Need help with Troyer trap

[zoefluf]

I have a pair of sparrows that just won't GO! I trapped one male in the Coates house and did away with it, but the female just brought in another man. That tramp! Now she and he have built a lovely love nest in my Troyer horizontal gourd. When I first noticed them building, I put the Troyer trap inside but they just went from gourd to gourd as I moved the trap to each one I thought they had formed an attachment to.

SO, now that they have established their territory over THIS gourd, I put the trap in it this morning. But, to my dismay, they will only sit in the entrance or on the top but will not go far enough into the gourd to spring the trap. DRAT! Should I have camouflaged the wire rim of the trip wire? Not sure how to do that.

I'm wondering if I should wait until she lays her eggs before I try to trap them. I don't want them to scope out another gourd because now all of the gourds are occupied by Martins. I am in a quandary and don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

IF and when I trap them, how do I get them out of this trap without them getting away?
Jeanne

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

Hi Jeanne:

I have trapped quite a few sparrows in my THG with the THG sparrow trap. I trapped all of mine before they got to the egg laying stage. My Arkansas sparrows are probably not as smart as your Louisiana sparrows. Whenever I had a sparrow trapped in my THG, I would get a large freezer bag and place it over the porch and opening of the THG. I would then lift up on the silver piece that covers the opening when the trap is sprung. Every time, I would no sooner get the plate pulled up and the trapped sparrow would come flying out, only to hit a dead ent at the end of the bag. I then just fill the bag with water and it only takes a few seconds for them to succumb.

[JamesinIA]

Jeanne

You might need to wait until eggs are laid and then I am sure they will trap themselves. Once the trap is tripped all you do is put a large clear plastic bag over the entrance or access cap and open it up. They should fly into the bag and you've got em.

I installed the ConleyII tunnels on my T-14 and have trapped 3 female sparrows so far. The males will just sit on the porch but will not go past the tunnel to trip the trap.

James

[zoefluf]

Well, the trap has been set all day and no luck. But, they are still sitting in the opening and on the porch. Activity is most high in the morning, so I am going to sit out tonight until all of my PMs are put to bed (just to make sure that none of them go in the trap gourd). Hopefully, in the morning, when the sparrows are usually adding grasses to their already filled up gourd, they will trip the trap and VOILA, I can put them and myself out of our misery . I'm trying to remain hopeful.
Jeanne

[Carlton]

I had the same problem last season with a VERY STUBBORN pair of HS. They would go into the T.H. gourd but would somehow bypass the trap loop or the trap was not sensitive enough. This went on for days.

Finally, what I did was to take a spare T.H. gourd that I had and cut out a section out of the flat side of a plastic milk jug. I placed the sections securely in the T.H. gourd's thick plastic with a few white push pin tacks.
Inside the gourd, in some of the HS nesting material, I placed a glue trap made for cockroaches. It came from Walmart, I think. This glue trap is more sticky than the ones made to catch mice. I did not use a whole glue trap. I cut it before I took off the protective paper. Anyway, martins could not get in and I used some of the HS nest to fool them. I caught BOTH of them in a few minutes.

I just keep this Trap T.H. gourd in the garage and if a house sparrow forms a nest and claims a gourd I simply remove their gourd and replace it with the trap gourd. It looks just like their gourd except that the entrance is too small for a martin to get in. Once trapped I replace the original martin gourd after ripping out the rest of the HS nest. It sounds complicated but it is not.

Oh, I have had good luck with using a round entranced tunnel on a T.H. gourd, hung from a shepherd's hooks, near trees to catch starlings. I too place a bag over the entrance and as stated lift the trap door. They come zooming out into the bag. The starling, being a much stronger bird, with a sharper beak can tear a thin bag so I use a stronger bag. I just squeeze the pest HARD for a few minutes and he is history.

With HS, when I catch them in a plastic bag, from my Trio Spar o Door, I simple twist up the bag tightly around the pest and set them on the concrete with a heavy paint can or something on the twisted neck of the bag. They suffocate in a few minutes. They are tough though so make sure they have expired before opening the bag to dump them out.

I will go and take a pic of my HS T.H. trap gourd.

Good luck.

[Carlton]

Here are some pics to help explain my trap. I used thumb tacks.

The narrow entrance is 1 1/2 inches long and 1 1/8 inches high.

Hope this is helpful. Notice I did not use the glue trap put on thick black plastic. This one is thin and easily cut - on paper.

[zoefluf]

Carlton,
Woke up this morning and the trap is NOT sprung and they seem to be going in and out of the gourd. What the heck!!
I hesitated to use the glue traps before because I was afraid that a Martin would be harmed if they went into the gourd. But, your idea seems like it would work and I don't have to worry about my Martins. I like it! I am going to work on the trap gourd today using your directions. I'll let you know what happens. Wish me luck! Finally, I have a small glimmer of hope.

[Carlton]

Yes, that trap works great for the larger starlings but it does not seem to work too well for HS at least not in my experience. I caught a starling this morning in my round holed T.H. with tunnel and trap.

Glad that I could be of help. Just make sure you stick to the small size for the entrance. The HS WILL get in even if it is a bit tight. I would still watch as there MIGHT be bluebirds, wrens or chickadees trying to get in but I doubt they will with an active HS nest. If you are going to catch the HS it should not take too long. Do put some old nesting material in there making sure it does not get on the glue and make that less effective.

Let me know how it goes.

Carl

[Carlton]

It is funny as we have been chatting about this subject and for the past couple days I have had a very annoying pair of HS show up and start building their nest in one of my Troyer Horizontal Gourds.

I followed the same procedure as last year, using that greatly narrowed entrance I showed you and placed a paper backed glue trap in the HS nest. Within ten minutes I had trapped BOTH the male and female on the same glue trap! She went in and got trapped right with him. I was astonished.

I replaced the trap gourd with the regular gourd again for the martins. When I got rid of the trapped HS's I simply put the glue trap in a plastic bag, squirt in a small amount of starter fluid, twisted it up tightly and they drifted off forever.

It works. Just MAKE SURE the entrance is narrowed to the dimensions I stated so no martins can get in and monitor so no other species attempt to enter. It will not take long for the HS to reenter the gourd if they have started a nest.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Carlton, I really like that idea, it's a quick and easy trap to make.

[parkerdes]

Great idea for the gourd & great that the PMs can't enter! I did find that my Troyer trap was sticking so I lubricated the metal pin & didn't put as much of it showing to the outside to make it easier to trip. I have spare-o-door traps on both of my houses & that seems to work every time for the hosps here thankfully! I have never had them use a gourd as of yet! Only a few pesky starlings but the only round holes I have open are the spare-o-door traps & a couple of 6x6 compartments...all other big compartments are SREHs & so far the starlings haven't breeched them. I have my Troyer trap with a round hole up on a pole that I also have a homemade S&S controller house near trees. I have trapped the only 3 starlings I've seen in them this year!
Best of luck getting rid of the "nasties"!!!

[Guest]

if you know they are in there at night..use a rag on the tip of a pole and stop up the hole after dark...then in the morn lower the gourd and have a gallon size plastic bag it the entrance as you remove the rag...good luck

[zoefluf]

AAIIIEEEE!!!!!! I caught BOTH of them! I didn't try out the glue trap cause I noticed that the trip wire on the Troyer trap was only hanging by a hair as they were going in and out of the gourd. And, sure enough, sometime during the night or this morning, they went in to check out their lovely nest and VOILA the trap sprung.

I took the gourd down and according to Lane's directions, I got a dry-cleaning clear bag, put the entire gourd in it closed it up and then lifted the trap door from the outside. Both of the birds flew out of the trap into the bag. The male almost pecked his way out of the bag before I sprayed them with the starter fluid which put them right to sleep. I couldn't bear to look (even though these two have tormented me night and day for the past three weeks!) so I put everything in a large black construction bag, tied it up and I'll check and make sure they are dead this afternoon when I get home.

Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions and tips.

[parkerdes]

GREAT NEWS!!! Glad you are rid of them!!!
I woke up this morning to a lot of squaking going on & I thought I had a 4th male going in & out of my converted MSS-12 house. I had left 3 6x6 compartments open for the SYs that were raised in the local housing in my area...all non-modified, most non-starling proof that is! Anyway, I got my binoculars out & saw that nasty yellow beak! Everytime I got near enough to shoot, it flew away! I went ahead & closed the round holes on the house as well as a couple I had open on my modified 24 Castle. The only round holes now available are the 2 spare-o-door traps & my Troyer tunnel trap gourd & S&S controller trap that are both near the trees! Hopefully, when I get home, the problem will be solved!!!
I HATE "RATBIRDS"!!!

[Carlton]

Glad you were finally able to get those two pesky HS! Congrats!!! Glad to hear the trap worked.

[ElizWitte]

I have Troyer gourds and I have had several pairs of house sparrows try to take over gourds this season. I eliminated the last pair today. What I have noticed about the Troyer traps is that sometimes the house sparrows go under the loop and sometimes they go through the loop without setting the trap off. The last pair I got today were very smart and I had trouble getting them. I take clear packing tape and run in on the side of the loop to bring down the size of the loop -- just a little on both sides. I then take a clear piece of plastic (some material out of various items you buy that are loaded with plastic) and tape it to the bottom of the loop so that it hangs down a little and the house sparrows going under the loop hit it. The pair today were still getting by so I took some double stick tape and stuck one side over the plastic and stuck grass clippings on the other side of the tape. They hit it then. I have not been able to use the trap without retrofitting it for years because those sparrows are too smart. Another thing. Those sparrows know the difference between the gourd and the metal trap part that comes down when they hit the pin. For years I have taken white contact paper (kind for cabinets) and covered the metal with white contact paper. That way, they can't tell them apart from the gourd. I will try the glue deal if I have more trouble.

[zoefluf]

Elizabeth,
I like your ideas and will try them next time. I think your observations were right on and that is why the sparrows were going in and out of the gourd with such ease. That's why I love this forum. Each person adds a piece to the puzzle when problems occur. Thanks for your input.
Jeanne

[ElizWitte]

I have to admit that even though I certainly don't want house sparrows, it is kind of fun trying to figure out what will trip them up. The other two couples were not nearly as smart and tape on the loop and a little below got them. The other pair needed the grass clippings. I used to put dead grass parts inside of the tape but they didn't fall for that either. I have another trap that I transfer them to but sometimes they don't want to come out of the gourd. The plastic bag idea is great. I never thought of that! Thanks for all the great information.