How to Build a Sunning Turtle Trap

Turtles often help lakes and ponds by eating dead fish, snakes and other aquatic animals to help keep the water clean. For the most part, turtles are harmless and do good for the environment. However, if you have small children or pets, sometimes turtles can snap at them, causing harm, and it may be best to trap them. An easy way to trap them is by building a sunning turtle trap.

Things You'll Need

  • 4 2-by-2-by-6 feet boards
  • 1 18-by-1-by-6 inch board
  • 1 8-by-1-by-6 inch board
  • Chicken wire
  • Construction staples
  • Hammer
  • 20 D nails
  • Drill
  • 26-inch metal rod
  • Safety wire
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Build a square wooden frame out of the four 2-by-6 boards. Hammer the corners together with the hammer and nails, using about two or three on each corner, making sure that the edges of the board are even and flush. This will ensure an easier construction for you.

    • 2

      Cut out a 2 1/2 foot by 2 1/2 foot square piece of chicken wire. It only has to go onto the bottom of the trap, so it only needs to be 2-by-2 feet.However, it is recommended, for a more secure trap, to have some overlap of the chicken wire and cut it a half foot more each direction.

    • 3

      Lay the square board flat on the ground and lay the chicken wire over it so that it covers the entire square. Use either a hammer or a staple gun to staple the chicken wire onto the wooden frame. Make sure that the chicken wire is taut and secure.Make sure that there are no holes or folds where the turtle could crawl out of or escape.

    • 4

      Flip the Turtle trap over and use your drill to drill two holes in the wooden frame. One hole will be 1 inch from the top of the frame, and six inches in from a corner. The side you drill this on doesn't matter, just make sure that the hole is slightly larger than the metal rod (as you will be sliding the rod through these holes). Drill the second hole directly opposite of this on the parallel side of the frame. Again, you will slide the metal rod through these two holes, so make sure that they are straight across from one another.

    • 5

      Slide the metal rod through the two holes. There should be about an inch of the rod left on each side of the hole when it's in place.

    • 6

      Secure the 18 inch board to the outside of the wooden frame so that it creates a ramp from the ground to the top edge of the trap. You should do this on the side that is closest to the metal rod, at the center of that side. You want the turtle to be able to crawl from the pond, up the ramp, and into the trap.

    • 7

      Place the 8 inch board gently onto the metal rod and adjacent to the 18 inch ramp. Once there, mark a line across the face of the piece of wood where the metal rod is located.

    • 8

      Use the drill to drill four holes through the 8 inch piece of wood. Drill them approximately 1/4 of an inch from the edge of the board, along the metal rod line. Drill two holes on either side of the line, so that when you use safety wire to hold the board onto the rod, you can simply loop the wire through one hole, around the rod, and out the other, where you can then tie it. Make two holes on one side, and two on the other side of the board (still along the metal rod line).

    • 9

      Wrap the safety wire around the metal rod. Loop it through the two holes, and secure it tightly so that neither the board nor the rod will move out of place. Do this for both sides of the board.

    • 10

      Place a small piece of meat or fish into the trap to lure the turtles in. If all goes according to plan, the turtle will climb up the ramp, walk onto the teeter board (the 8 inch board), and when he passes the plane of the metal rod, his weight will cause the board to tip over, spilling the turtle into the trap, where you can retrieve and move him from later.