. I picked these two trees because they are both close to the fruit trees. If you don't have any trees you could always mount it on a pole. They show them sitting on the ground on the website but that seems too prone to accident.

Scott

Has anyone tried a Rat Zapper Electric Rat and Mouse trap? I ordered one and have already caught a chipmunk. If you go to a website to order one there are testimonials that will give you an idea if it may work for you. Good luck.

I have yet to meet a squirrel; I could not catch in a live trap. Do not use the double door models..... they do not work. The secret is put a small piece of the bait in front of the trap, when they eat this, it allays any fear of the bait or trap. I use peanut butter on bread breaking off a small piece and placing it in front of the trap and the rest behind the trigger and far enough from the back that they cannot reach it through the screen. I also tweak the trigger assemble with pliers, so it trips easier

You cannot release them anywhere close to your house, or they will be back.

Coons are tougher, they are too wise for cage traps many times. In that case I use a #220 conibear on something similar to a pole set. The coon has to walk through the trap to get to the fruit further down the limb.

Diagram of pole set Âalso works for squirrels, you just use a #110 conibear instead of a 220
http://www.extension.org/pages/Raccoon_Damage_Management

I use sardines and start before any fruit is ripe, to thin out the pack before they find my peaches. Do not use sardines if you have stray cats around.

Now if someone could tell me how to get rid on voles without poison bait, I would be a happy man.

Mr. Ed, It's funny, but my experience is opposite. My coons can never resist marshmellows but squirrels, during an epidemic, seem to observe other squirrels stressed out in a trap and learn to avoid them. Trailing bait into the trap is the only method I use. I trap on average about 15 coons a year but just shoot my squirrels with a little 20 gauge. I also set out some bon-bons this year and they did get eaten. I've got everything under control so far.

You people need to stop using tube traps and kania traps. Those traps cause excrutiating pain to their innocent victims. I am not saying this out of a bleeding heart; there is much evidence that these traps are inhumane. Besides that, squirrels are NOT pests; they are simply trying to survive. If anything is a pest, it is the human, for it's ongoing destruction of the planet and it's species. The inventor of these torture trap deserves a very long prison time for animal cruelty, as well as the manufacturers. Your anthropocentric interests are only based on money and greed, and have no concern for other life on this planet.

The Rat Zapper works for me. I put sunflower seeds at the entrance and inside. On a good day I can prevent three critters from eating my pecans.