# colony trap question



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Last night I was talking trapping with a friend and he said that when he used colony traps a lot of the rats had bite marks from biting each other.

He said the traps were set deep enough to drown the rats but they still bit the other rat before drowning.

Has anyone else had that experience?

I had planned on building 30 but won't bother if that happens a lot.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

if it was a BIG problem no one would use them.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

That's what I thought. It may have something to do with the timing between catches.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

They are illegal here but using them in other states I only had that problem in the spring during their mating season and I dont know if they bit each other in the trap or before they entered it? We stopped our trapping once they started biting as the price dropped to nil on damaged or bit skins but the last check or two we would have them with bites even in conibears or footholds. Wish we could use colony traps here. They are awesome in the right set ups. Several times we had to cut a trap open to get the rats out. With the forecasted $10 rats I'd love to catch multiples in one trap that cost $4 to make at the most. Check out Wild About Trapping website for alot of info on cage/colony traps etc.


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## rags57078 (Jun 11, 2011)

this is a 6 x 6 and folds down flat ,, real easy to make


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Other than bottom edge and bank den runways where else are they effective?

I'm going to make some with a trap door that leads to a dead end cage underneath for float sets. I think I might even put a bullhead in some and put them in culverts and under bridges once the main streams freeze. It seems that every one I look at in the winter has mink tracks until they freeze.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

We've got some nearby lakes with cattail and bulrush stands that are 50'-100' wide along the shoreline for hundreds of yards yet I see very few houses. The shoreline is fairly flat and sand so I don't think they have bank dens. I just don't understand why there isn't a house every 50'.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Fishhead sometimes those rats on the flat banks will have their den holes out in 10'+ of water. Ive also seen them dig a trench from a few feet long to 20" long and it gets dxeeper as it heads to shore and they eventualy dig a den. We had our best luck with colony traps in den entrances but since they arent legal here we cant experiment much. We set some in trails thru cattails etc and did ok but the best were den entrances. We treid bait nad lure but the results were poor and predation or damage would be increased in dryer situations. If s guy would bait or lure the top part with a lure holder etc and make the traps a little deeper then usual then just leave 3 or 4" above water? Higher the rat hits the door the more resistance there will be for him to get it open and get inside. We use to salvage alot of screen wire etc to make ours and we still make a few for friends and family that can use them. We've tried the door at several angles and the one pictured seems to have the least refusals. Oldtimers made a float along those same lines where the rat dropped into a wire basket in the bottom. They also used wooden barrels and cut a slit in the fabric covered tops and the rats would fall thru it and drown.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'll have to put the canoe on the lake I was thinking about to see if I can find rat sign in the clearings that people have made by their docks. The lake bottom is pretty flat hence the thick stands of cattails that extend up to 100' out from dry land.

My plan with the float colony trap was to suspend it between short logs with an inch of so left above the water level and a trap door leading to the cage on the bottom. I thought by placing one under each bridge and baited with live bullheads or crayfish I would probably catch mink along with the muskrats.

There's a small dam where in years past I caught 3-4 buck mink one winter should be a good place to put a trap where the side wall hits the bottom especially if I put a bullhead or crayfish in the trap. I also know of one big culvert that is about 20' below the highway. Upstream is a huge rice lake with a large muskrat population. If the rats start freezing out there may just be a huge mass migration downstream.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

rags57078 said:


> this is a 6 x 6 and folds down flat ,, real easy to make


That looks like a good design. Thanks.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Has anyone ever used 2"x3" wire mesh? I can get some for free but it seems borderline for our smaller northern rats.


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## rags57078 (Jun 11, 2011)

fishhead said:


> Has anyone ever used 2"x3" wire mesh? I can get some for free but it seems borderline for our smaller northern rats.


those holes are too big and any mink you may get will swim right on out


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

That's what I thought.

I'll just use it for fisher and **** bait boxes.


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## charliesbugs (Feb 25, 2007)

Wire rat traps. as to the bite marks, in Ohio that doesn"t happen till late in the season when the males start to fight. The trouble I had with sq. traps and a door is a lot of times a drowning rat would fasten their teeth in the door and then another rat could not get in. I use a round wire trap about 8 maybe 10 inches dia. with a chicken wire funnel in one end . these can be made to fit in a den if it is round or more flat. Years ago I caught 7 rats from one den in one night. I make them about 3 ft. long and the funnel just big enought that you can get you hand in.with a small door on the side to take the rats out. Give these a try you might like them. Good luck


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

How big is the small opening on the funnel? What stops them from going back out the same hole?

I've seen them with wire flaps over the opening on the inside.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Many years ago my Grandpa would take a 55 gallon Drum,cut Half Moon Sections out of the Top,leaving a Strip down the middle,fix Springs on the Half Moon Sections.

Take it out in the Pond fill it half full of Water.Bait in the middle with Corn.Muskrats would drop in the Barrel and drown.

big rockpile


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## charliesbugs (Feb 25, 2007)

The rats don"t swim in the center,they will try to find their way out at the top or sides the hole should be about the size of an apple or maybe a little bigger. I also try to make the funne;l opening down to the bottom more as they never try to get out that way. These really do catch a lot of rats.


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## charliesbugs (Feb 25, 2007)

Have also caught a few mink in these funnel traps


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks. I might make some round ones just for den runways. They shouldn't take quite as much mesh either so that will be a plus.

I've been checking out the stream crossings in the area for set locations for these kind of traps.

I've got one dam picked out to try for mink. They winter near the dam to feed on crayfish and minnows in the rocks below. I'll put some crayfish or bullheads in the trap.


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