Forestry Suppliers Museum Trap

This trap used to be acceptable quality, but roughly 30-50% of the traps now break almost immediately. Some of the traps even break as you try to arm them for the very first time. The base is made out of very light pine wood, and many of the components pull out of the wood with very little force. If you're able to arm the trap, the base often breaks in half (lengthwise) when triggered due to the weakness of the base.

I have used traps like these for decades to conduct small mammal surveys, and I have purchased two large sets (400 traps each) from Forestry Suppliers since 2012. The first set was made out of good quality hardwood, though the springs on every trap were weak and the bars required adjustment to get them to lie flat. Once adjusted, the traps have served me well, though it is frustrating that they were not functional right out of the box. The second batch of traps (purchased in 2016) was of even lower quality. The wood base plate was considerably thinner than in the original set, and it appears to be soft pine rather than hardwood. The hardware is of the same (low) quality, but the terrible wood choice means that it is impossible to adjust the spring and bar without risk of pulling out staples and ruining the trap entirely. As expected, this second set of traps is disintegrating at a higher rate than the first.

A very useful and economic trap for rapid biodiversity surveys, especially in combination with Sherman live traps. Museum Special traps are less prone to damage skulls (the most important diagnostic character of rodents) then the smaller mouse traps from the hardware store and not as powerful and heavy as the larger Victor rat traps. They are also easy to fix and transport.