I boil them with baking soda in the water. It turns them from shiny to a dull gray.
Not trying to argue but I catch squirrels in my fruit trees pretty steady when they are in season. I've also caught them on fallen trees that are hung up in another tree (widow makers). Diagonal like this. /I
And fallen trees that are just lying on the ground horizontal. The only really steady way I've caught them is in the fruit trees though.
I've never used bait on snares so don't know one way or the other on that. Seems like if you did that you'd want it in front of the loop, not them chewing on the loop, but don't really know. I'd rather have them hopping down their trail going from point A to B instead of slowing down to nab some peanut butter though.