HELP! - Squirrels stealing fruit – Goodnature A18 trap availability??

[Epicatt2]

I'm having a serious problem with squirrels, and likely rats too, with them ravaging my avocados, mangoes, and other fruit even before they ripen, such that I have not gotten any of my crop for myself these last two seasons.

I have seen how effective the Goodnature A18 squirrel destroyer is, but only their model A24 (mouse & rat traps) are available in the US.  (I know this because I've checked online everywhere I can think of without success.)

Can any of our TFF members explain why this A18 squirrel destroyer is not allowed into the US. It seems like an effective, humane control for these ravaging rodents.

Or maybe someone has found a way of getting the A18 into the US –short of traveling to the UK or Australia and bringing one back in their personal luggage.

Fingers X-ed!

Paul M.
Tampa – Zone 9b
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[Ognin525]

I would guess since its marketed for squirrels and a kill trap it will be hard to get in the usa possibly some laws broken? Squirrels are game animals in the usa so in every state you would need a license to harvest game. Now that its targeting game this would be sold to trappers in the usa and that doesnt look like it would pass the dec's eye lol just another thing against it . If it were marketed for rats i bet you could prime that thing and have it in 2days!

[Ognin525]

Forgot to add....Get yourself a tube trap they work great for squirrels, One by one but productive. My favorite style trap for squirrels by far.

[Epicatt2]

I would guess since its marketed for squirrels and a kill trap it will be hard to get in the usa possibly some laws broken? Squirrels are game animals in the usa so in every state you would need a license to harvest game. Now that its targeting game this would be sold to trappers in the usa and that doesnt look like it would pass the dec's eye lol just another thing against it . If it were marketed for rats i bet you could prime that thing and have it in 2days!

Frankly I don't conceive of squirrels as game –at least not in Florida and surely not in the middle of a large urban city Llike Tampa.

And as far as I'm concerned squirrels are little more than fluffy rats, anyway.  So since they are essentially vermin, I still don't get why these humane but effctive kill traps for squirrels are not available in the US.

Truly puzzling . . .

Paul M.
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[Ognin525]

I would call the company and ask to get an answer that wont puzzle you .The research i did showed these wernt legal in english countries until they re-wrote the trapping laws. Being an avid hunter/trapper what i was reading made sense and sounded like thats more than likely the reason we cant get them. Truly puzzling is the ignorance of your response.

[Epicatt2]

I would call the company and ask to get an answer that wont puzzle you .The research i did showed these wernt legal in english countries until they re-wrote the trapping laws. Being an avid hunter/trapper what i was reading made sense and sounded like thats more than likely the reason we cant get them. Truly puzzling is the ignorance of your response.

Good suggestion to call the business.

Don't understand though your remark about my 'ignorant response.'  I just don't consider squirrels as food for me, especially the ones found in dense urban areas where they are surely exposed to god-knows-what in the city's environment.  Makes squirrels seem pretty unapetizing to me.

But the squirrels clearly have been devastating my fruit crops, so I'd just as well prefer to be shed of them.  And before there are any moans about it it's not as if I were intending to destroy the entire species; just those in my immediate area.

Paul M.
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[gnappi]

For rats I have a threefold approach.

1. Once my dog has an eye on them hiding stationary in the tree I shoot them from the tree with a pellet rifle.
2. After they get smart to the tree and shoot method they use the canopy to run away, then I use rat traps baited with slim Jim sausages. They CANNOT resist slim Jim sausage.
3. Once the parents are gone I switch over to mouse traps for the smaller ones which can evade the larger rat traps.
 
The next year I start the cycle all over again. 

Squirrels are a different story. My pellet rifle is too weak to kill them but once they get stung by it a couple of times, they pretty much stay away.

[NateTheGreat]

I bought an A18 after reading about them here. I would not recommend them. Spent $250 for a trap plus the metal cover so squirrels don't just chew through it, and caught one squirrel before they somehow all learned to avoid it. Cage traps have caught two in less than half the time. The A18 is nice because you don't have to finish them off, but I worry it's hitting other animals. Two night activations with no sign of what it was. The real solution has been a pellet rifle. The cheapest one from Walmart, which is enough to kill them if you aim right. A .22 would be better though.

[spaugh]

Squrrenator cage trap with an avocado or other fruit in it gets them everytime.   Easy, passive solution.  Requires no effort.  Set it and forget it.   Guns are ok if you have a good shot but they like to run and hide.  Easier to shoot them in the cage. 

[NateTheGreat]

Wow. I've tried baiting my cage traps with peanut butter, chocolate chips, almonds, walnuts, cashews, raw fallen walnuts, tomatoes, sweet peppers, even strawberry candy. The only thing that's worked so far is putting them right over the roots of the plants they're chewing up. Are yours ground squirrels though, or fox squirrels? Do you think the squirrelinator would work better?

[Epicatt2]

The model A18 Goodature trap mentioned above recommends using hazelnut butter in them.

Rather than buy it at a rather exorbitant price from the vendor selling the traps I found some
much better priced options for the hazelnut butter (aka, filberts) on Amazon.

The trap, once baited with hazelnut butter, almost immediately got three squirrels, halla-LOO!

OK — That's my experience with the A18 . . . (and now this season there are plenty avocados
hanging, now ripening, on my 'Mexicola Grande' where previous years thery all disappeared!!)

Paul M.
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[spaugh]

I have ground squirrels and they like to dig big holes next to rock piles.  I just set the trap next to where their hole is and leave an avocado in it and they always go in the trap.  You can leave anything in it really, they are curious and will go in.  It is not that important what bait you use.  But avocados work well because they don't get taken by ants and mice quickly.  Peanut butter and bird seed etc. get taken by other critters. 

[Calusa]

Wow. I've tried baiting my cage traps with peanut butter, chocolate chips, almonds, walnuts, cashews, raw fallen walnuts, tomatoes, sweet peppers, even strawberry candy. The only thing that's worked so far is putting them right over the roots of the plants they're chewing up. Are yours ground squirrels though, or fox squirrels? Do you think the squirrelinator would work better?

I trapped about 20 gray aquirrels in the Spring as my mangos were getting some size to them. I used peanuts in the shell. Caught a few bluejays but not many. Now I see only an occasional squirrel in the yard which is ok for now. But next March/April I'll be ready to trap some more. $30 trap from Harbor Freight.

[gnappi]

I find a low velocity non lethal air rifle teaches squirrels real fast the benefits of looking elsewhere for food.

[NateTheGreat]

Thanks for the tips. I put an avocado each in two big cage traps this morning. So far the squirrels have been passing them by. 

I will go get some hazelnut butter soon. They did eat the peanut butter I smeared on the tree under the trap, but were very reluctant to go up in. They didn't LOVE peanut butter like Google results said they would, sometimes passed it by all day until something else ate it at night. It'd be really nice if I could get the A18 working well. I hope it'll be good for quickly taking out newcomers once I finish off the current bunch. I think I'm getting close. 3 left at least.

Gnappi, I'm amazed you were able to teach squirrels anything. I'm convinced they just won't learn. Even standing up in the tree watching me kill one of their buddies, they still think it's a good idea to come down into my yard. I wish I could shoot them up in the trees, but I don't want to shoot without a backstop. 

[roblack]

I find a low velocity non lethal air rifle teaches squirrels real fast the benefits of looking elsewhere for food.

A good Red Ryder shot to the rear has been my choice. Bounces right off, but scares them and seems to work as a good deterrent. Rats are another story.

[spaugh]

Thanks for the tips. I put an avocado each in two big cage traps this morning. So far the squirrels have been passing them by. 

I will go get some hazelnut butter soon. They did eat the peanut butter I smeared on the tree under the trap, but were very reluctant to go up in. They didn't LOVE peanut butter like Google results said they would, sometimes passed it by all day until something else ate it at night. It'd be really nice if I could get the A18 working well. I hope it'll be good for quickly taking out newcomers once I finish off the current bunch. I think I'm getting close. 3 left at least.

Gnappi, I'm amazed you were able to teach squirrels anything. I'm convinced they just won't learn. Even standing up in the tree watching me kill one of their buddies, they still think it's a good idea to come down into my yard. I wish I could shoot them up in the trees, but I don't want to shoot without a backstop.

what kind of trap are you using?  Is it one they have to step on a trigger?  If yes, I think you will hace better luck with the squirrelinator. 

[SD Dan]

2nd the recommendation for Squirrelinator. It's a bit on the expensive side but its worked really well for me with minimal effort

[NateTheGreat]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-quick-set-catch-release-live-animal-traps-2-pack

Yes they have to step on the plate, but I've watched a couple walk into the big ones, and they don't seem particularly cautious. Idk. Of course it's still not catching many, but it's not like the A18 where they inch toward it then back up, come at it from all the sides looking for a safe way in. But the only times they've gone in they've been looking for the best roots to dig up and eat, wandered over and found their way blocked by the trap, then move around it until they find a way in. And only the big traps. If anything I think bait makes them avoid the traps. Even just walnuts. I read in the Squirrelinator reviews that rats are hesitant to enter, so I'm afraid it'd be another bust. I think I'll wait and see. I also don't like leaving live capture traps open when I'm away from home or asleep. Seems too cruel. I do appreciate the recommendations.

Turns out the store didn't have hazelnut butter other than nutella stuff, but I got some ice cream with hazelnut chunks and hazelnut butter swirls, ate around those, and put the butter and chunks in the A18. I hope it works! It definitely smells amazing. I think the hazelnut butter was sweetened though, unfortunately.

[Epicatt2]

[ snip ]Turns out the store didn't have hazelnut butter other than nutella stuff, but I got some ice cream with hazelnut chunks and hazelnut butter swirls, ate around those, and put the butter and chunks in the A18. I hope it works! It definitely smells amazing. I think the hazelnut butter was sweetened though, unfortunately.

Hey Nate,

FYI, You can get a large 2.2 lb. bag of raw filberts (hazelnuts) from Amazon for about $20 bucks and I also found organic Hazelnut butter in about a 9 oz. jar for about $15 bucks, also from Amazon.

With the bag of nuts you can pound some of them and scatter it below the A18 as bait.  With the hazelnut butter you can use it fill the bait well of the A18 trap and also rub a bit of the butter and/or oil down the bark of the tree below the A18 as a further lure.

BTW, the big bag of hazelnuts goes a long way, and I've not been averse to eating a few of them myself!

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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[spaugh]

2nd the recommendation for Squirrelinator. It's a bit on the expensive side but its worked really well for me with minimal effort

58$ on Amazon now.  Seems cheaper than when I got them.

[Malhar]

Squirrelinator works really well. Would recommend buying it with the basin.  Basin helps with their transport or if you want to give them a swim lesson!

[K-Rimes]

2nd the recommendation for Squirrelinator. It's a bit on the expensive side but its worked really well for me with minimal effort

58$ on Amazon now.  Seems cheaper than when I got them.

Got a link for the $58? I can only find them at $73

Do you use the basin to drown them or?

[SD Dan]

2nd the recommendation for Squirrelinator. It's a bit on the expensive side but its worked really well for me with minimal effort

58$ on Amazon now.  Seems cheaper than when I got them.

Good deal! I think I dropped $70 for it.

Not sure if the basin is for drowning, it looks like it’s marketed as a transportation tool but I suppose it could work. That reminds me of the first day I got it, I set it up and caught a squirrel immediately. Didn’t have anything to dispatch so I had to run to Target and get a kiddie pool to do the deed. Bought a pellet gun right after that and it’s a lot better for everyone involved.

[spaugh]

2nd the recommendation for Squirrelinator. It's a bit on the expensive side but its worked really well for me with minimal effort

58$ on Amazon now.  Seems cheaper than when I got them.

Got a link for the $58? I can only find them at $73

Do you use the basin to drown them or?

I see now this may be a generic but looks like the same unit to me.

https://www.amazon.com/Wilco-Distributors-70203-Ground-Squirrel/dp/B00P8567XQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=31PABRJE56N6J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.eZqpdrcD1iTMBKivxcwmBgG5RAFz1-7FYltGbg3Z4-045wAgcdDqjXFBMbidF5z7CZxntPJQ1IkNl-_-Md3HlXh5s9-Hhb-nI2PKfgPtED2U_iquKy6Q0sH3hOcTdk__YUmjqAGapHUqURer1ZyI7TTIAEt3HnfuxqbrgIjmHs2zul69BmtjlRcrWKtkSfdgQA6UbjUANi2yHgFF1PDVkXZ7CCp7JVDAU6r9BnCXxqd6JazK4RBgjAgLBBTR6gPgMB_ICBwPmCHe7QLhczHPtwgFb4QqZ89GW3rUn5iHKjM.KUqk-yS6JOZ8-BaJ4O-kb5xiKOJZGT-CCbD0NLS1V-c&dib_tag=se&keywords=squirrelinator+trap&qid=1723335708&sprefix=squirrenator+trap%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-4

I don't think drowning them is that nice.  I shoot them point blank with a 22.