Rugged Ranch Squirrelinator w/ Waste Basin Outdoor Multi-Catch Squirrel Trap - Humane Live Cage Catcher, Rodent Control for Barns, Garages, Sheds, Gardens, Farms, Yards or Lawns

Effectiveness: Today is the first day I've used this Squirrelinator trap. In preparation I also found a 3-ft square appliance drip tray at the local Habitat Re-Store for a few dollars, and use that to hold the sprinkled bait (whole peanuts plus some scratch mix), then I set the trap on top of that baited tray. The trap I bought included the black plastic basin for drowning the squirrels. I am a tender-hearted person but we are inundated with these damage-causing ground squirrels in our local area, so I hardened my heart and got to work. I set the water basin about 100 feet away on a very level (VERY LEVEL!) patch of ground and filled it completely (COMPLETELY!) full of water. (The basin is about 1.5 inches taller than the trap is.) I brought a wheelbarrow close to the trap, with a pair of thick leather gloves and a pair of pliers. The pliers are optional but they keep your hands from getting bitten while using the metal hooks on the doors, and keep your hands dry when doing other steps. Once I locked the top door (find places to hook 2 layers of underlying bars and it's very secure) and opened the 2 side doors, I went away and returned 30 minutes later. Bingo! One squirrel. I waited another 30 minutes but didn't get any more in the trap, though I knew they were all around. So I went ahead and put the whole trap into the wheelbarrow (while wearing the gloves) and rolled it up to the basin of water. Still wearing the gloves, I picked up the whole trap and set it into the water. I also had a big 3' x 3' piece of plywood nearby, and immediately set that on top so I wouldn't have to watch. I promise, PROMISE, it was only 20-25 seconds before everything was totally silent and the squirrel was dead. I didn't want any possible reviving, so I left him in the basin for a full 30 minutes just to be sure. Then I used some long BBQ tongs and the pliers on one of the side handles to lift the trap out of the water. Then I used the pliers to unhook the trap's top door and the tongs to lift out the dead squirrel. Then used the pliers again to lift the trap into the wheelbarrow, lock the top door and unlock the side doors, and roll the trap back down to the bait tray and start all over again. I've done this 5 times so far today. 30-90 minutes to catch, 1/2 hour to make sure thoroughly drowned, and start again. Four times I caught one, and one time I caught 4! Using the pliers for so many steps keeps my hands clean and dry, though of course I still wash them well when I go back inside. I live on a small acreage, so to avoid attracting coyotes and bobcats overnight, I will put the bodies into a small locking metal trash can with a plastic bag liner, and add that bag to our regular trash on collection day. I must emphasize that the water basin needs to be very level and completely full. Otherwise the squirrel will be able to get his nose above the water level. This is a very effective trap and I highly recommend it. Easy to set in a preferred location, no digging, no bloody half-dead creatures to deal with.

I saw this trap on one of the chicken facebook groups that i follow and found the link for this in the comments. The post i found it on caught waaay more than i did for their post but i dont care because i finally caught something in a trap! I'M THRILLED SO HERE'S MY REVIEW! 🥳🥳🥳 Ive been hearing these pests going about the undercarriage of my RV and have been being kept awake because i cant turn off my brain once i hear the skittering. Ive been finding nests in places like in my engine bay, generator compartment, and spare tire compartment, under my coop, ect. I dont have issues with rodents inside because i have cats but the cats only have inside and the catio i built them, so limited pest deterant there. (Also my family has one outdoor cat thats old and insists on being outside but still mouses so i cant poison, but i knew these rodents were too big for the old girl to catch) Glue traps sometimes worked but i figured that i must have had BIG and SMART ones remaining because they were triggering my Victor snap rat traps and either getting free or not getting caught. (They also weren't falling for other traps in my chicken coop so this is going in there next!) This trap recomends baiting it with the door stuck open for a little bit, to which i used a little bit of bent wire and i left the door a little loose, because i wanted to be sure the rats were fine with the door moving while they got used to the trap. I baited with wet cat food for the smell and appeal of it, splattering it on the edges and gate and left it for a few days. (I didnt mean to leave it for a few days but life happened and i was unwell enough i wasnt doing chores, but i could see the bait being messed with so i left it). I also made sure i barley touched the trap so that my scent wasnt on it much. (Besides the lil video i took when i got it because the pictures online make it a little hard to tell the shapes in the trap). Last night i baited with more wet cat food all over and took out the wire. To be honest, i forgot about checking the trap till well past noon but the little pests were still stuck within, something i worried about because the door just flops up and down from the weight of it, but the little tunnel keeps them from going straight back to the door. (Set on a flat surface to make sure the door works right). I took a video of the rats running around within but im only allowed to upload one vid per review apparently. It was sooooo easy to set up, the only thing id say to watch out for is to not clip the bait door over the handle you need to pick it up later with. I didnt realize i had done because it was dark when i rebaited the trap. (I could have opened the bait door to fix that without them escaping throughit because its enclosed but the critters were launching themselves around when i approached it so i opted not to, so that the entrance door didnt accidentally flop down) The tub that it comes with makes it easier to 'take care' of the pests with a deep 'bath' and the door to remove them worked well to take the tool grips i had and pulled them out. Make your life easier than i did and grab disposable gloves for this process before you start it. (Im not relocating a pest, esp not a smart one. I dont want it and so i dont want to drop it off somewhere to be someone elses problem, id hate if someone did that to me. They have caused me soooo much money in damages from wires to insulation and more.) When i recieved the trap i did notice and take pictures of some damage on one of the corners, like it had been dropped before being packaged, because the box was fine and so was the plastic tub it came within in the box. The damage did not effect usability, thankfully, since this wasnt cheap. Ill say it again, it wasnt cheap, BUT, it was WORTH IT. The size will limit small spaces i may want to use this in (like my generator bay or engine bay of my parked RV) but it will still fit easily under quite a few things like cars and cabinet edges, withing sheds and so on. Its also CHICKEN SAFE! I dont have to worry about triggering snap traps before letting my flock into their run or worry about my birds standing on it. And since im baiting with cat food i dont have to worry about if my birds eat the bait too. Or anything else for that matter, like you have to worry about with other poisons. If you've gotten this far into reading my review, thanks for your time and i hope this helps you decide how to get rid of your pest problem! Have a great day!

I first heard about this trap on Tuesday ... ordered this model on Amazon on Wednesday ... received it by noon on Thursday ... and set/baited it in place (SO easy) that afternoon. When I first checked it at 7:45AM Friday morning I already had my first Squirrel. I released it (see below) far from my house Thursday late afternoon and reset/baited it the Squirrelinator trap back to its original location. This morning (Saturday) it was still empty when I got up. But after a quick shower I looked again. I had gotten another and there was a 3rd Squirrel roaming around the trap very interested. That squirrel seemed to love eating one of the oranges off my tree right in front of #2. But after a bit more picking up scattered pieces of bait, he left. I had breakfast and pointed out the trap to my wife, making sure she could see it from our kitchen. And guess what? Another squirrel was roaming about it. Candidly it's FAR more fun than watching TV car chases! Just as I got my binoculars totally zeroed in ... #3 gave into the Squirrelinator's temptations. Talk about quick, easy, and efficient! So right now it cost me just over $25 per squirrel ($70 divided by 3) to get rid of them. I'd certainly have willingly paid that much for a Professional Trapper. So this device is a good value AND investment. And I fully expect to catch more and very quickly. Fyi, I've read a number of reviews that talk about what type of bait to use, its cost, and blah-blah-de-blah. I first threw a small handful of nuts into it. Then, given the fact that the squirrels were feasting on my citrus, I decided to go a little bit off their comfort zone. I added a small handful of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal, scattering a few flakes around both of the trap's 2 entries. They LOVE it. And it is really fun watching one squirrel in the trap inadvertently kick a flake or two outside of it to the next victim. So try using Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal as bait. I figured they might like it as much as me and they DO !! A final note: While Squirrels are cute they are anything but nice. Watch some of the posted videos and you will witness very mean, dangerous animals that like to bite however "cute" you may think they are. Then think about YOUR kids or grandkids being out there wanting to "play" with or pet them. NOT A GOOD IDEA. I even read that "relocated" squirrels (up to 3 miles away) can find their way back. And those that don't return only continue causing the same problems for their new neighbors as they did for you. So I thought about what I should do. So I prayed on how I should remove them (permanently) from my yard. I sought the advise of my local clergy who suggested praying for their both our souls. And in the end he even baptized them for me. Whatever you choose to do, do the right thing for everyone. Suggestion: Try to find a Squirrelinator that has a "basin". Mine did not have one but not a big deal all things considered. But the basin allows you an easy way to relocate your nasty squirrels however you choose without having a big mess in your car or pickup that is not easy to clean up. The empty shipping box is a good alternative. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Squirrelinator !! Good luck. UPDATE AFTER TWO WEEKS: 22 Squirrels ... but I repositioned the trap at the corner of my driveway trying to catch a couple of them at the front of my house. The trap was on hard cement. And I got one. But after about 3 hours in the trap he was able to escape! I think it was because it was on that hard surface and the squirrel was able to get its paw under the entry and pry it open. But I stand firm on how I rated it. 22 Squirrels in 2 weeks? WOW !!! I am So impressed !!!!! And they still love Honey Bunches of Oats for bait.

Please read further down for my night-by-night story & an empath's first-time experience with the drowning method. (The trap worked but I was only able to set for one night before the rats destroyed it.) Preparation: 1) Location & presentation are key--We placed the trap against the barn wall in a high traffic area with a LOT of rat droppings & manure. 2)The trap is too exposed so we kept it slid in the box, just cutting the end of the box off on the side with the entrance. (Rats feel safer entering an enclosed space.) Nights 1 & 2: 1) The trap door was zip-tied open. 2) The trap was baited with a scoop of sunflower seeds. RESULTS: No action--no droppings & no empty sunflower hulls. But it was new & smelled odd (to a rat) so I figured it may take a few days for the trap to be accepted. (Location/position is a common problem but I knew that wasn't the issue in this case.) Nights 3 & 4: 1) Trap door still zip-tied open. 2) I swept up the copious rat droppings in the area & sprinkled them in the trap through the top so it would smell like them. 3) I decided that, although they LOVE sunflower seeds the seeds do not have enough scent to advertise their presence. So I added a scoop of the horses textured sweet feed which has a strong, delicious smell. RESULTS: Two scoops of feed (1 sunflower & 1 sweet feed) were completely gone! Empty seed hulls & a new layer of fresh manure were all that remained. Night 5: 1) Zip tie removed--trap set! 2) Baited with a scoop of sunflower seeds & a scoop of aromatic sweet feed since those worked great to draw them in the last two nights. RESULTS: Checked the trap 4 hours after dark (didn't want to leave rats all night, terrified & possibly fighting/injuring each other). There was at least a dozen and a half rats inside! HOWEVER . . . Although the concept is good, the design & construction has some flaws. There is a narrow dead-end section next to the entrance. The rats shoved themselves, tightly packed, into this section, smothering & panicking. Then they started escaping while I filled the pan with water to drown them. One rat was caught half way through the wire & stuck out too much so I couldn't set the trap in the pan of water to kill it. While we tried to get the live, terrified rat unstuck (while not being bit!) more started squeezing out next to it again & eacaping. We realized the rats had pulled back a poorly welded wire & created a row of larger holes. Some could fit through these holes but bigger ones got stuck. I had to poke a stick through the bars to rap them with to keep them back from that area so more couldn't escape while my daughter kept trying to deal with the stuck rat. She eventually had to dispatch a stuck rat with garden shears & it pulled out easily through the larger hole they made once it's body was relaxed. A NOTE ABOUT DROWNING: I have had rats & mice as pets so seeing them terrified & the situation with the stuck one wasn't easy. Dealing with the stuck one unfortunately drew out the whole scary time for all the other rats. The thought of drowning them pained me but I can't just go dump this many rats in someone else's field to be a problem for them so killing was really the only sollution. Once the stuck one was removed I set the trap in the included pan filled with lukewarm water. They started to swim & I had to turn away. My daughter check on them just a minute or so later & said they were pretty much all dead. I walked over & there was already no more movement: their struggle was over. I was relieved that the drowning was over so quickly & believe it was a faster & more humane death than being caught by our cats. So, while I still don't like killing any animal, I am much more at peace with the method than I thought I would be. I will contact the company for a replacement trap right after posting this review. If they send a replacement & it holds up, I will gladly give this trap 5 stars. For the price, I should certainly be able to get more than one night of trapping out of it & it should be sturdy enough to hold up against it's target species.

Got this from Amazon, purchase went smooth. It arrived Thursday. As I type this, I have just returned from re-locating Chipmunks 17,18,19 & 20. That's right, 20 rotten little excavating vermin in 4 days. I would give it 4 stars, but it's just not very well put together, and it doesn't come with one word of instruction, and you can't any instruction for it on Rugged Ranch's website. While mine seems to work quite well, I had to do a little work to one of the doors to get it to work correctly. Nothing major, just a little squeeze with a pliers, but really, it's not the best construction. We were infested with chipmunks, which has never happened before, as we have had a huge Red-Tailed Hawk living in our woods for the 15 years we've lived here. Well, he's either flown off to the great beyond, or relocated, but once he stopped hunting in the yard, the little buggers are everywhere, and they are destructive. They are digging out under walkways, buildings, and worst of all, the little Chiprats destroyed my Tomato crop. Made me want to shoot them. But- While I am in a rural locale, it wouldn't be safe to pick them off with a .22, so I have been trying to trap them. But one at a time, with a Havahart trap wasn't working. Hard to bait, don't always trigger, and you can only get one before having to re-set the trap. So the Chipmunkinator solves all those issues. And you get to tell people you have a Chipmunkinator….. I use Stokes Songbird Blend birdseed. I set the trap on our concrete patio, right against the house. It works best on a hard, even surface, since you just drop bait in the cage. Set the trap in the shade, or you WILL kill the chippies you catch in a couple of hours. They are small, and wearing a fur coat. They will overheat and die if left for extended time in the sun. If it's in the shade, they just sit in the trap and eat until you move them. You need to check the trap a couple of times a day. I put a big pile of seed in the middle of the trap, and trail a small stream out the doors. If you skimp on the seed, they won't make the effort to go get it. They are foragers, looking for an easy meal. They won't chase a couple of seeds. With that technique, I am catching them 2 to 4 at a time. If you get 4 in there, you will hear them, they get pretty cranky. Letting them out can be tricky, because they are dumb, and panicked. Wear gloves, they are dirty and they bite. Unhook the top panel, and stand the trap on end and wait a minute. It takes them a minute, but they eventually figure it out and jump out. If it was built better, and the company did ANYTHING to explain use, I'd give it 5 stars. It's a little clunky, but it's better than having a yard full of filthy little excavating vermin. It really does work, very well, if you need to move out a bunch of chipmunks. When it breaks, and due to the way it's built, it will break, I WILL buy another one. Used correctly it's humane, and VERY effective.

I tried everything else to not spend the money. I couldn't get the rats under control with regular have a heart considering they only catch one at a time. Bucket traps were too big and bulky, and never worked. This does exactly as its advertised and catches multiple. My only issue was a broken water tub, but the company isnt at fault for shipping issues. My coop seems to be rat free for now.

I saw a couple rats inside my chicken coop several weeks ago when I checked on my chickens one night. Found out they’re living underneath the coop. So, I tried snap traps but only caught 2 in a week. Found this on Amazon and thought I’d give it a try. Baited it for 2 nights with the door locked open so they would get use to going in and out. On the 3rd night I set the trap door to work like it’s supposed to. Completely shocked this morning when I checked it, 21 RATS!!! Never before have I had a product do exactly as it says on the box: Up to 21 rats in a single setting. Nothing but 5 STARS for this review! Setting it again tonight to see how many more are left. Don’t waste money on other traps as this is the only one you’ll ever need!

I moved to a city in the upper midwest with a small yard last year. Found out that my neighbor feeds the squirrels - BY HAND! So these are the boldest, most well fed squirrels I have ever seen. They will climb into my cars in the driveway if the windows are left open a few inches. They've chewed on my lawnmower gas cap, dig up my yard daily, hang out on my porch... I'm on my third compost cart in less than a year because they gnaw right through the lid hinges, and they are just not scared of humans. Since I'm in the city, I cant legally shoot at them with a pellet gun. I did get a slingshot, and for awhile they would at least run a few steps when I opened the back door, but that just wasn't an effective way to counter the years of behavior training my neighbor provided with her daily peanut offerings. Since there are SO MANY, and they are SO BOLD, I was very excited to purchase this trap thinking that it would be a squirrel vacuum, however that has NOT been the case. Once one gets in the trap, it'll eat for a bit and then start freaking out, realizing that it's trapped. The other squirrels will come watch and even approach the trap to investigate, but will not enter the trap. There were a dozen squirrels in my tiny back yard this morning (not an exaggeration, I actually counted them) that were all just hanging out checking on the 1 squirrel in the trap. I use plenty of bait, and maybe if I waited longer I might be able to trap more, but I don't like to leave them trapped out in the sun and barking for very long. It just seems like it's too obvious to the other squirrels that their buddy is trapped, and not to go in there. The box for this thing says "[Trap] 25 squirrels in just hours!" which, unless you're dealing with really dumb, hungry, tiny squirrels, just doesn't seem realistic based on my experience. I've trapped a total of 6 squirrels in 2 days, all one-at-a-time. The construction of the trap itself is good, and the plastic tray that I got with mine is a great accessory, but I wish I would have saved myself some money and just got a single, "havahart" style trap.

If I could give it 1000 stars I would. It’s so rare for something to do exactly what it’s advertised to do, to the letter. Had massive rat problem in and around chicken coop. So many, it was drawing in foxes and feral cats, but with no success as the rats would hide in the coop. Tried bucket traps etc, but nothing worked. Took a shot on this and did as instructed. Tied the trap door open for a few days and baited with some cattle grain. Cut the string and by that evening, one or two were caught. By the next day, 17 were in the trap. Dunked and discarded them for the critters. Super easy to use and to clean out, which I had been worried about, given how small the exit hatch is. Not a problem at all. One tip I saw online was to place the trap on a board, so that they couldn’t tunnel under to eat the bait. Did that from the start. It 100% works. There’s so many BS claims about diff traps on the market, but this one is for real. I know it’s expensive, I had a hard time with the price too, but it’s going to last through my grandkid’s lifetimes and is built really well. If you have a rat problem, this is the solution. Any cheaper thing you buy is just going to be a waste of the money you could have spent on this. UPDATE: put the empty trap back in the chicken coop, in the same spot. Went out today to put some bait in, and it was already full of rats again. At least another 15.. with no bait! Greatest rat trap of all time. Feels like I should buy a pet python or something now since feeding it would be free.

It catches chip monks for sure

I captured 5 squirrels in just a few days and released them in Stanley Park. I no longer have squirrels living in my attic.

Los primeros dias un poco decepcionado pues no entro ninguna y tengo una plaga de ardillas que causan mucho daño a la casa pero decidí darles una oportunidad antes de usar un rifle, después de cambiar de cebo de croquetas para perro a maiz y tortillas el primer dia atrapé 3, el segundo dia 4 , en tercer dia 2 y las fui liberando en el monte cada dia. Consejo .- poner los seguros de adentro hacia afuera pues una de ellas se lastimó el lomo con el filo de la lamina del gancho