Sparrow Trap Recommendations

MartiStupka · Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:22 pm

We are preparing for the 2010 season. Last year for the first time since we became landlords (it was our third year), the house sparrows found our small colony. We successfully used the Spar-O-Door, and trapped and eliminated several sparrows. The trap was easy to use,and worked well.We would use it again, but we had to replace our worn out Trio mini-castle with a Lonestar Goliad, and the Spar-O-Door won't work with this new house. We are looking at the options available on the PMCA website, but are having trouble deciding which one will work best, while being easy to use. We would appreciate hearing any recommendations for sparrow traps that can be used with a Lonestar house. Thank you.

Marti and Bob
Fort Myers, FL

Guest · Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:30 pm

I personally like the large baited traps ,put them on the ground ,add a few bread scraps and get out of the way.I was catching 5 to 8 every day for a while til I thinned them out.It you have dogs they are not to effective tho unless you can keep the dogs elsewhere as the dogs will panic the sparrows and they will force their way free,,all in all a very productive trap IMO

dick

landonn · Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:47 pm

Well, I don't know about which sparrow traps to use for Lonstar Housing. I agree with Dick, I would get a good repeating bait trap. I have one trap of that kind, and I caught two sparrows in it today. Also if you have a bluebird box you should get a nesting box trap for it too.

Landon

Carlton · Sat Oct 24, 2009 7:00 pm

Maybe you could use the old Trio or a second hand smaller one you get somewhere and just use it for Spar o Doors. Or, maybe you could make a bluebird size house and adapt the Spar o Door to it. I have two Spar o Doors in my smaller Trio Grandma house and the traps are well worth giving up the nesting space. The houses do not have to be mounted as high as the martin houses are.

Matt F. · Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:41 pm

Hi MartiStupka.

Forgive me for briefly straying off topic, but I noticed that your Trio Mini-Castle only lasted you a few seasons.
It's a shame that house didn't serve you better. Those units usually last decades, barring any sort of major trauma.

That said, the Lonestar houses are wonderful.

I wonder if anyone has tried one of the T-14 traps, in a Lonestar house?
[EDIT] I just realized that the T-14 compartments are 11.5" in length, while the Lonestar compartments are 12" in length.
The traps are probably not usable in Lonestars.

Sandy - NC · Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:41 pm

This one will fit a Lonestar. http://purplemartin.org/shop/product_in ... d81957eb97

MartiStupka · Mon Oct 26, 2009 12:58 pm

Thank you all for your responses. We never saw a sparrow here in southwest Florida until our third year as landlords. With a new Martin house, we want to make sure that we are prepared. We also have a pellet rifle, but don't want to take the chance of hitting a Martin, and we're still working on our aim.

We are working on owl guards as well, since the Lonestar house manufacturers don't seem to make them. We've gotten some great ideas from the Purple Martin forum as well. Thank you all for being available with your expertise.

Matt F. · Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:59 pm

MartiStupka wrote:Thank you all for your responses. We never saw a sparrow here in southwest Florida until our third year as landlords. With a new Martin house, we want to make sure that we are prepared. We also have a pellet rifle, but don't want to take the chance of hitting a Martin, and we're still working on our aim. We are working on owl guards as well, since the Lonestar house manufacturers don't seem to make them. We've gotten some great ideas from the Purple Martin forum as well. Thank you all for being available with your expertise.

Keep us posted about your owl guards. I know there are a lot of Lonestar owners, that would love some ideas on how to make them.

Louise Chambers · Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:17 pm

Marti,

One way to rig an owl guard for a Goliad would be to add long metal dowels to the long sides of each roof, then use the rods to support a wire cage. If you drilled through the rods you could secure them to the house and also secure the cage to the rods.

Also, see Tim Mangan's article in the fall issue of the Update - he shows homemade guards on a Sunset Inn house—you might be able to adapt his design for that house to your Goliad.

Louise

BumBee · Wed Oct 28, 2009 6:46 am

I have two PMCA repeating baited trap that are about 8 years old. They
Have provided me with a little comfort knowing that a lot of the neighborhood
Sparrows will not be coming to molest the purple martins.

I have to be vigilant with these traps for it will catch protected species.

flyin-lowe · Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:03 pm

Another thing to watch is a problem I had with my T14. I mounted the porches almost flush (up 1/8). Well the T14 insert trap I have (as well as the one pictured above) has the opening more then 1/2 inch up from the bottom of the trap. So when I set my insert trap in the box and close the door the bottom of the trap is covering the opening and the opening to the trap is only half exposed, the top half of the trap opening is above the opening of the T14. I hope I explained that right. It makes sense to me!

Guest · Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:19 pm

MS,
i've been trapping sparrows since the late 70s and I've used 4 or 5 different types of sparrow traps. Without a doubt, I've had the most success using the Spar o door. Please consider using your Trio as a Trap-only house. I've been using mine this way for 2 seasons now. Last year I added an Uncle Blaine's to the process. After I trapped one in the Spar o door, I'd put them in the UB with food and water and in a few days I'd have up to a dozen.