Spare-O-Door Trap

[Guest]

WOW!!! what a fantastic product!!!!

So last week I had starlings invade and HouseSparrows overrunn my Trio Grandpa that I modified the week before, thank goodness I found this forum. I then bought starling excluder holes and today they arrived and I installed them so hopefully that solves that.

Anyways, I put the trap up I bought also today and came back in 30 min and already had my first male HS WOOHOO... so i got him out and got rid of him and then reset the trap and to my amazement within an hour I had another male... this product works people

PS, the male sparrows are the ones you really need to trap to get rid of them, correct?? I mean Ill kill both but the males are more important right?

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[Guest]

dpw1321,

I think they work great too! When I catch the male, I put him in the middle compartment of my cage trap. That seems to bring in the female, before long I usually have them both.

I must have thinned them down in the last five years. I have only seen one sparrow this year. Caught him the next day.

Good luck this year
craig

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I am so happy that you like the trap..I had martins for many years, and I spent a lot of time (wasted is a better word) trying to keep the sparrows away...the traps work, especially after we learn how to use them, and it saves us all of that wasted time..to everyone else that has a sparrow problem, please purchase the right kind of trap, and it becomes much easier to raise martins..they are such a wonderful bird to have, they bring us so much joy!

[~Patrick~]

dpw,

Yes, the male house sparrows are the ones you really want to get, though like you said, I get rid of whatever I catch. Usually once I catch the male, the female leaves. I've caught 6 in recent days, all males. The spare-o-door is a great product. Keep up the good work.

Patrick

[Guest]

I like the sparrow door, too. But, I'd like to see one with the hole large enough for starlings. I know that an occassional martin would get in, but these traps need to be monitored closely, anyway. I never leave a trap set if I'm not going to be home to monitor it. I got my sparrow doors this February and have had some success. But, I've watched a lot of sparrows peek in but not go in. I've also watched starlings and martins try their best to get in. I worry that a martin might get his head caught by the trap. I plan to call the company and ask them why the hole is so small.

Male sparrows are the ones that claim a house and call for a mate, but the female is going to raise several broods a season. Once you witness the damage they can do, you won't want any of them around.

[Guest]

I must have missed something...what is a Spare-O-Trap?

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

bchopkinsii, its a Trio house trap that PMCA sells, it is available if you go to PMCA Shop, and go to Birding traps.

[Guest]

The sparrow door is a replacement door for Nature House and Trio PM houses. It has a small hole- 1" or so, with a trip pin. When the sparrow goes in, hits the trip pin..... wahla!!! Trapped sparrow.


grandmac

the reason the hole is small(imho), is so that PMs can't get in. I'm sure theres laots of ppl out there that set it and forget it- sorry Ron. I think if the PM got in and trapped, when released, he/she would find another house.

Chuck

[CUL Lou~Mich]

I'm pretty sure the trap that is being referred to is the "Spar-o-door" It's also known as the SD-1. The hole is small, so the English House Sparrow (Or birds of like size) can get in. When this trap came out, no one had even thought about the hazards European Starlings would do. There is however a very good trap for both. It's called the UST, or Universal Sparrow/Starling Trap. This trap is put inside an apartment, and works sort of the same as the SD-1. Once the bird hits the trip, the door closes. Both doors are a bright red, so it's pretty hard to miss seeing that it's tripped. CUL Lou

[Guest]

I just realized that the original question was about a different trap. And, you're probably right about the reason for the small hole on the spare-o-door. If I had one with a bigger hole, I'd wait until a starling had claimed a house for a day or two, then switch to the trap door.

I'm curious about the trap that sits under the martin house. If a trapped sparrow is used as a decoy in a trap under the martin house, won't his hopping around up there attract a hawk? I trapped a starling in a Troyer last week. I put him in a bird cage and hoisted it up to the top of the Troyer trap. I thought I'd attract more starlings, but what I got was a hawk. He tried his best to get at the starling, of course, without success and I scared him away. But, the next day a hawk got one of my male martins. I believe that it was the same hawk. It was a painful lesson.

[Guest]

Thanks so much for all the info on the Spare-O-Door Trap (SD-1) and related trapping mechanisms. I remembers seeing them in the PMCA Shop now....Bud

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