A18 Grey Squirrels Trapping Kit with Tree Mount, DIY Basket and CO2 Canister, Pet-Friendly Grey Squirrel Trap with Digital Strike Counter

Goodnature is the best: A simple trap, most effective. I do not work for Goodnatured nor have I made any money off them. It is an excellent company even though they are from New Zealand.This machine is very kind to the animals. They sleep quickly without pain. My squirrels and rats never know what happened. They are now sleeping in peace and harmony beneath my machine. When loaded I look daily take them to a resting place before my Hawks get their free meal. Rats visit too. They are all gone. I spent thousands on devices and poisons. This is cruel. Ever see a partially disabled animal screaming in a trap. It is the worst. A poisoned squirrel in the death-throughs will disturb your sleep. Predators-raptors will eat the poisoned squirrel, they die in same agony.Try a little animal husbandry.Safety: Handle this machine with care. The foot-pounds of force and muzzle velocity is incredible. Do not handle when loaded. Unscrew the CO2 before handling. That’s righty-tighty-lefty-loosie for New Zealanders. Do not put your fingers in the mechanism. I do put a little bait inside the mechanism using a stick. Load or screw-in the CO2 canister only when firmly set on the wood post or tree. Test only once if you think you have to.Maintenance: things to remind my friends1. Not working: you have a bait problem or ran out of the CO2 canister. The trigger mechanism can be tested but I never do. I just replace the CO2. Testing uses precious CO2 and cannot tell you if the bolt is hitting the target effectively. The number of squirrels and rats sleeping below the trap will tell you. It is impressive and scary.2. Wrong bait. My inquisitive squirrels are very talented and destructive. When I don’t have the bait set up or ran out of CO2 they chew through the top like they chew everything around my house. I like my squirrels and just repair things. But, when they get in my sheds I have to do something. They do like to eat the top of the machine. I glued a large washer on top. Works every time.Solution: learn how to use the bait and replace the CO2. If you measure more than 14 triggers (with the electronic counter), you need to replace the CO2.3. Bait: Set the bait correctly. Very important. More important than quality. My rats and squirrels are not as picky as the New Zealanders. I use a variety to natural nut paste. My squirrels love it all. When the bait is place strategically, the machine will put them to sleep promptly without pain.I used multiple nut butters, there is not a best one for my rats and squirrels. They all work.I smear the nut butters in a line below the machine and on the tree. The squirrel/rat will follow; eating merrily. Occasionally, I have set the bait without the CO2 armed. The well-fed lucky squirrels/rats will gorge themselves and ignore the trap.Manage the herd: after you thinned the herd. Turn off the machine and slowly reduce the nut butter and encourage them to forage the natural.

Do NOT buy this trap. Spent 200 dollars on this thing to humanely help with our squirrel problem, but doesn't not work as described. Have had 2 squirrels get in to the trap and all it did was stun or injure them. Wanted it to be quick, not to make them suffer. They laid on the ground for a while then got up and ran off. Definitely not worth the money. AND... it is NOT eligible for return. So you're just out the 200 dollars.

Very effective product. It’s dispatched 15 squirrels over 3 months and there are presently no squirrels left on my block. I still see a few in neighboring streets and eventually population pressure takes them to my live oak and within a few days they’re also dispatched. I’ve noticed more bird life moving back in and nesting and I suspect the squirrels had been raiding nests. I’ll be an on-going process though.I use peanut butter for bait and they’re attracted to the trap within an hour or two. I also put some on the bottom lip of the device, also on the plastic apron to draw in the squirrels.I made the mistake of not securely storing the trap when I was away for a month and one squirrel demolished the top of the trap to get to the bait. But it still works fine and I use tape to hold the bait cap in place and duct tape a can over that to protect it all.You need to very firmly screw in the gas canister otherwise it’ll leak out with a day or two. Always retighten after sliding on the kill counter sleeve as it’ll loosen the seal a little bit. I find it’ll last for weeks if correctly tightened.The only negatives are - I think the bait area and cap need to be metal as the squirrels will attack this area to get to the bait. Also it should have a scary warning printed on the sides. I’m afraid of someone getting curious and sticking fingers up inside the device. I always disarm it if going away for a few days. Personally if I had young children or the neighbors had young children I would think twice about using this device.

Set up is not difficult, but you might need to move it to different sites to get the most squirrels. Baited with nuts the first night, 1 hit but no squirrel seen, predator might have gotten it. So dumped out the nuts and baited with smooth peanut butter. All gone but that in the upper part of the trap, and 4 hits, again no squirrels seen but I think I might have broken a couple of raccoon hands! Rebaited and 2 days later 1 more hit, again no squirrel seen. We do have hawks, foxes, raccoons and opposums in our neighborhood, so any one of them might be getting any squirrels it whacks.I will rebait today and see what happens over the weekend. The squirrels might be getting leary of that location. They are so smart. But it seems durable, easy to clean, easy to set up, tho a bit expensive for the amount of action.

Red or grey squirrel problems become no problem with this baby. After reading the other reviews I cut the bottom 1/4 off of a pop can and it made a perfect metal cover for the bait bowl on top. I pre-baited for 2 days until I had the squirrels eating the sesame seed peanut butter bait ( just what I had around nothing special about this combo.) I decreased the volume of bait leading up to the trap and baited the trap inside at a level above the trigger (this was the trick I needed to catch the smaller red ones) but below the bait bowl. Net result was 7 squirrels with 7 shots of the trap. Zero wounded squirrels as I placed a game camera the watch the whole process. Every one of them fell like a stone to the ground.

Squirrels do not go near this thing. I set it up in the middle of half a dozen ground squirrel nests. Fresh peanuts, even peanut butter nothing. I could see the squirrels all around the trap through the window ignoring it. Do not waste your money. Tried returning and even though its been only 2 weeks ( I wanted to give it a fair chance) it is not a returnable item.