Thread: Bird Predator Control

Gday Sparrow,

With your trapinator catching cats.. do you catch big adult cats, have you opened up the hole where they stick there head in ?

Hi Sparrow, I’ve just come back from West Coast and at a Kiwi focused reserve area noticed a lot of the trap boxes had a square hole in the lower corner at each end, didn’t look big enough for a ferret ie looked to be maybe 30mm by 30mm or less.
Obviously would get stoats, rats and mice.
Would that have been the plan?

Maybe not ferrets in the area ?

Hi @Finnwolf it is surprising what gets through a small hole, but I imagine those small holes are to deter kiwi and weka, did you notice if there was a second baffle or greater distance to the mechanism than a standard Doc box?

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Hi @Finnwolf it is surprising what gets through a small hole, but I imagine those small holes are to deter kiwi and weka, did you notice if there was a second baffle or greater distance to the mechanism than a standard Doc box?

Sorry Sparrow, didn’t look that closely. I did notice these square holes were at each end of the wooden box sides right in the lower corner.

An adolescent cat through a relatively small opening. 👍

Hi @sore head stoat Opening up the holes on the trapinators is something I have thought about but they are on public land and I don’t need the drama of someone’s foxy or Jack Russell sticking their head in.

I have caught adult cats including big fully grown toms BuT also a couple of cats that have only stuck a paw in, one looked like it had been there a while and I had to dispatch, the other was dead but wouldn’t of been quick and no one wants that if it happens many more times it could be time for a rethink.

The trapping program has always used Timms furtheR up river But as they weren’t Doc approved an trapinators are they made us use them in the estuary.

Ah and the wire on each end had no openings? So the kiwi can’t get its beak round the baffle maybe, some one will know.

https://predatorfreenz.org/key-tips-keeping-kea-safe/

They will be double set traps with the opening at each end.

Probably like that for keas. A guy i know was telling me someone was setting off DoC 150 traps up in Arthurs Pass. It was a why the hell would someone do that. They hid a game camera on a trap. A couple or 3 keas turned up, one grabs a stick pokes it thru the wire mesh , nah it doesnt fit, gives it a bit of a sharpen , nah it doesnt fit, bit more of a whittle and pokes it thru again and the stick hits the trap treadle , whammo the trap goes off and they all get a fright and scream like hell and off to the next trap. They now fit louvre type fittings and side entry on the new traps i believe.

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.