Tube Tunnel Squirrel Trap - 15" Long Double Torsion Spring Steel - Naturally Attracts Rodents - Rust Resistant, Built-in Safety Latch. R.C. Best. Made in USA

UPDATE April 2024:It's 2+ years later and this trap is still working Great at killing squirrels that get into the attic or other areas of the house. It is just Fantastic!! Those who left bad reviews most likely didn't take the time or have the patience to learn how to use it properly. See below for Tips and Tricks I learned along the way._________________________________Honestly, I like animals and don’t like killing them if it's not for food. But once they invaded my living space they declared war. And I’m winning!This trap is working and it’s great! It’s a Squirrel Killing Machine once you’ve learned how to use it. See below for Tips & Tricks I learned about using this trap.Squirrels invaded the attic biting through the eves and they won’t go near wire traps (probably due to the “Catch & Release” law here which exterminators have to abide by). But these squirrels aren’t familiar with my brand new Super-Squirrel-Killing-Machine-Trap! And they can’t resist Pistachio Nuts in shells and keep getting killed with this trap.(Those who gave this trap negative reviews probably didn’t take the time to learn how to use it. Maybe they didn’t understand how to use the safety latch, or didn’t read the instructions. You need some patience to learn how to use it but once you’ve figured it out, it works and kills those fill-in-the-blank squirrels!)TIPS & TRICKS:Here’s some of what I learned from trial and error.SETTING THE TRAP BEFORE BAITING:* Use a table or counter to do everything other than putting the trap in the location you want it. This will give you leverage for setting it and the patience you need to learn how to use this thing. It will also help you avoid getting frustrated. You need some patience to learn how to use this trap. But you CAN do it! How do I know? Because you’re smarter than those fill-in-the-blank squirrels!* Watch the video posted here on Amazon about setting the trap and read the instructions enclosed with the trap. Do each 3 TIMES. Familiarize yourself with all the pieces and parts and how they work.* Know that the video makes it look Really easy to pull the lever down – it’s NOT easy at all. The lever is attached to a VERY strong spring and it will be very hard to pull the lever down. You need hand/arm strength, and if you don’t have that, read on for what I do.* If you don’t have hand/arm strength (like me) use a Table or Counter and use your body weight to lean on the lever while pulling it down towards you. IMPORTANT: Make sure to use your thumb to flip the safety latch into place to hold the bar in place before setting the trap bar. Read on.* There is a Safety Latch. When you are pulling the lever down to set it, use your thumb to flip up the Safety Latch into place BEFORE trying to set the trap bar. This way the Safety Latch will catch the trap bar if you slip up and you won’t have to pull the lever all the way down again from scratch.BAITING THE TRAP:* Before putting bait into the trap – set the trap bar at the most-difficult-to-release sensitivity and MAKE SURE THE SAFETY LATCH IS ON so that you don’t get hurt. You will adjust the sensitivity of the trap bar later - AFTER putting the bait inside.* I use sticky-gooey sugary stuff to “glue” the pistachio nuts (in shells) onto the killing plate. This way they can’t just reach out and knock the nuts off the plate, they have to step onto the killing plate to get those nuts out of the sticky gooey sugary “glue”.* I stick only 3 pistachios (in shells) onto the furthest edge of the killing plate.* I stick 1 pistachio (in its shell) onto the roof inside directly above the killing plate so that in case they somehow get the nuts on the killing plate, they will still need to step on the killing plate to get that 1 nut stuck to the roof.SETTING THE TRAP AFTER BAITING:* Now that you’ve set the bait you can adjust the sensitivity of the trap.* Keep that Safety Latch on while adjusting the sensitivity!* Play around with the sensitivity so that you get a feeling for how it works. Make sure the Safety Latch is on when you do this!* Set the sensitivity for as sensitive as you can.* Pull the Safety Latch back (I forgot to do this step once and missed killing a squirrel who had a feast on my pistachios nuts!).* Put the trap in the spot where you want to catch and kill the squirrels.* I caught more squirrels when I kept the area dark where I set the trap, compared to keeping the area light. They seem to like dark spaces.* I had a good place to put the trap where the squirrels were frolicking in the attic and shredding my 10-year Covid supply of toilet paper (serves me right for buying so much in the first place!). I put the trap against a wall since I thought they would feel more “secure” approaching it that way, but don’t know for certain if that helped. I figured since they like these little tunnels, they may like “hugging” the wall and then scurry right into the trap.IF YOU’RE NOT CATCHING SQUIRRELS:* Try different types of bait and try placing the trap in different locations.* Put 2-3 smaller morsels of the same bait you are using for the traps within about 6-10 feet outside of the trap. This could fool the squirrels into thinking that this food is now just safely available in abundance. Also, after they get a taste, they will want more and hopefully go into the trap to get it.* Something that may have helped was a mistake I made. I left the Safety Latch on by mistake when setting the trap. The squirrels ate up all the bait and the trap didn’t hurt them. So they learned that the trap was a safe place to get food. That positive experience may have been what made them feel safe to go back and get more food. Of course the next time I put bait in the trap I pulled back the Safety Latch making the trap lethal. If you’ve got smart squirrels, it’s worth a try, but only as a very last resort after trying every other option above if you’re still not catching squirrels.That’s it! I killed 6 squirrels in my attic! Now I’m going to try to get rid of some more before they close up the holes the squirrels made in the eves.[UPDATE April 2024: I've killed over a dozen more in the 2 years since writing this review.]Like I wrote above, I like animals and don’t like killing them if it's not for food. But once they invaded my living space they declared war. And I'm winning!

Update: Upgrade to 5-star. I now have 3 of these devices. I only had a temporary problem with one of them. The 5-stars is because these things work so well. In fact, these are the only devices that have worked consistently well. Others worked one-time at best, and mostly not at all. These things are poison- and bait-free. A plus because I really don't like killing anything unless absolutely necessary. The less chance of accidental killings of birds etc, the better.The caveat is that these are a beast to set, and they are potentially dangerous if not used properly. Should not be accessible to kids for example.I went back to getting the non-rust retardant version. The new one I got had the proper diagram this time. I painted the first one with Rustoleum. Looks nice. That has caught the most. Will do the same for the 3rd.----I now have two of these. I ordered the 2nd based upon the effectiveness of the 1st. The 1st was bare metal, the second has some coating, but otherwise the same.[Update: I clamped the tube to a workbench so that I could have a better handle on what was going on. There just aren't enough fingers available to mess with it per the instructions. It seems that the problem may have been more related to the 'pan' than the trigger. That is the pan was stuck and didn't go down as far as it should have. This meant there was not enough free space between trigger and the 'pan back'. I also found the instructions from the 1st unit, which were clear and printed, not photocopied. For anyone who has an issue with setting it the first time: When in the unloaded state, look down the tube and see if the pan is all the way down. If not, address that first. I am not 100% sure this was the problem, as I made a small change before that, but it seems likely in retrospect]Sadly, quality control is not what it should be. The diagram had been photocopied so many times/so poorly that it was impossible to see the parts it was referring to. Not too much of a problem because I had learned from the first one how to set it.However, this 2nd one was impossible to set. As in: impossible. The trigger could not go over the bar and then into the pan back (their terms). It was simply too long to have any possibility of ever going in there, no matter the starting/ending position of the pan back or the rotation/angle of the trigger. It simply won't go. For reference, I went and reset the 1st one and had no problems with that one. Some modifications will be needed to the 2nd item before it can be used.Setting this trap is more difficult than described if one has any reservation about not risking a finger or two in the process. The spring is very strong, and being able to force that around and do some delicate work with the trigger is not easy. Among the more obvious problems is that the tube can rotate while you are trying to set it. I have my approach to it, which is nothing like the manual's approach. This seems to work, but I would posit that an improvement to the design is needed.Having said all that, this is the first product of many that actually works.No bait needed.No poisons.All very good points... if it can be made to work.