Thread: Bird Predator Control

Nothing exciting to report - just rats and more rats
A steady stream of them at the farm - Victors, Snaps and Timms doing the job - usually 4 or 5 each day I go around the traps
There seems to have been a rat explosion at the Park - two of us really getting into them at present - 84 rats and 7 possums for April - 42 rats and 1 possum so far for seven days in May - many more to come as we trap new areas
During the last week or so I have been seeing rats stripped to the bone on a couple of trap sites - I wasn’t sure if it was a cat, stoat or maybe a big rat
On one site I had a ramp with a single trap - I caught several rats that were stripped - so I installed a second trap and more ramps - I got another rat that was stripped - back again a couple of days later and got a very large rat that was still alive - so I assume he was the cannibal - I left him on top of the ramps to see what might eat him - back again yesterday - the cannibal was untouched - but two of his mates had come to check on him - so I have left three dead rats on the site - will see what has come back tomorrow - all lured in with GN Possum Paste
I have tried moving more traps from near the ground, up onto ramps - often with instant results - I reckon they like something different like running up a ramp
Kill numbers at the Park are good but we are just scratching the surface at this stage - we just got 10 GN A24s with counters - so need to put them in some hard to access places - gulley’s are shit places for old fellas
I have been trying a few different lures - changed from Connovation blue stuff to GN chocolate paste but now gone back to my old favourite GN orange possum paste - they love it

Three rats stripped on this ramp


The big cannibal - still very much alive - for a few moments


The cannibal and two mates that came to check on him

@time out... big investment in A24's by your organisation, I'd be really keen to hear how they go. Are they the new model with auto lure pump?

You got climbing asparagus eh! we have been trialing different spray mixes on it with some success in my area.
Good work at the Park mate. I always go for a walk there when visiting Tauranga.

Another entry for the swamp comp

How did you get him @Dundee? - well done anyway

Took the Cooey for a walk today - did a closeup job on this cute little buggar - but they do the damage - fresh bunny must be very tempting - got a third bunny in the Fenn6 today - a big bucket of pieces in the freezer now


He looks odd without his tail Dundee - I wrapped this large cage in black plastic sheeting - warm and dark in there - he wouldn’t even get wet if it rained - bunny tied up on the back wall of the cage

Well done both of you guys @Timeout the black plastic over the cage is a good idea - cheers, I've been using a rug over mine but that's not too good in the rain!!
Only rats and more rats for me lately !!

I cheated again never shot or trapped it.It was found dead under a native tree on our section.Still fresh only two blowies on it and when I whipped the tail off the meat was pink so can't have been dead long.Got a few rat baits up at the shed,maybe it ate a poisoned rat.

Got any tips to stop the victor rat trap from rusting. I've just been wire bussing and then spray with cry zinc. @time out

They say zinc plated but it is more a mist.I just make sure the trigger is shiny and dont worry about the rest.

Giving them a good spray with fisholine oil helps, costs about $20 a can @ repo or 'lanalox' is another similar helpful product which is lanolin based.

Not sure I would worry too much about rust @FatLabrador
A year or so back I gave some of mine a spruce up - the main thing I was trying to do was clean up the saddle that the foot plate pivots on - when they get rusty the foot plate won’t move freely
I always have a tin of Prolan in my bag so if anything is stiff - they get a good squirt of lanolin oil
I understand the foot plate can be bought pretty cheap - the owner of this business offered them to me - Grantley Imports - Welcome to Grantley Imports
Some of my Victor Pros are four years old - they just keep on going - at present they are mostly catching mice so are very sensitive to small rodents

Just a heads up about those damn rats..... Be really careful when you handle them....

I caught a bad lepto infection that the doctors reckon I picked it up from rat urine through a cut or scratch.... I'd been really crook for about 4-5 days, but being a typical male thought "It'll pass". In the end I decided I'd better go to A&E. Got admitted at about 10pm but the old blood pressure was so low they wouldn't ship me off to the ICU til 9am the next morning.... So.... 2 1/2 days in ICU and another 3 on the ward I was finally allowed to leave.

Gotta admit it's knocked the shit out of me. I've been out 14-days now and it took over a week before I could walk more than 25-metres. Lepto is bloody nasty..... I lost 9kgs in about 10-days and am just taking things day by day. Hopefully be back to work in another week to 10-days, but still being really careful. The scary thing was that the doctor said that if I had left it any later going to A&E I may not have made it.....

Funny how life can change so quickly.... Anyway; just don't take things for granted when handling those rats.....

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One thing I learnt recently about rats is that they do not have a bladder ...

Originally Posted by EeeBees

One thing I learnt recently about rats is that they do not have a bladder ...

No doubt :-) But I just picked it up from where it had peed at some stage.

That would have been a very scary thing ... I can mildy tolerate the odd mouse, but rats ...