30 Days Wild – Day 29 – Small Mammal Footprint Tunnel

I made a footprint tunnel for 30 Days Wild last year but never got around to putting it outside. It has managed to survive for a whole year without being damaged or thrown away, so I thought it was about time to use it! 

  

I’ll list at the end how I made it, but first for the good part – placing it outside! I soaked the sponge cloth with the food dye and placed it carefully into the middle of the tunnel, followed by the milk bottle top filled with mealworms. I carefully placed the tunnel under some shrubbery and covered it with leaves to camouflage it. I’m not sure if I was supposed to weigh it down with twigs and rocks but there were none around. It did cross my mind that an animal could drag it away but I took my chances. I was excited to finally place it outside.

  

I checked on it this morning and sadly all that was in there was a couple of woodlice and no footprints. The dried mealworm were all still in there too. It is a bit disappointing, as I have seen rats around here so I know there are definitely creatures around. Tonight I will change the location of it and see if that makes a difference. Maybe I should have used something with more of an odour like cat food.

Here’s the materials I used to make it:

• 3 empty juice cartons
• Paper
• Sellotape
• Butter lid
• Sponge cloth
• Food colouring
• Milk bottle top
• Food for ‘bait’

I started by cutting the ends off of the juice cartons and taping them together. I lined one of the inside faces with plain paper, then trimmed the butter lid a little so it fitted down the tunnel. I then cut the sponge cloth to fit inside the butter lid. And there you have it!