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practice. In our experience, there are not that many cats who are deterred by the feel of awire floor. We don’t usually bother with the newspaper until we’re down to the last catswho may be more trap-shy and need extra coaxing.Blankets are useful if you’re trapping in cold weather and trapped cats cannot bequickly moved into a warm space. Wrapping a blanket around the trap after a cat hasbeen caught, while leaving some openings for ventilation, will buy you a little timedepending on how cold it is.A plastic drop cloth should be used to line the seats or floor or any other surfacewhich will need protection of any vehicle used to transport the cats.Bring a flashlight if you’re trapping at night or in a dark space like a basement.You’ll need it not only to see your way around, but to check the ears of trapped cats tosee if they’re already tipped. Needle-nose pliers are handy if a trap’s trigger mechanismneeds adjustment though it takes some experience to do it properly - a fraction of an inchcan be the difference between an adjustment that works and one that doesn’t. Vegetableoil spray is good for traps whose moving parts need a little lubrication.If you’re trapping at multiple sites simultaneously, as soon as a cat is caught, the trapshould be labeled to avoid future mix-ups. A good idea is to use a different color label foreach colony. Write down the location of the colony and the number of the trap (give eachtrap its own unique number). Then enter the trap number, the colony name and adescription of the cat into your trapping log (see Appendix C for a sample log).Finally, having someone help you is highly advisable, especially when trappingmultiple cats. Attention to more than one cat or trap at a time may be needed. Also, if anitem was forgotten or a phone call needs to be quickly made in the heat of the action,having another person there can make a huge difference. At the same time, don’t havemore helpers than you need. Too many people standing around talking can make the catsmore wary. For smaller colonies, two or three people will do just fine. As you approach20 or more cats, three or four is a good number.Trapping at night? Consider using a headlamp instead of a flashlight.That way you’ll have both hands free to dish out bait, cover traps, etc. Soldas camping equipment at sporting goods stores, there are many modelsavailable which vary in brightness, beam distance, battery life and weight.Search Amazon (www.amazon.com) for “headlamp flashlight” or checkParagon stores (www.paragonsports.com). The trapping1. Withhold foodMost feral cats are naturally wary of entering an unfamiliar, enclosed space like ahumane box trap. Hunger is the key for getting them to overcome this fear and is thesingle most important factor when trapping. You could prepare everything else perfectly,but if the cats are not hungry, many or even most of them will not go in a box trap nomatter how tempting the bait.70