ROSOLI, Humane Animal Cage Catcher for Chipmunks and Other Similar Sized Pest Control Rodents (Medium Rat Mice Trap

Okay

Cheap and rusts fast

I hate to say it, but straight out of the box, this product gave me a bad impression. There were dangly bits of metal hanging off the front of the trap, and I thought it had broken in transit. Turns out, the parts are “lock rails”, and falling apart is common enough that ¼ of the instruction space is devoted to fixing the problem. It was easily enough done, but raised nagging doubts about the trap’s durability.Ready now to bait the trap, I got my second nasty surprise. Unlike a trip plate like most traps have, this has a bait hook. My target critters are chipmunks, and their preferred bait is peanut butter, so how to get that to stick on a hook? I finally wrapped the peanut butter in a small piece of paper towel and managed to stretch my arm in to spear it on the hook. Compared to a trip plate: Easy, no. Fun, no. Messy, yes.Finally, I can lay out the set, baited trap. There are still chippies running around, so it shouldn’t take long for a volunteer to step forward. With other traps, I usually find one within a day. With this, I waited … and waited …. After two weeks, the trap had triggered twice, but there was nothing inside. I suspect something bigger than a chippie bumped into the trap to spring it, and that we didn’t have a successful escape. Another time though, the bait was missing but the trap wasn’t tripped. This left me without a lot of confidence in the bait hook. Before I put in some new bait, I watched a chippie run inside, tour around a bit, and then run back out. Where a trip plate would have snagged him, the bait hook, located near the back corner, is not going to trip unless it’s positively engaged.Opening the door is a bit fiddly, and I’m not sure your fingers aren’t vulnerable to getting bitten when you release a critter. Since I never caught anything I can’t say for sure, but it’s a concern.Overall, I can’t recommend this trap. If you’re trying to catching something rat- or chipmunk-sized, go with the Havahart 1025 traps, which open on both ends and are totally bulletproof. Just be sure to avoid the Havahart 1061 traps, which are completely useless.

I usually use a large live "Havahart" style trap to catch the western brush rabbits that eat up our yard here in California. This works super well, except when there are juvenile rabbits who can sneak in and steal the bait without tripping the trap. This Rosoli trap takes care of the issue by having a much more sensitive trigger than my larger trap. I tested it out by placing it near the problem area in my yard next to the larger trap. As you can see in the photo I uploaded, the tiny rabbit that was stealing my bait from the larger trap was unable to escape this smaller and more sensitive trigger in the Rosoli.I suspect that by changing bait from apples (a real attraction to our rabbits) to peanut butter or other rat attractive bait, I could also catch a great share of rats. I'll try this soon.In the meantime, here are a few hints about how to use this trap, and any other trap that has a "live trap" wire cage contstruction.1. Line the bottom of the cage with grass clippings or other vegetation that keeps the rabbit, squirrel, etc. from having to walk on the metal wires. Some rodents don't care, but in general I have found it better to pad the floor like this.2. I chop up some bait and leave a trail coming to the cage and into the mouth on top of the aforementioned grass. It helps to "lead" them into the trap.3. Be generous in leaving the bait on the "hook" wire that is just past the trigger plate in the trap. You want the critter to walk near the cage, see and smell the main bait as well as the chum line.4. Place your trap near where the animal's burrow is, near its trails, near the hole in the brush if you find one. Keep it out of direct sun - some shade works much better. If it gets hot outside, the sun will make the bait go bad faster.5. Make sure you wash it out and dry it after each use. A spot of oil on the mechanism, too. The goodness of this trap is its sensitive trigger and that will be negated if the trap gets dirty or corroded.Have fun and get those critters out of your yard, you urban trapper, you!