Of all the animals and items you can find in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the Tsuchinoko is definitely the most involved. This mythical creature is invisible to you initially, so you might not even have a clue it exists. To capture it, you’ll need to use a Mousetrap, but that gets taken away from you later. Thankfully, you’ll be able to see the creature with your second encounter, allowing you to get it again. If you keep a Tsuchinoko until the very end of the game, you will unlock the Infinity Face Paint.

Mousetrap Locations¶

In order to capture a Tsuchinoko, you’ll first need a Mousetrap. There are four of these in the game, although one is highly missable, since you can only get it during Virtuous Mission.

Mousetrap 1¶

The first one can be found in Virtuous Mission, the opening of the game. When you reach Rassvet, the final area of this section, you will be tasked with rescuing Sokolov. Make your way past the guards and approach the door on the northeastern side for some scenes. After they are over, you will see Ocelot and a number of his guards unconscious, on the ground. Move up to Ocelot to get the prompt to pick him up, so do that and immediately drop him afterwards to get the Mousetrap to drop.

Note that this Mousetrap will be gone if you keep it in your inventory upon finishing Virtuous Mission. If you wish to keep it for later, you’ll have to plant it somewhere first. Go over to the tall grass on the western side of Rassvet, equip the Mousetrap, and use it like any other weapon to put it on the ground. When you go to your map, you’ll see it marked there (a square icon), so continue with the game to Operation Snake Eater. Once you return to Rassvet during this time, you can crawl on the ground, over the Mousetrap, to recover it.

Mousetrap 2 and 3¶

The second and third Mousetraps are found in Bolshaya Past Base. In the central building, you can find one underneath the bed, while the other is in the storage building right next to it. These are really easy to find and you don’t have to worry about losing them for good, like with the first one above.

Mousetrap 4¶

Once you make it through Chyonaya Peschera Cave and enter the Ponizovje area, you’ll have to go through the Ponizovje Warehouse. Make your way to 2F and in one of the rooms there, you will find a food storage (Instant Noodles and Calorie Mate). The Mousetrap will be in that room.

Mousetrap 5¶

The last Mousetrap isn’t found until you reach Graniny Gorki Lab. Specifically, it will be in a cell inside the lab, on B1. This will be in the same spot as one of the Kerotans.

How to Capture a Tsuchinoko¶

So, there are two main areas where you can capture a Tsuchinoko, which must be done with a Mousetrap, as it’s invisible and cannot be detected by your normal equipment. The first area is Bolshaya Past South, which is just past Chyornyj Prud. Assuming you have the Mousetrap from Ocelot, enter from the northeastern exit in Chyornyj Prud, and go to the first tall grass you see, before you get to the electric fence. Plant the Mousetrap in that tall grass, then exit back to Chyornyj Prud and re-enter. Keep doing this until you hear an item ding, which should be the Tsuchinoko.

If you don’t have Ocelot’s Mousetrap, then make your way through Bolshaya Past South and to Bolshaya Past Base. Grab the two Mousetraps from the buildings in the center, then retreat back to Bolshaya Past South. You’ll be sticking to the northern end this time, since you likely don’t want to go all the way back through the guards and fences. By the northwestern exit in Past South is where you’ll want to plant the Mousetraps, allowing you to switch areas to go back really quickly to check the traps for a Tsuchinoko.

The other area where you can catch one is in Graniny Gorki South, after you defeat The Fear. You should have at least two or three Mousetraps at this point (or even four), so it can go quicker here. Place the traps by the exit to Ponizovje Warehouse, then exit/re-enter until you see animals being caught. If you don’t get the Tsuchinoko, release the animals you did catch and crawl to pick up the traps. It may take a few tries, but eventually, you will finally catch the mythical creature.

Simply capturing the Tsuchinoko with a trap will unlock the Believe It or Not trophy/achievement.

Infinity Face Paint¶

At some point during the story, you will have all of your belongings taken away from you, which includes the Tsuchinoko. You can then meet up with Eva behind the waterfall in Tikhogornyj, which will net you all of your weapons back, but your food and stuff will still be missing. Exit the waterfall, back to Tikhogornyj, and look near the big tree not far from the waterfall. If you captured the Tsuchinoko previously, then you should see the stubby snake on the ground. If it’s not there, then you did something wrong and either ate it, or didn’t catch it previously.

Make sure that you use a tranquilizer on this visible Tsuchinoko to capture it again, which will be taken to the end of the game. Complete the main story with it still intact and once everything is over, you will finally unlock the Infinity Face Paint!