Thread: Bird Predator Control

Sorry don't have enough experience to answer your query sore head stoat.
Rats can be smart but also really stupid. I noticed my fake eggs in my chook coop going missing. One was hard hollow plastic the others solid rubber. I guessed it was a rat. So I put a fenn in a box in the coop and a couple of days later got it. The rat was taking the fake eggs out of the nests about three feet off the ground and down a ramp and disappearing with them somewhere. Why? It couldn't eat them.

A thieving dirty rat. Orcrist you wouldn't believe he was capable of carrying off hens eggs.
He looks so innocent swinging there.
KH

Speaking of eggs..... A few years back I saw a stoat running across the road rolling a chook sized egg in front; it didn't even break stride. Pretty impressive when you consider the off-centre shape of an egg

I don’t have the experience to answer your question @sore head stoat – I could count my mustilid kill numbers on one hand – but one thing I do know about ferrets and cats – patience is a virtue! – you know the buggars are around but you just can’t catch them – but they usually make a fatal mistake
I like the concept of moving trap boxes slightly and kicking the ground clean so they can see something has changed – but most of my trap tunnels are fixed on roots or branches – so they always look the same – moving rat boxes successfully conflicts with the often held belief that rats are neophobic animals – not in my experience – they seem to be curious
Some of us are still trapping around our street – we have 280 entries in the PFBOP system so I would guess that is well over 300 kills. About two weeks back - one of our neighbours who looks down onto the estuary spotted a ferret running around on their lawn in daylight – so I put a cage down there with a fresh rabbit leg on the rear mesh – we got a cat first night – then another cat – then nothing – both released unharmed – it took about ten days to trip up the ferret last night – I left a leg in the cage and a tail in the freezer – maybe he will have a mate. It is good that we got him as there were 18 fabulous Royal Spoonbills sitting near the cage yesterday – they live around the estuary so we need to make it safe for nesting this year
So at last I have an entry for the swamp comp – pitty they don’t take cat tails!
I love to see the Fenn traps in action – they don’t take prisoners! – well done @Orchrist

1+ on fenn, like that ferret timeout.
KH

Nice ferret Time Out.
They can be pretty clever Bumblefoot.
We occasionally are visited by a stoat. Several times the Neighbour has called out and I will rush over with the shotgun but haven't managed to shoot it.
However we have a stream at the back of our place so I put a trap by the foot bridge as I figured they that they are smart and would use it rather than swimming. It's the only bridge for quite a distance.
Well its my first one so I'm pretty stoked.

I remember a mate saying that stoats love running over bridges and a trap either end of the bridge is the deal. He would often drop a log over a creek to make a bridge and place a trap either end of the log bridge.

I am using eggs as bait/lure and when i take out the old egg i have started putting them under the trap box and breaking the egg. I also like the idea of scratching the dirt up around the trap.

Today i went and checked and replaced a few eggs in one of my high country lines. Eggs this time of year freeze and crack with the expansion when freezing.

After checking the first 6 traps i had already caught 2 stoats, a standard coloured stoat and a real light ginger one. I had to wait another 30 traps to get another... Every year i seem to catch one with what i would call a genuine winter coat on.. Cue in time out . I am crap at running any sort of technology and so hopefully time out will add the photo for us.

Cheers s h s

Danger at trap No 73 – definitely a sore head stoat
Amazing colour in some of these animals that live in colder climate areas – great work sore head stoat – and you to Orcrist

On the edge of the estuary - I got the old fella nine days back - now the young fella today
The old ferret leg had gone from inside the cage – he had torn the manky old rabbit leg from the rear mesh but soon lost interest in that
Cut off his tail and four legs for the freezer – some skin in the top of the cage - dribbled pee all around the trap area - a new rabbit leg on the rear mesh – I guess Mum is around somewhere?
Hard to beat a cage if it can be checked easily each day – a rabbit leg is great lure and still works well when a furry creepy mess.

Awesome Well done !!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

The sweet smelling cage has done the job again last night – a young female – wow did she stink! – she had eaten the rabbit leg while waiting for assistance to get out. Another tail and four more legs in the freezer so plenty of lure to put in doc250s around the Park.
Picture of the trap site by the rope fence – amazing what is running around on your front lawn – muddy tidal estuary with a small river just on the other side of the scrub – ducks, Canadas, Royal Spoonbills, rats and ferrets love the place.

Originally Posted by time out

I don’t have the experience to answer your question @sore head stoat – I could count my mustilid kill numbers on one hand – but one thing I do know about ferrets and cats – patience is a virtue! – you know the buggars are around but you just can’t catch them – but they usually make a fatal mistake
I like the concept of moving trap boxes slightly and kicking the ground clean so they can see something has changed – but most of my trap tunnels are fixed on roots or branches – so they always look the same – moving rat boxes successfully conflicts with the often held belief that rats are neophobic animals – not in my experience – they seem to be curious
Some of us are still trapping around our street – we have 280 entries in the PFBOP system so I would guess that is well over 300 kills. About two weeks back - one of our neighbours who looks down onto the estuary spotted a ferret running around on their lawn in daylight – so I put a cage down there with a fresh rabbit leg on the rear mesh – we got a cat first night – then another cat – then nothing – both released unharmed – it took about ten days to trip up the ferret last night – I left a leg in the cage and a tail in the freezer – maybe he will have a mate. It is good that we got him as there were 18 fabulous Royal Spoonbills sitting near the cage yesterday – they live around the estuary so we need to make it safe for nesting this year
So at last I have an entry for the swamp comp – pitty they don’t take cat tails!
I love to see the Fenn traps in action – they don’t take prisoners! – well done @Orchrist

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I sure hope you rubbed its smelly bum all around the trap.......that will often get its mates...we managed 5 stoats in a week from same trap that way.

your rats look much better than the ones Ive caught here in town...3 so far...2 in last week,the ears are all scabby and cauliflowered almost like front row prop and tail all scaly too...dirty huas are "good rats" now.

Hardly something to get too excited about, but worth pointing out the effect of a trap upgrade. I've been struggling with my old traps - false trips, or no trip and stolen bait, etc. So I bought a box of 12 Victors, used some scrap timber to knock up some boxes, and since then every time I've found the trap set off, there's a dead rat. The upgrade to the large plastic bait tray and double sprung kill bar is totally worth it.

Using fresh beef steer liver as bait, deadly.

Bought 5x DOC200 traps at the same time, all these mustelid photos have inspired me, just gotta knock up the boxes.