Thread: Bird Predator Control

I've just put in an A24 for stoats with the rabbit meat lure in the south eastern Ruahines - doing my bit to reduce the need for DoC to contemplate using 1080 in this neck of the woods. I've had two or three occasions when the buggers have run right past me when taking a breather while stalking so I know they are about.

Any additional tips beyond what is in the brochure please for placement, baiting and the likes ?

When you catch one eventually rub it'd ass hole around the trap as it has glands which attract others. And cut the tail off and enter it into the swamp comp.

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Fantastic that you have made the investment in an A24 @Puffin - hope the counter registers some good numbers
Great start with the GN traps @kukuwai - a mouse will make a good feed for a rat or a stoat hope you left him there

Just rats, mice and hogs for me today - this big prick made a bad mistake - another one stuck his snout in a Victor Pro and pulled out - dead


Most of the Victors are catching mice at present - looks like they make a good feed for a rat

Also got this guy today





Presume its a weasel given the short tail. I chopped it off anyway

The traps are having a good week this week

Going well on the stoats @kukuwai - good work
Three ferret tails and a stoat tail in the freezer so far this year @Dundee
Half way up the drive today and a cage is tripped - a cute wee face is looking out of the darkness - the full black plastic sheeting and big chunks of fresh bunny is doing the job - warm and dry in there
Had to go and get the Cooey to do some closeup work - tempted to put my hand in there to see if it was as friendly as it looked - but put the Cooey between the wires instead
Other than the ferret - just hogs and rats - they just keep on coming from somewhere
The Fenn6 down the large bunny burrow is doing the job - a head clamp again - some hungry animal took a back leg last night so I have left a heap of firepower outside today - a Doc250 and a Timms with fresh bunny and a Fenn 6 outside the burrow - will be interesting

Always a good read time out. The tails of ferrets look identical to possum tails . Have you ever thought about skining a ferret

Good work @time out. @FatLabrador ferret pelts were fetching $60 in the 80's

And then we released them to the wild when the price dropped! Who was the dim wit that signed off Ferret farming, makes you wonder about the quality of polys. Was Nick there then?

One day I mite catch a ferret in a cage and get it stuffed, ah dreams

I got one done years ago,a bit faded now.

If anyone is having the odd breakage of the trigger mechanism in KNESS rat traps - there is a simple solution - I have been losing a few - hard to say what is causing it but likely heavy rain tripping them and no rat body parts to soften the shock of steel on plastic parts - the most delicate part being the trigger mechanism - it may also be caused by mice that trip the trap and miss the kill bar causing a heavy shock to plastic parts
I have been talking with the supplier (Key Industries) - who in turn have been talking with the manufacturer - Key Industries have been very good to me over the years and have replaced a few - but the manufacturers are not so keen to help them
The simple solution is to purchase new trigger pieces from Key Industries - $1 each - pull the pin - remove the broken bits - put the new part in and replace the pin - all done - trap as good as new in less than a minute
The pin needs a good grip with long nose pliers- 90 degree turn - the back end is tight in a small hole so might take out a bit of plastic from the base as it turns - if the odd pin is tight going back in - just file a bit off the bent end

Broken and new trigger parts


All you need - $1 each


LHS - pin removed & shows slight damage to plastic hole in base - RHS - pin and trigger replaced - good as new

Checked the traps round the farm yesterday - two rats and a hog since Sunday
A bit of garden technology tripped up Mr Prickles - I had a box of Fenn6 traps not being used so decided to put one out in a tunnel - couple of short pieces of 150mm novaflow, and a large pot plant container over the trap- a piece of bunny beside the Fenn6 for lure - a couple of ponga fronds over the top - most pests can’t resist checking out a box, a tunnel or a ramp especially if something has been there previously

it certainly works

Good work MSL. Caught a rat in the doc 200 today useing a quail wing as bait

Originally Posted by takeuchi

just bought 5 of those snap-e rat traps to use around our house. caught three on the first night. Baited with peanut butter. Interested what people recommend for bait, cant keep raiding the peanut butter. caught one mouse but a couple traps are getting cleaned out without going off. mice i assume on a trap thats not hairy enough? also one or two traps triggered with no catch, seems like a critter could approach the trap from the safe end and trip the plate and not get caught, could be the mice again too? there are a lot of mice around here at the moment nailed about 15 so far trying to move into our house!! Using the grey "better mouse trap" from the supermarket work really well on the mice.

The "Better" mousetrap is excellent for mice compared to the spring-wire-n-wood traditional type which classically gets picked clean. Sorry, peanut butter IS still best. Use the non-crunchy variety and push it well into the pressure plate nobbles.

Of course you don't want to feed mice and it could be playing on your mind that the little critters are picking your traps clean. If that is so, don't react by being stingy with bait! Rather, place as much as possible of your chosen bait on the pressure plate, stopping just short of triggering the trap: you have now set a hair trigger.

That being said, some "Better Mousetraps" could be better off the shelf than other "Betters" - try numbering them and see if it is always the same ones that get picked.