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• The bottle-and-string trickThere may be times when you only want to trap kittens and not any adults. Perhapsyou’re not ready to trap the whole colony, but want to catch a new litter of kittens whilethey’re still young enough to easily socialize. One “kittens only” trapping technique isthe bottle-and-string trick. It allows you to manually shut the front door instead of havingit close automatically when whoever first comes along steps on the trip plate.Take a plastic one-liter soda or water bottle (itshould be a little less than the height of the trap)and fill it with water. Next, tie a string tightlyaround the base. Open the front door of the trapand prop a corner of the door on top of the bottle(Figure 9-3). Unwind the string until you’re acomfortable distance away and draw the string taut.Wait until the kitten or kittens are well into the trapand then yank the string, pulling away the bottleand closing the front door.One kitten will often follow another into a trap.If you set the trap using the trigger, it is possibleone kitten will step on the trip plate and set off theFigure 9-3trap while another is right below the front door. The force of the door shutting couldcause serious injury to a small kitten. While a concern, in our experience this is a veryrare occurrence. Nonetheless, if you want to eliminate this risk and also increase thechances of trapping multiple kittens at once, use the bottle-and-string method and don’tset the trap in the normal way.Some trappers prefer tying the string more towards the top of thebottle, believing the bottle will move away faster and more easily whenyanked. Practice both techniques before you actually trap and seewhich you’re more comfortable with.When this method, always put a large bowl or plate of bait in the back of the trap, incase an adult or two come along before the kittens arrive and you’re not able to shoothem away. You want there to be plenty of bait remaining for the kittens after the adultshave a bite or two. You could also bring along a water gun or plant sprayer to try todiscourage the adults from entering the trap and dining on the kittens’ meal.It’s tempting, when using this technique, to try and wait until all the kittens you’reafter go into the trap at the same time. The danger is if you wait too long, a kitten or twoalready in the trap might dash out faster than you can react and pull the string, leavingyou empty-handed. If one or two are in the trap and no one else is hovering close by, goahead and pull the string, then set a new trap or transfer the kittens and re-set the old one.Another word of warning is to practice pulling the string and shutting the door at leastonce before you attempt it live. It’s important to yank the bottle in one swift, smoothmotion without any hesitation. Get to know the feel of it and how much force you needto pull with before you attempt the trick live. Otherwise, if you don’t have the feel of italready, it’s easy to do it wrong and startle the kittens away before you can recover.81