Comstock Swing Panel Squirrel Cage Traps are now equipped with 2 Springs on each Door.
(for added stability for vertical setting, added speed and power to make escapes unlikely)
These double door swing panel squirrel traps have proven to be a great asset to ADC work, very effective for taking chipmunks, gray and red squirrels, barn rats, flying squirrels and even muskrats. Used with nose cones in positive sets with no bait, all a squirrel has to do is move. There is no pan to avoid or jump over. With a swing panel trigger that covers the opening almost completely, there is no way for an animal to go past center without firing the trap.
Until this year these traps have been outfitted with one spring on each door, adequate more than 99% of the time. However, trappers have asked for additional springs to add more tension to the doors as a wised up squirrel on a rare occasion has been know to lift a door. By doubling the power on the doors, that should be pretty much non-existent.
Some like to set the swing panel traps vertically, so adding more power to the doors on the 3×5 and 5×5 traps will make that possibility a reality by keeping the trap very stable without any modifications. As of 2020, all of the squirrel traps, the 3×5, 5×5 and 6×6, will be outfitted with two springs on each door, making it much harder for squirrels to open or beat a door.
To add more power to single spring traps simply stretch the spring one inch longer and hook it lower on the door. Of course if you add another spring or purchase one of the new traps they will have more power as a standard feature. Additionally, you can even stretch each of the two springs to make a really fast closing trap that will make an escape nearly impossible.
Because the 6×6 traps have a large swing panel trigger, even two springs may not hold the wire panel trigger in place when set vertically. Some time back I came up with a method that incorporates a small thin piece of wire clipped to the top of the cage fed through the swing panel trigger to keep the panel in place when setting the traps vertically. You can find it on the blog.
Or just thinking, if one inch were removed from the bottom of the swing panel trigger on the 6×6 trap, it might lighten the trigger enough so that it would remain set in the vertical position. To compensate for the larger gap remaining under the trigger a piece of wire could be clipped beneath the panel.
