After the racoon, I decided to take a break from trapping. I put the traps where they have been, alongside the house, end to end. And yes, they were opened at opposite ends. But they had no food inside. None. Nada. Zero.
I had tried to prepare the area for inviting rabbits when I first got the traps, just without the traps. Partly it was I had no concrete ideas yet for what to do with the trapped ones. I wasn't particularly in the mood for the work of getting them to the table. I hadn't scouted release locations yet. I just didn't want my flower garden to be their banquet table. I laid out a variety of greens that the internet claimed they preferred to my emerging tender lilies, like brussel's sprouts, leaf lettuce, apples, and even a baby carrot or two. They were ignored, so long I had to throw them into the garbage. Once I read that rhubarb would repel them, I got very regular at scattering it throughout the plants they'd been nibbling. It worked. The traps just continued to sit in the living room for a few months.
Meanwhile it became squirrels causing my problems, with bulbs going into the ground for next spring's blooms, so tactics changed to finally setting the traps out for a start, and with nuts and peanut butter inside. Success wasn't instant but it became regular. For the last several days the empty, unbaited traps just sat there. I had other things to do for a while.
Last night something strange happened. We have motion sensor lights on the shed. They turn on when I park the car, and sometimes when neighbors pass by on the path to the mail room in the rec center or maybe just to visit friends on the next block. The path is a shortcut. Last night the lights were on all night and into the morning until the sun got high enough to turn them off. Steve and I discussed how we might fix an obvious malfunction when we had no clue where a switch of any kind was to control them.
This morning I stepped out on my way to the car and noted they were finally out. Out of habit I glanced at the traps, theoretically lined up along the house. One was moving! No wonder the lights stayed on. Or at least I hope that's the full explanation, since I still have no clue how to turn them off.
I truly hoped it wasn't another coon, or worse yet, the same one back again. Why would anything be in it when there was no bait of any kind inside? I hadn't set it on grass, just a row of concrete pavers. There likely were some clumps of dead grass inside mixed in with mud from when the coon had been thrashing around, kicking its trap over into the grass. I hadn't cleaned every bit of that out, waiting until I intended it to be used again. Besides, wouldn't any frightened animal inside have left its scent behind with whatever pheromones that screamed "terror, I'm trapped" ?
This time it was a cottontail. Definitely scared, definitely trapped. But what did it go in in the trap for?
The errand I'd set out to the car for got extended with a side trip to my usual release spot. Lots of food and water for rabbits there too. And just as far from my garden as the other critters' new home.
I still put my hide gloves on before opening the end. Rabbits have big teeth, and who knows what would prompt one to bite? This one was stupid enough that when I opened the lower end with freedom and ground beckoning below, it started trying to climb out the well-fastened top. I had to shake the trap a bit before it turned and ran.
I'd love to say the moral of this story is to catch rabbits with an old, used, empty trap. Let it and the space it sits on have experienced the scent markings of a variety of terrified animals. Just for kicks, I'm going to leave the ends of both traps closed for a few days. It will be interesting to see what comes along and forces the doors open so it can sit inside, safe from predators, safe from food, safe from water - unless it rains, in which case it's safe from shelter. I'll check the traps over the weekend. It'll be a surprise!!!
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