Thread: Bird Predator Control

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

Need advice chaps!
My cage trap isn’t inviting enough for Mr Rat, my usual bait of sultanas didn’t entice him, same when I smeared the sultanas in peanut butter, then I added a bit of Chesdale cheese and still no rat.
I even left a sultana and bits of cheese on the ground outside the trap and they were left untouched.

Mr Rat has been dining on what appears to be pitasporum ‘fruits’ right by the trap and leaving the husks (and poos!) scattered around right by the trap.

Any other baits that might entice Mr Rat into the trap?

Maybe its not possible but I would try to remove as much of rats food source as possible.

Cage trap as in live capture cage trap ? If it is, have you covered the floor of the trap with what is around on the ground so rat doesnt feel steel under foot ? is a single rat heavy enough to trip the trap when it stands on the treadle ? The other day we caught 2 rats in a live capture cage trap and I suspect a single rat may not of been heavy enough to trip the trap ?? ...

I would also try a wooden tunnel box with a Victor or Knees trap inside it just to mix it up a bit and keep mate rat guessing...

Good fun trying to catch an educated rat .

Originally Posted by sore head stoat

Maybe its not possible but I would try to remove as much of rats food source as possible.

Cage trap as in live capture cage trap ? If it is, have you covered the floor of the trap with what is around on the ground so rat doesnt feel steel under foot ? is a single rat heavy enough to trip the trap when it stands on the treadle ? The other day we caught 2 rats in a live capture cage trap and I suspect a single rat may not of been heavy enough to trip the trap ?? ...

I would also try a wooden tunnel box with a Victor or Knees trap inside it just to mix it up a bit and keep mate rat guessing...

Good fun trying to catch an educated rat .

remove all food source so your bait prefeed is only food available - wrap that pittosperum with steel or alloy band if you can - forget ya sultanas and chesdale and stay with peanut butter - but a little bit at first - increase when being hit - but gloves big one - and put pree feed traps etc in quiet area away from open areas- even cover trap if you can - lull Mr. rat into sense of security and hair trigger your trap - rats are light so make sure slight touch sets trap off - play with the settings and use a small file to sharpen the edges so it is a very very light set

Lots of good advice @Finnwolf – but its hard to compete with natural fruits if they are into it
Some of my best producing sites have been using some kind of ramp – local branches off the Pittosporum, a piece of 100*50 or even a stay on a strainer post – they seem to be suckers to climb a ramp. Put a couple of traps up the ramps to make it interesting – possum paste or peanut butter are lethal. That black rat was still alive and had been eating one of his mates I got the previous day – an old carcass makes great lure.
I filthy dirty cage seems to work better than a clean and shiny one – even old rats can be stupid.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

My trap is a steel one with a spring loaded door that is released when Mr Rat pulls at the bait, it has seen the demise of many rats using sultanas as bait, sometimes smeared with peanut butter as an added attraction.

Isolating the pitasporum is not an option - to many access ways ie jumping from neighboring hedge, off garage roof, of neighboring tree.

I’ll persevere in the meantime but may try other baits.

We use a lot of the at220s at work. This was underneath an at220 that had been out for around two weeks. There were 17 possums. Some had rolled away from underneath the trap. They do work well.

Persistence paid off!

Mr Rat fell for my peanut butter on sultana bait last night!

Now to give it the BB gun treatment and add it to the ‘rat garden’

How to refurbish an A24 counter DIY - if you have been using the Goodnature A24 traps for a while – you may have a variety of views about their operation and the results that you have achieved.
I have been using them for close to ten years and I have a group of eleven with trip-counters in the Quarry Park for 6.5 years. The trip counters are starting to fail – either no light showing or a “Lo” warning light showing.
I considered buying new counters from GN – but at $55 – I hesitated. The GN website says they are not able to be repaired – but I figured there was a battery in there somewhere and it might be possible to get it out – actually, quite easy with a small screwdriver in one of three slots at the end of the counter. New batteries are about $14 for two at the supermarket. It’s easy to reassemble. A smear of silicone grease around the O ring helps the battery to go in easy. Bingo – you have a refurbished trip counter.
The slip ring that holds our trip counters on the gas bottles have been eaten by rats – but most are still usable. Some of the counters have recorded up to 20 strikes but now rat numbers are low the number recorded is usually less than 10 in the six-month period before a gas bottle change. We rarely see any dead bodies, so the counter is important. I put one out on the end of a track right where it dropped into a rocky gorge, a couple of weeks ago –– I checked it after about ten days and found a fresh dead rat and one strike on the counter – so they do work!

Not much to report, but keen to see what others are using for rat and mustelid lure
I have been a strong advocate of Goodnature Possum paste – but kill numbers have been very low so I have been happy to try some new ideas
We got a couple of buckets of PICs peanut butter from PICs in Nelson – a generous free supply to a community trapping organisations – lovely smooth paste with some blue dye to discourage human consumption – easy to squeeze from a plastic bottle, it worked ok but insects hoovered it up the same as possum paste – so gone after second night
On advice from @sore head stoat - I tried some Kewpie mayonnaise –he finds it works well on mustelids – I got a few rats on it and buggar me! – I got a stoat in the back garden – never seen a stoat in the garden before – I found the Kness Snap-E bait cups were full of Kewpie and drowned ants – so I had to dig it out and go back to possum paste again
I read about Goodnature Meat lovers lure – there is a some good information about the stuff on another forum – so we have changed all of our 150 odd rat traps in the Park over to Meat lovers – we are starting to get some rats but maybe it’s the seasonal increase
I am sick of using apples in our possum traps – small ones last ok but if they are cut into pieces – they don’t last long – so I remembered what they were doing at Puketoki Reserve – a piece of carpet soaked in strawberry jam – clipped to the bait holder of a Possum master or on the rod of a Timms – I am starting to get the occasional possum – so it works
I always try to keep fresh rabbit in our doc250 traps at the Park – we get the odd hog or rat – but last week I got a nice wee ferret – she was a fresh kill so will end up getting stuffed for a local Kiwi Trust.
We were given a Doc200 Trapinator and a large sachet of Goodnature blood lure – first time I have seen a plated doc200 trap – lower surfaces were badly rusted – but it was able to be repaired – my 8 year old stainless doc 250/200 traps are still looking good – you get what you pay for!
I hope we can get some conclusive results about GN Meat lovers lure – please advise your thoughts.

The Kewpie mayo is now catching possums in my SA traps and tigers in my live capture cage. I really like it as a lure but we dont have ant problems down in Canty.

My head can hurt thinking about various lures, just lately I have had a bit of joy on fresh pork fat and smoked salmon off cuts, both are oily and dont seem to go off to quickly in the summer heat.

I always think of what Cam Speedy said on a field day I attended of his... 1/3 in the nasty end of the trap 1/3 at the entrance to the trap and 1/3 spread around the trap... raise the excitement and lower the caution..

Sorry time out I have no experience of meat lovers lure but a mate has used it with success , but cant remember what he was targetting.

Not a lot to report on local predator control – predator free seems a long way off
We are still getting around 40 rats and 4 possums at the Park every month in 200 odd traps – a total change from Goodnature Possum Paste to Goodnature Meat Lovers lure seems to have doubled our kill rates compared to the same period last year – insects seem to leave it on the traps and rats like seem to like it.
I run a couple of Fenn6 traps in slightly buried tunnels in the back garden – they are rusty old traps but the trigger is a small brass plate that is always sensitive – they keep on killing any rat or hog that walks through – no lure required.
I run a couple of old boxes on a track that runs down the side of our street to the estuary – one shows 95 kills and the other 93 kills in the past six years on the PFBOP recording system. Many of the rats that are trapped in those two boxes are very large Norways that seem to come up from the harbour estuary. The traps are rusty old Victor pros that often stun the rat in the box – they generally bleed out in the back end of the box. Often the Norways are trapped in pairs – one night after the other – I always leave the first kill on the top of the box to attract its mate.

dog still getting HH each week in section....checked the double set fenn up in maimai today...rats tail and bit of fur is all thats left in trap....thinking ferret has dinner served up to it....was a BIG rat going by tail size.

Thanks for the report @time out !! Always good to hear from you

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