Anyone got any ideas on how to keep water in cages for coon catches? This time of year it gets pretty hot and I don't want any critters to suffer from the heat while waiting for me to make my rounds. I'm out as early as I can and still drive my oldest daughter to her summer job. I've thought about installing the water bottles used for pet rabbits and such, but we all know how destructive coon can be. Any ideas?

Maybe put a piece of sheet metal between the cage and the plastic bottle? It would depend on how solid the setup is and if they would destroy the spout or not.

That was my main concern, that they would chew the spout up so bad it wouldn't work. I'm going to work on it and see what I can come up with. Maybe putting the spout as far out of the cage as possible, but still within reach of their mouth. I anchor all my cages so maybe I can attach a small container to the side for them to get at, but that they can't tear off.

I think if you could get the licksit just to where the ball was within licking distance and all other was blocked it would be possible
to allow them to drink without having them shred the bottle.

Are you using shade covers to just keep general sunlight down on trap locations? The water source I do think would be great if you
can find a way to integrate it successfully.

If you do come up with a good way to do it, please do share, always interested.

Justin

Try some high water content fruits and vegetables; grapes, apples, banana, orange, cantaloupe watermelon, ear of corn, etc.

HD Wildlife, I don't use shade covers, but set all cages in areas of shade close to travel routes. I like the idea of having it within licking distance, but would definitely have to install some sort of barrier between the coon and the bottle. I'm contacting local pet stores to see what they may have available. If that doesn't pan out I'll do an internet search. LAtrapper, that makes good sense. Maybe I'll raid the ice box on my next job. Got to get those things past the kids though, and that ain't easy. May end up losing a finger of two if they catch me.

I picked up a couple larger water bottles today. Both are glass and have two different attachments points and steel tubes. I'll probably still need to wire them to the cage. A little pricey for water bottles, but if I can figure out a secure way of attaching them to the cages without the coon tearing them up I may be able to go to the cheaper plastic bottles and use them on all my coon cages. I'll let ya all know how they work out. If I can talk one of my computer savy daughters in to posting pictures I will in the near future.

Take a wide tin can...fill with water and bury beneath the trap if on the ground...when it is flush with the trap bottom they can access the water

Coons will destroy anything in the cage. An apple will suffice until you get there.

All of my coon cages are wrapped with hardware cloth so the coon wouldn't be able to get to the water. I think the water bottles with the steel tube will work as long as the coon has something to play with. I use the bottom half of plastic water bottles for bait container and they are usually shredded by the time I get there. Maybe buy a couple of squeaky toys for them to play with.
I like the idea of using fruit for them to get moisture from. Maybe watermelon or cantolope?

Gave the water bottles a good test today. Built a new coon cage trap and set it out yesterday with the new water bottle attached at a clients home who has been having problems with coon tearing up her bird feeders. I think this one is # 11 so far. Caught a Xlarge boar coon and he had drank every bit of the water, but the bottle and the tube came out with no damage at all. I think the smaller mesh that I used on the end of the cage is what kept the coon from tearing it up. I used 1/2X1" 14 gauge wire. I used that size to keep the coon from reaching through the cage to steal the bait.
On a different note, I caught two there today, but one had dug up a yellow jackets nest that was right under my cage trap. I never even saw the hornets until I went to move the cage. The coon had dug up part of the nest and couldn't reach the rest of the nest ( I anchor all my cages)so it crawled into my cage to try and get at the rest of the nest. I'll take a lucky catch anyday.

Have the water bottles wired on the outside of the cage with just the nipple sticking in the cage.

That's how its set up.