Trying to trap a neighborhood feral, but . . .

Little so-and-so ate the food without tripping the door!!!!
It's 6 degrees outside (I live in Boston), so I'm worried. Think he'll be okay? I put an igloo outside, elevated on pallets (to avoid snow), and put lots of straw in their (as per Hissy's excellent advice), but nobody uses it! So decided I'd bring him in to our back porch. Problem: don't know if he's a he, really, so am worried that kittens might be left alone. Think this is a possibility? If anybody's up, I'd sure appreciate some advice. Thanks very much!

Usually they will not go into man-made objects because of the smell. If you have a stack of tires in the yard, you can stack a few on top of each other, stuff the middle with straw and put it somewhere out of the weather, and they should go to it. Use what Nature has already out there, that has been out there and smells familiar like the earth where the object has been for awhile. Cats are adept at getting out of bad weather anyway, but they usually do not go into plastic domes, and my guess is the smell is odd and it drives them away-

okay I am awake since I am on the other side of the world to you - but unfortunatly I cant give you much advise

someone will be along soon I am sure

Originally Posted by peasandcues

Think he'll be okay? I put an igloo outside, elevated on pallets (to avoid snow), and put lots of straw in their (as per Hissy's excellent advice), but nobody uses it!

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If it's new, then they may not trust it yet. As Hissy said, it won't smell "right". I put a "small dog" plastic doghouse on our deck with natural bedding in it and my 2 ferals ignored it for quite a while, which really vexed me. (Don't they know I'm trying to help them?! ). Then I added a bit of straw that they had slept on and that seems to have changed their minds about it - they have been using it the last few days.

They also need an entry and exit way. In other words, two openings so they don't feel trapped, nor get trapped inside by another animal.