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‘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?
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 ?
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
Mice can definitely eat the peanut butter off a trap without triggering it. You should really use cotton to force them to apply more pressure when attempting to negotiate the cotton.
Most rat traps will catch a mouse if they are forced to walk on the front of the foot plate in a narrow box – most of them can also be hair trigger set with some risk to your fingers – Victor Pro and Victor Power Kill are great for mice
I use peanut butter/rolled oats/vegetable oil to create a very sticky molten mix that will drop off my gloves onto the trap in a heavy blob – also plenty around the entrance to the trap – you need to get them keen on having a good feed before it kills them
I don’t use large blobs of GN Possum Paste on my trap lines in the bush – just enough to hide in the bait cup – or birds see it and peck it
I have just done a trap line in the Quarry Park – maybe 50 sites rat/possum – traps are still set but bait is gone – but I got a very rare possum on another line a few days back – but no rats – no idea where they have gone – I guess there is an end to them in winter/spring
No mice or rats on my rat line close to home – ended up with 7 ferrets in the estuary cage – plus a couple of big rats plus a few hogs – my neighbour shoots the rats but lets the hogs out – then tells me to put more sardines in the cage – I might have to shift the cage along the water line to where I can manage it better
I have been getting a few rats up the top end of the street – they are coming up out of the avo orchard – it looks like they feel safe with bodies around the trap – the D Rat trap is working well and they seem happier to walk up a ramp rather then enter a nearby box – pics are from last four days - might have got the cannibal
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I have also had rats getting eaten in the traps. Is it just rats that do this or something else?
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The local reserve is proving a great resource for pests. After 6 weeks I'm still getting 2-3 rats a week. I have just taken delivery of 4 Timms traps. The possums are hammering the Totara. One 6m tree provided 3 in 3 days. I have run out of tomato plants to put them under. The plastic Victor traps are proving to be very reliable also taking mice if you preload the paddle a bit.
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Predators are where their food is – especially rats
We have about 20 chestnut trees in a group about 100m long down one side of the street properties – a large kiwifruit orchard alongside the chestnuts – I got about 20 rats there this time last year. The ground is covered with sharp, prickly burrs that have now opened with masses of nuts available for hungry rats. The burrs are lethal and can penetrate gloves so I don’t know how rats move through them – I generally sweep runways to clear ground to the trap boxes.
I am using a couple of PFBOP boxes with Victor Pro traps as well as six coreflute boxes with Kness Snap-e traps. BillyXmas546 designed the boxes and had some made – he gave me 6 to try out – I reckon they are a real winner – so easy to shift them around and the rats seem to enjoy the internal features of real estate advertising, Snap-e or Victor traps and my peanut butter lure mix.
In the last couple of weeks I have killed 23 Ship rats and may have wounded a few more that pulled out.
Predator free BOP is a distant dream for the future – but I guess it keeps a few people employed and some of us active.
I had a look at a YouTube clip that was on the Predator Free sites – The Cacophony Project – it is a bit slow but worth a look and might explain why our traps are often empty – it seems that 90% or more animals walk straight past our traps - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mAF...ZLandcareTrust
So we cant assume we have got them all – we never will.
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Not alot of a future for rats in your neighbour hood LOL. well done , great effort.
I believe anything getting eaten is eaten by stoat/ferret I had couple of ferrets eaten then caught a HUGE ferret....maybe make up a double set box eg trap at each end or place dead rat in back of box so whatever wants to eat it has to climb over trap to get it...works a treat with DOC250S and hedge hogs....the more rice like the bait the better...
I thought maybe we could look at what modifications we do to traps and what traps we build ourselves. I'll start with what I'm doing to my Victor traps. Remove the yellow plastic treadle get a 1 lt milk or drink carton
put a piece of wire or half a dozen nails in the bottom to let the oil under the trap,put the trap in pour in some boiled linseed oil and let it soak for a week. I bought one back from the bush after 3 or 4 years and it was still in reasonable condidtion. The pic shows a sinker on the trap to stop it from floating.
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I have been using A24s for about eight years – with varying degrees of success – we have eleven in the Quarry just over three years old – I am just in the process of installing new gas bottles – put a test shot through a couple a week or so back to check the counter – one split in half and one cracked. Not great for a high quality device – but GN have been great and replaced the two broken ones. They broke while I was holding them loosely so I could look down the barrel and tweak the trigger with a twig. The third one did not split but I decided to hold the barrel tightly in my left hand to absorb some shock – dumb arse trick – hurt like hell as the shock waves went through all the joints in my hand. I think I know what Mr Rat feels like as it massages his head.
Rats have become hard to find lately - but hogs still keep finding their way into my doc traps - 250s don't always kill the big ones.
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The ferrets seem to move on from my original cage site on the estuary – seven was good – then just the odd rat and a few hogs. So I brought the cage home. I got a call yesterday morning from a resident down the bottom of the street – they had seen a ferret running across their lawn. I took the cage down last evening and set it up with a nice fresh leg of rabbit – a lovely spot at the top of a walking track up from the water and outside the owner’s bedroom window. Nice big section of about two acres on the edge of the estuary – plenty of young rabbits running around – perfect place for ferrets.
Phone rang this morning to say we had caught a ferret – took the .22 down and dispatched the cute little buggar – large nuts but no smell. Left a leg attached to the rabbit leg – so hope for another one tomorrow.
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Awesome last post @Timeout somehow I missed that one [emoji106]
Just heading into my local H&F 6 weasels and two stoats less on this property.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1a56e436e1.jpg
Don't forget to get those tails in fellas [emoji41]
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Nice one @KuKuwa had bloody forgotten and am away next weekend so would’ve missed out just dropped our 31 off thought we were in for a much bigger number early on but last couple of months have been sparse .... a good thing of course. ;)
We continue to feed feral cats on our trap lines – they drag rats out of trap boxes and it is now rare to find a rat body in a box – often an empty trap is jammed into the opening in the mesh - sometimes just a head in the trap kill bar - often the box is dragged down a bank – it must be a large animal to do this. We seem to have attracted a new predator into our environment – feral cats are seen on a regular basis in varying sizes – even a mother cat with kittens recently. Feral cats are difficult to manage without suitable traps - the Steve Allen trap works well but is not suitable to use where people could touch them – so we are trailing the Possum Master set on a natural log ramp - it seems to be very effective. A couple of blocks of Connovation rabbit jerky is a long lasting lure when tied on the bait holder. The large Tom cat below was a well fed example of a feral cat – possibly the most destructive animal in our native bush environment.
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That's a big bastard
We have many forum members working on predator control – working in back yards, community reserves, special areas, DOC grounds to name a few – sadly – there seems to be no end to predator control - but every pest that is removed allows some part of the environment to flourish – birds, animals or plants.
A few of us flick stories and pictures to each other – one picture that I am going to share with you is from Sore Head Stoat (hope you don't mind Mate)– he was counting a pile of stoat and weasel tails that were heading off to H&F and the Swamp Comp – 152 tails – amazing work on your Canterbury trap lines – one in the cold high country – well done @sore head stoat.
I am sure there are many other success stories that we would love to see.
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That's awesome [emoji3]
Well done that man [emoji106]
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Awesome @sore head stoat hope your name is near the top of the prize board although that’s not why we do it it’s still a commitment. :thumbsup:
Attachment 155742 Dog put this up a tree in the garden last night. I've never seen one with a tail colour like this before!!!!
Estuary line checks this morning, 5 Stoats and a rat won’t be seeing in the new year. :thumbsup:
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I'll post a couple of pictures here one already posted on the peste post.
Couple of days to do something different. But the baiting continues. For good reason.
KH
A nice combo @mimms2 – a great old trap – do you use an internal mesh to direct them onto the foot plate?
I got five 250s in 2015 – they were very sensitive back then – small rat been in and nearly out – but due to neglect they are a bit slower to trip now – a wee hog just about got to the food last week – his sibling not so close today - the big hog didn’t get too far in another box a few days back – no rats around at present so just hogs and a few small cats
Bloody cats have got me beat at present – seen regularly – mother with kittens yesterday – it’s a great place to release cats – I put out a large entry Timms yesterday – rabbit jerky and chicken neck for lure
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