Customer Reviews

Rat, Mouse, Squirrel Trap

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sturdy, well-constructed, easy to use -- and it actually works, unlike some of the humane traps. Strongly recommended.

This trap turned out to be a lot nicer than I expected - very clever and easy to operate. It's easy to set and VERY easy to trip. I even caught a few sparrows that were silly enough to try to get inside and get the bait. Thankfully it is also a humane trap so I was able to release them without harm.

One caveat: Though it's called a "rat, mouse, squirrel" trap, apparently it is not strong enough to hold rats inside once it catches them. The egg-stealing rats in my hen house literally tore the trap to bits and got out by the time I was able to check it in the morning. Either that or I have some mighty strong rats. Anyway I would advise only using this trap for mice and maybe squirrels.

Wow. This trap has, so far, caught 9 rats, 3 squirrels, and 2 (unfortunate) birds. Great design, simple to re-set, humane. Can't imagine a better designed trap.

OK, here's the deal. This trap is very well designed. It's better then the green one because its wire, and that means adjust ability and ease of repair. The top bar comes slightly long and goes thru the trigger eye loop 1/8" just bend it a little downwards so it sits only half way into the loop and the downwards angle lets it slip a little easier. Now its super sensitive. I can blow on the trigger to set it off. Here's what makes it fool proof. The guy who complained about bait placement...listen up. You take a "small" paper clip un-fold it once to create opposite hooks. Hang the small hook facing up^ from the top of the cage just left of the trigger loop in the same square. take a 1"X1" cube of cheese, "smellier the better" ,1 inch X 1 inch because weight matters. Now pierce it on the hook inside the cage 2 inches above the trigger. If you notice the cheese leans on the bar that "is" the release loop above. OK Now the mouse walks in he/she has to reach up for the cheese so it needs to stand on the trigger to get it, BAM!, caught. If he/she thinks its smart, and they are...it climbs on the inner roof and tries to ninja the cheese. Just putting a breath of weight on the cheese leans it against the trigger arm and BAM! Trapped again. Caught even without touching the trigger platform! This method doubles your success which is all ready high w/ this great product. Then we took them, my wife and I and sauteed them with some garlic, onions and fava beans and had them for dinner.....thank you... There is no better product, with a little tweaking from yours truly...JCW

I don't know how but we had a number of mice in our house. Years ago in a different house I had used a glue trap to catch a mouse. So inhumane I decided to never use those again. Well we had a number of mice this time, and instead of having an exterminator come who would have a significant cost, and have to kill the mice with other inhumane methods, I decided to try to spend about the same amount on different humane traps and see if any worked. I spent about 150 dollars on about 7 different types of traps here at Amazon. Had limited success with 2 (caught one mouse each). However this trap is the bomb. It has caught all the mice (about 7). How do I know. Well I leave out 2 chocolate chips where the mice were showing activity. When the chips would disappear I would put out this trap and catch a mouse usually overnight but worst case 2 nights later. I hadn't seen the chocolate chips disappear for months (thought the mice were gone). But about 2 weeks ago I saw the chips were gone again. Put out this trap - turn out the lights - next morning had the mouse - no problem. Now the chips sit undisturbed for weeks again. This is the best trap hands down. Bait it with a saltine cracker with peanut butter spread on top, and a chocolate chip on top of that. I swear by this thing - it works so well - worth the money!! Good luck, but you shouldn't need luck with this trap.

P.S. I rarely review anything (can't remember the last one I wrote), but this is one product that actually works

This trap is easy to trigger thus it's easy to catch mice and chipmunks. However, it's not very sturdy. A mouse literally bent the bottom a bit trying to get out and this is a little mouse we are taking about. Yet I have caught 1 mouse and 2 chipmunks within 2 days and it's holding up so far. I'm afraid if I catch a squirrel it will be the end of this so I put a sign in front that reads "No Squirrels Allowed".

Happy with the trap so far. Took 2 tries/nights to catch the first RAT in our garage. We made a hook out of a wire hanger so carrying the trapped critter would be easier (wearing gloves, carry with the loop door handle then hook other end). Since trapped at night, the rat had to stay in trap all day so I covered loosely with a towel as the rat was terrified everytime we entered the garage to do laundry. We waited until dusk then put cage in box, into trunk and drove to the country to relocate in dense woods near water. We still have another critter in the garage and have not been able to trap it! We have rinsed & cleaned the cage 2 times, tried several different locations ... We finally found the nest & hole so stuffed with steel wool. This product has a simple design but works well to humanely trap & relocate at least ONE critter!

I bought 2 live traps to catch chipmunks and mice.

The first one was the Havahart 0745 livetrap that looks like the original, simple design of years ago where it drops the door if the bait pan is moved.

But - when setup outside that one got robbed of the bait every night.
The Havahart just isn't sensitive enough to trap a mouse so they eat the bait.

Then I tried the "Rat, Mouse, Squirrel Trap" Model HT1 made by Happy Trap and I had much better results. It's big enough to hold a chipmunk, squirrel, etc but it's so sensitive it catches even the smallest mouse.

This model uses several sets of spring loaded, cleverly positioned rods to make a very sensitive trap. Its balanced well enough that it didn't misfired even outside in the wind. It caught 6 mice and 1 chipmunk in about 10 days and never had a misfire or any stolen bait. It worked even better than regular and expensive snap-shut type moustraps that were setup nearby. Those missed half the time or more, but not this one. It's bigger than a little mouse trap but actually more sensitive.

It only takes about 7 grams of force to set it off. That's the weight of about 3 pennies so even the smallest mouse will set it off. I caught a lot of them and weighed a few by weighting the trap with and without the mouse. A very tiny mouse weighed 12 grams and most are about 20 grams each.

It took a few minutes the first time I set it up to figure out where to position the trip rods since it's an uncommon design. Once I knew how to set it, that took just 10 seconds to set it. The door is spring loaded so it snaps shut very fast and then a lock bar slides down and blocks the door. Pretty clever.

The Havahart brand trap is more solidly built with heavier gauge wire so that's good but it doesn't have enough planning put into making it very sensitive so it was not very effective. HT1 trap has thinner wire but is holding up fine and sure worked well for me.

I already ran out of mice so I can retire the traps for a while.

I suspect the HT1 would also work well indoors since I've caught some unusually small mice with no issue. And whether a rodent is clever or not, if they weight a few grams and go for the bait they will set it off.

It may be worth noting this type of livetrap may be good if you have pets around since it won't whack your dog or cat in the nose if they sniff or bump into it since it's not like a regular spring loaded mouse trap. A big dog might break the trap though if he finds it with a mouse in it later. Good Hunting.

My wife and I live in a pioneer-era log cabin deep in the woods. A few years ago we had a particularly bad invasion of mice and were forced to resort to lethal trapping as our variety of humane traps simply weren't up to the job. We kept a close count -- just over 300 mice captured/killed in one year. They were so bad that we sometimes caught ten a night, a full "trap line".

After that experience, we tried these humane traps as a last ditch measure, not really confident that they would work well enough for our situation.

In fact, these traps work so well that we bought a second one. We still catch a mouse almost every night but setting the trap and releasing the mouse is so easy that we don't mind the chore. I am particularly impressed by how reliable and efficient the trap is. We use peanut butter for bait, or pieces of avocado, and it literally never fails. It also proved perfect for capturing squirrels and chipmunks, which also do considerable damage to our cabin if left to their own devices.

We've tried many many kinds of humane traps but these are the only ones I know of from personal experience that really do the job.

I have tried other live traps. The mice walked in and right back out! This one works! I am busy releasing uninjured, very much alive mice back into the wild, where they belong! Very sensitve trap, but does not snap shut when I move it, just when the mouse steps on the trigger plate. Trap is long enough the mouse can't get out before the door closes. Nice humane way to deal with the univited guests!

Update: 14 happy uninjured mice have gone to Outward Bound School!