I just contacted Virginia's Dept Game and Inland Fish, and they referred me to the wildife biologist for the Fairfax area. I requested that we be allowed to borrow a culvert trap. Usually you pull them like a trailer and can use them in a suburban area safely. Cross your fingers that they let us. It will be like old times - cooking bacon to attract a big wild thing into a culvert trap. I'll let you know what I hear. They aren't pretty, but they work.
Another idea while we wait for the biologist to get back to us. If they have a neighbor with a fenced in yard, we could counter weight the gate to where when Buddy goes after the bait the gate closes on him. Not perfect, but worth a try if they have a willing neighbor. I could probably rig something. Worth a try.
Just did some reading about how to make a hav-a-heart trap more attracktive to a dog - put a towel or mat inside it so the dog doesn't have to step on the wire floor, and put a blanket over it to make more of a cave. But don't interfere with the mechanism.
Thanks, Marianne. We have a huge yard, so using another kind of trap shouldn't be a problem. We have a blanket on the floor of the current trap, w/a tarp over it, but we have to leave part of the wire exposed so it doesn't interfere w/the door shutting. What we need to know is what will bait dogs but not raccoons. We have a lot of wildlife come up into our yard, and we are constantly trapping raccoons right now (or just the same one?) any time we have any appetizing meat as bait. He even ate cold uncooked hot dogs. Our neighbors w/fenced in yards have dogs in them most of the time, but I can check. -Rhonda
ReplyDeleteHave you checked with Pure Gold pet trackers? She has a trap that she built that isn't a have-a hart type that helped trap a rescue dog that I had who would not go into a trap either.
ReplyDeleteRhonda - Raccoons will eat anything a dog will eat so I don't know what to recommend. That is a problem. Finally heard back from the state today - they will not lend us a trap. Do you have a dog house? If so it might be worth trying to put it in a sheltered place near the house with some bedding (pine straw, hay, blankets) and a bowl of water and at a regular time each day (racoons are noctournal) calling Buddy and put the food out. I'd take it in after dark if it isn't eaten, to prevent the other critters from getting it. With it getting cold and him getting hungry he may be attracted to the shelter and food. I am so disappointed that we haven't been able to locate him. I found this method of attracting the dog to the house on a web site on how to find a lost dog when other things don't work. - Marianne
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marianne. We don't have a house, but that is a good idea. Caught a feral cat this AM, so the trap is not doing it...However, he was seen nearby again today, so that is hopeful. -Rhonda
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