Thread: Bird Predator Control

Stoked to get this cat. Big fat female. Was glassing the paddocks and saw the cat from 350m away, stalking a rabbit. Damn was that an urgent scramble down the face to the creek, and along the watercourse, hugging the meagre cover all the way, desperately trying not to be seen. Luckily the cat was facing away from me, and totally preoccupied with its dinner.

Got to a small slip at the bottom of the paddock below the cat, slithered up through the mud on my belly under the electric fence, 75m head shot with the .22LR subsonic.

YEAH

Funy thing was, the rabbit just froze, so I reloaded and shot that too!





The rabbit looks like it’s tangled with a cat before...



Wanna know how desperate Soutie was to kill this particular Varmint all over again?

Ferret No 5 today in my estuary cage – its been a bit quiet since the last one – the rabbit leg was just skin and bone - so I decided to give them something a bit more interesting – from my previous experience with cats and ferrets – if all else fails try some sardines – two days and he tried the sardines – bad move ferret! - a big stinky Male
Set up a new rabbit leg and the other half tin of sardines – should be irresistible – dog was obsessed with the smell of sardines
Still looking for the adult female and more young ones
No rats anywhere in the Park or round here – I set up a Steve Allen cat trap in the Park – thanks for the SA trap to try out Carol – you are very generous – hope business is good

Are fresh sardines better than canned ones ? I have tried rubbing fresh sardines on top of the trap box and in the bait end but have not found catch rates increased with the sardines.. maybe i should try canned ones ? Thoughts please.

Ive used dry burley pellets from warehouse...look like big turkey turds...they worked. a simple ping pong ball works too.... its said they think its an egg and go for a look.still got one plastic egg from $2 shop left.
when I checked n reset traps last weekend after months of neglect..has 3 stoats,3hedgepigs and a rat..... no way any of those traps had strong odour still. have found the best bait for hedgehog..is dead hedgehog LOL.... rabbit bits,duck bits,hare bits are OK but it seems the smellier and more rice risotto like the better it works.
have tried trout frames...no good.

I finally got around to setting some trap boxes yesterday around the crn in the park. We live in Titirangi close to the city fringe and the Waitakere Ranges. There are lots of small creeks, bushy reserves, parks and a duck pond in the neighbourhood. I set out six trap boxes to see what the pest numbers were like. All in native plantings beside a creek. There are lots of native birds around but more is always better so I will see what difference I can make.

I checked them this morning and got 3 rats so I suppose that’s good and bad as it shows there are probably a few of the little buggers around. On the following days the kill numbers dropped off. One trap got a rat most days but some didn’t get anything. I then put out 2 more boxes to extend the line and moved a box 10m that hadn’t caught anything. The next day all those boxes had dead rats in them, non in the others. It seems that you quickly catch the easy rats in the area then nothing.

I put my mobile # on the boxes and was contacted by a local Eco group who are also running A24 traps in the local parks. So I will probably work with them though I’m a fan of traps and frequent trap checks so will keep also doing my thing.

I will post some dead rat photos when that option is back online. Who doesn't like looking at dead pests.

‘Something’ has been eating the peanut butter off my grey plastic mouse trap, the piece of bread I sat beside it was unmolested.

This is not the first time this has happened, I doubt the trip plate is sticking but think more it might be an insect doing this as the bait is completely gone but the trap not sprung.

Any ideas anybody?

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

‘Something’ has been eating the peanut butter off my grey plastic mouse trap, the piece of bread I sat beside it was unmolested.

This is not the first time this has happened, I doubt the trip plate is sticking but think more it might be an insect doing this as the bait is completely gone but the trap not sprung.

Any ideas anybody?

what brand of trap ?

Originally Posted by sore head stoat

what brand of trap ?

‘The Better Mousetrap’ by The INTRUDER inc.

tie piece of cotton around and around through peanut butter and under plate...drip of bacon grease of two on bait wont hurt either... I reckon the rodents teeth catch the cotton and trigger trap....

Sorry Finnwolf, i cant help. The only suggestion i could make is put the peanut butter closer to the lip of the treadle plate to increase the sensitivity ? I have a couple of those in my garage along with a knees and the victors and they all catch just fine.

Try MDs idea, failing that go and buy a Victor and Knees and do a comparison ?

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

Any ideas anybody?

Ants ?

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Originally Posted by kukuwai

Ants ?

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Don’t have them down here but I did think it could be beetles of some sort.

OK, hot glued some wheat to the trap bait plate AND smeared some peanut butter on.

We’ll see how that works out!

An interesting read on stoat eradication projects in Fiordland.

https://predatorfreenz.org/eradicati...eid=7f4a83c7d3