Lost small mammal trap - likely causes?

[mbeard]

Hi all,

I did some small mammal trapping with a local Friends groups last night. It was our first survey other than training courses, so we were quite disappointed when we could not find one of the Longworth Traps that we had been lent. This is despite six of us spending at least 30 minutes tramping around the long grass in the area of the sapling that we had marked with bright string.

We would like to discuss likely causes, not only to justify the cost of replacement that the group would have to cover, but also because it was the first of possibly a number of survey nights and we certainly cannot afford to lose one or more each time.

The land is urban fringe but not open to the public, although there are signs of previous trespass (holes in wire fences and one or two areas of old litter etc). To keep within the recommended 13 hours maximum holding time we finished setting after dark, and returned before dawn. In summary we feel that human interference is possible but unlikely. For instance why only take one trap?

The other possibility that came from our post mortem was foxes or badgers either playing with the trap, or attempting to dismantle it to get at the bait or trapped small mammal. Is this something that a fox or badger would do? We do not think it was mentioned in our training courses but there was probably quite enough information to absorb in one day anyway. If this is a possibility how far might they have taken the trap i.e. how wide a cirlce do we have to search?

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments, and of course any ideas of alternative ways of losing a trap would be very welcome.

Mike

[edited because I did not preview!]

[Wild-Woman]

Foxes do take all sorts of items, although I would have thought the trap would have had an unpleasant metallic taste if mouthed by a fox. Was the marker left intact?

[mbeard]

Hi, thanks for the quick response.

The marker was a few feet above in a sapling so it was left intact.

Mike

[Wild-Woman]

Then I think it probably was a fox. Someone removing it would have got rid of the marker too I would of thought. Maybe a playful young fox has tried, as you have suggested, to sniff out the contents and maybe even tried burying it. It may show up yet.

[mbeard]

Ok, so if we say it was a fox, is this a regular occurance? And what can be done to prevent it? The traps do not seem to have any way to peg them down.

[salukiwhippet]

Fox and badger will both damage rabbit cage traps in an attempt to get at the rabbit inside. I always fix mine down with long tent pegs through the mesh. I'm not familiar with longworth traps, but would there be a way to attach a steel wire cable to them? If so, there's a method I use for fixing fox snares with a plasterboard fixing, you can't pull them out , they must be dug out so a fox/badger/vandal has no chance of shifting them.

Another possible culprit would be a dog.

You need in my opinion to consider whether it's fair to subject the caught animal to the stress of having the trap pulled about by a predator.

Let me know if I can help.

James

[Ukwildlifeo]

Ive used small mammal traps in a public park, and once left them locked open over night, ready to set the next evening. But when i went to set them one was missing, and Ive been hoping it would turn up now the foilage has started to clear but with no luck. I can only assume someone took it, either to sell on ebay, or just because they could - sadly some people are like that.