Tips for Trapping with Cage Style Live Traps

Day in and day out, most of the raccoons we catch are caught in cage style traps. We use them because they are very effective: the standard wire box live trap works great for raccoons!

The use of these traps is wonderfully simple: The trap gets baited…the raccoon goes in to get a tasty treat…the raccoon steps on the trigger…the door drops…the raccoon is caught. Easy, right?

Honestly, yes, many times it is that easy.

Yet, experience has taught us that there are some nuances of cage trapping that many first time users have not considered.

Thus, we offer this post and accompanying video.

Our intention is that by offering a few tips you’ll be even more informed if you should decide to trap your nuisance raccoon on your own.

Cage Trap Pointers | The Video

Getting right into it, here’s a video in which Ryan shows and discusses some top cage trap tips.

If you missed anything, don’t worry…the rest of this post just presents info from the video in a written format.

Catching Raccoons in Live Traps: Some Tips

To re-iterate, here are some useful tips.

Make sure the trap fires easily. The door should close with minimal pressure on the trigger pan. In order to assure this, the hook that keeps the door up should be just barely holding the trap open. Don’t be afraid to adjust the hook by bending, filing, or otherwise manipulating it. Also, make sure that the rod connecting the pan to the hook has free and unimpeded travel. Test fire the trap and if there is any resistance, bend the wire slightly where the resistance is. These little manipulations are called “tuning” your trap. Spending some time making your trap fire smoothly at a light touch will pay big dividends.
Choose a trap or modify a trap so that the openings are smaller than many typical 1″ by 1″ wire grids (at least up the sides a bit). Buying a more expensive trap or making your own with smaller openings keeps the raccoon from reaching in or out. Trap-wise raccoons will reach in from the sides to get the bait if they are able. Captured raccoons will reach outside and grab anything close in an attempt to get away. Smaller wire openings prevent raccoons from reaching where you don’t want them to reach.
Hang some bait behind the trigger pan from the top of the trap. This can be done with a piece of wire, a zip-tie, etc. The purpose of putting bait in this position is to get the raccoon to not focus on the floor of the trap where the trigger pan is. The hanging bait gets their attention and causes them to work a little harder to get the treat. They seem to forget all about where they place their feet.
Consider placing the trap on a board of some kind. This is especially important for a roof application but has benefits most other times too. The board stops the raccoon (or any animal) from scratching or digging the surface the trap is placed–this really saves shingles and lawns. The board also collect feces and urine which are often deposited during an animal’s stay in a trap. A board also gives you the ability to affix the trap in place by securing the board to the surface.