Need advice - feral mom and kittens

Hi everyone! I need some advice.

There's an empty wooded lot next to my apartment building where I've noticed a stray cat for about a year. I usually see her at night and she is very skittish.

Now she has kittens! Five GORGEOUS babies who are old enough to climb and play. They still have blue eyes. I'm guessing they're around six weeks old?

The problem is, the property she's on is totally fenced and there's no way for me to get in. She hangs out on a ledge above the parking lot of my building. I was able to climb up there and grab one of the babies, who was obviously terrified of me. The momma hissed but nothing more. I put the baby back and put some wet food on a plate and slid it onto the ledge. When I came back, she was there with all five kittens eating from the plate.

So I'm thinking that over a period of a couple days I might be able to grab all the babies. But I don't think there's any way I can get the mom. I live in South America and there's no TNR groups around, plus because of the very high steel fence there's no way for me to get a trap into her space. She won't me come closer than about five feet to her before she runs. Plus, in order to even get that close I have to climb partway up a wall.

What are my options here?

It feels terribly cruel to remove her babies from her, but I don't want a colony to start. Neighbors poisoning them is also a real possibility.

Is there any possible way to trap the mother cat? If her kittens were removed she may just go right back out and become pregnant again.

I know. I just trapped three of the kittens to at least try to socialize them. I've noticed her presence for a year, year and a half and I've never seen kittens before this. The problem is that because of the fence there's no way for me to get a trap in there. I could reach through and grab the kittens, but short of tossing the trap over the fence I won't be able to get it in there.

If you had a drop trap, you could possibly put the kittens in it (although they would have to be contained somehow), and she might come to check on them and then you could trap her that way.  I know.... easier said than done.  But I have read that a drop trap is for the cats that are almost impossible to trap.  My husband and I built a drop trap last month and I was able to get a very skittish cat with it.  But it was a much easier situation than what you have.  Will she not come out of the fenced area even for food?

PJB755 said:

 
If you had a drop trap, you could possibly put the kittens in it (although they would have to be contained somehow), and she might come to check on them and then you could trap her that way.  I know.... easier said than done.  But I have read that a drop trap is for the cats that are almost impossible to trap.  My husband and I built a drop trap last month and I was able to get a very skittish cat with it.  But it was a much easier situation than what you have.  Will she not come out of the fenced area even for food?

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This is a good idea.  You could put the kittens in a small carrier inside the drop trap.  Mom will come to see them and you can drop the trap on her.  They have very large drop traps that are almost as big as crates and can be used as such.

try http://www.animal-traps.com/

This is a hard situation.  I agree that you should take the babies as soon as you can and get them socialized, off the street, and into homes where they can be spayed and neutered.  I also think you should keep trying to catch the mom to get her spayed and vaccinated.  

I don't have access to a drop trap, unfortunately. 

I've had to give up on the mom. I've gotten three of the babies inside. They're hiding under my bed but two of them will let me pet them while they eat. They sure do hiss a lot, though! Going to try with the dewormer and deflea tonight.

Good you are taking in the babies you can get, for fostering etc.   Its one of the few exceptions of the otherwise holy rule of "minimum 8+ weeks".

Do you have a friendly resident cat, whom can be some sort of ambassadeur?   IF so, is this cat inside only, or is he healthy, vaccinated, and used to go outside?

If he is inside only, you should have some quarantine period with the kittens, if the other, its not that touchy with long quarantine.

OK, how to work with shy kittens... You had apparently began nicely.  Food is important motivator, they knowing you are their food source.   Work with the most brave / curious of them, the others will follow example.  Talk a lot with friendly voice...   Sit down and read perhaps, or work with your laptop sitting low...

Let them have some cat igloos or similiar to hide some, but avoid they have access to deep hiding places where you cant reach them...

Thanks so much for the reply! These little hissers are going to need some work and a whole lot of patience They are tiiiiiny but they have obviously already been taught fear by their mama.

Yes, I have my cat, who was actually a pregnant stray I took in several months ago. We've become very bonded and she is a total cuddlebug. She hisses at the babies but seems more curious than anything and definitely recognizes they are babies and not full-grown cats. I'm hoping she can set a good example for them. She does go outside, but mainly just onto our terrace (where she actually scared off the feral mama a few weeks ago, before we realized there were kittens involved). Right now I'm keeping the kittens inside-only. 

I will keep you updated! Hopefully at tonight's feeding they'll let me pet them again. It is veeerrrry difficult to resist grabbing them because they are sooooo cute! But we're taking baby steps here, literally!