Thread: Bird Predator Control

What your best tips for trapping cats? Have been using an enlarged Timms with limited success. What is the best bait for cats?

Originally Posted by Pointer

What your best tips for trapping cats? Have been using an enlarged Timms with limited success. What is the best bait for cats?

Those copper and lead pills bro

Originally Posted by Pointer

What your best tips for trapping cats? Have been using an enlarged Timms with limited success. What is the best bait for cats?

Only cats that I have caught have been in cages - various baits such as Whiskas cat tucker, tin of salmon or a chunk of fresh rabbit if I have one - currently trying two cages - one with a possum carcase - also Fenn6 traps but no luck yet
Found a stripped hen pheasant carcase yesterday so mother cat is still hanging round - but she saw a couple of her kittens in cages recently so a bit smart for me
I once saw four ginger kittens run out of some scrub I was cutting - caught them by hand one after the other - pretty wee things - without their …..
KH may have good advice

Originally Posted by Pointer

What your best tips for trapping cats? Have been using an enlarged Timms with limited success. What is the best bait for cats?

Try a GSP

Originally Posted by Pointer

What your best tips for trapping cats? Have been using an enlarged Timms with limited success. What is the best bait for cats?

Try half a rabbit hanging from fence just out of reach with 1-2 legholds just below it set fine and covered carefully.

Works for me.

I am keen to keep this thread going so will post a few reports
Still never managed to get a stoat or ferret into a DOC250 - has anyone got any secrets?
I had a walk around the Park today - couple of rats and bait starting to move again - not a sign of a possum in 15 traps
How plain is that - keep your fingers clear - quite useful to catch rats or possums in a Timms type trap

Something has been trying it out

When you are feeling better - come back - its full again

Seems to have been a lot of rain round the BOP lately - damp conditions in bait stations result in mouldy bait
Mouldy bait sucks! - rats just won’t eat it - change to new bait and they wolf it


Still picking up the odd rat - try to give them an option - toxin or steel - good choice rat - much faster


I often put a rat trap alongside a possum trap - saves time checking


Less predators mean more birds - seems to be a Tui up every tree at present and seeing Kereru every trip often pairs of them - after a year of work - I think the birds are coming back


Saw this big fatty yesterday and he had a smaller mate with him

I got this bastard today - same place as the one a couple of weeks back
I hate to think how much damage cats are doing - they should be top of the list for predator control
Nice fresh rabbit for the next ones - Timms and cages

Getting hard to find a possum - one today - still the odd rat around - two in timms today - not sure if they like apple or the possum paste

If you use Victor Pro rat traps - they may need a clean up after the winter as the steel may rust unless coated with some form of protection or lubricant
My traps are two years old and had stopped working - the pivot saddle for the bait/foot plate had rusted and prevented the foot plate from moving smoothly
The foot plate can be easily removed to wire brush the pivot saddle - Prolan is a useful protective coating and lanoline is apparently attractive to rats or stoats
I have also altered my trap boxes by removing the 50mm entry end and replacing it with wire mesh for viewing the bait - I then removed the old wire mesh from the 85mm viewing end and turned this into a larger entry hole
Most of my old boxes had been scratched round the 50mm entry hole - hogs that could not get in - now they have heaps of room with the 85mm hole - yuk - 50mm entry hole is just too small






The changes to the boxes and trap maintenance has made a real difference - 8 kills in 17 traps at the farm yesterday - couple in Snap-E traps

The Timms is a great trap - possums, rats, hedgehogs and cats - this cat is a first for me
I knew she was around and nearly got her in a cage but she backed out - no backing out of a Timms - tempted by some fresh rabbit
Only got one kitten so will be more of them around

Rats, rats and more rats - they keep on coming - cant beat your one for size Dundee - they have worn the mould off the stays






The hogs keep on coming - cage them - Victor them and DOC250 them - got 13 in the last month in the back yard at home - the Lady next door breeds them - they like looking at themselves in the mirror of my magpie trap
Hard to believe how they get in through two sets of mesh in the DOC250 - squeeze - turn left - squeeze again - whack

They seem to know they are safe - I haven’t been able to kill a bird predator for around a month - not even a mouse - checking about twenty traps several times each week - plus about ten bait stations - I think the Goodnature gas traps are making a difference - six out there at present - interesting to see the hawks flying very low over them looking for a feed

Bad decision Tom! - he should have stayed eating young rabbits - I saw where he got two nearby in recent days - thank goodness they weren’t pheasants
He didn’t even eat the leg of rabbit I left as bait in the cage
First blood for the 17 - it is deadly accurate - just Savaged him





And then there was a stupid rat that just got caught by the leg - I haven’t got much time for the T Rex trap I have had a lot of leg traps and even body traps where they are still humping

Silly Buggar - stuck his head in the box to check out some GN possum paste on a Victor - just clipped his nose
Hard to find a dead predator at present - just a cat that I can’t catch