Hi Guys
Have just caught two sparrows with Drat Traps in a trap boxes baited with peanut butter, we know the area is crawling with rats?
Any pointers on what lure we can use for rodents that birds will not go after?
Cheers
Paul
Something that is reputed to deter birds is vinegar. The rodents here love vinegar, even quite large doses of it, so giving your PB a spray of white vinegar might do the trick (they might like apple cider). Here, vinegar keeps insects away for a day or two and it provides temporary mould-resistance.
Just be careful not to get vinegar on the springs of your trap, because they can rust. Instead of spraying vinegar, you could use some kind of dropper.
I’ve had a lot of success with Goodnature’s Meat-Lovers’ lure, which the predators here love. It doesn’t have a scent that humans can smell, so I doubt that birds will be able to, either. Insects here ignore Goodnature lures and whatever’s underneath them.
The easiest thing to try would be sprinkling some cinnamon, nutmeg, or coca on top of the PB. Their scent should disguise the PB from birds, while rodents will have no trouble smelling it. Cinnamon disguises PB from insects, which is a bonus, and nutmeg and cocoa should, too. The powders give PB some protection from the elements, providing some mold-resistance and it will take longer to go stale, because it isn’t exposed to the air and sunlight.
I hope that one of these helps.
Cheers.
2 Likes
Always very sad to get by-catch, it happens. Hope the vinegar idea works, I might try that too.
May sound cold hearted, but if you also have stoat traps then maybe (after you’ve apologised to the fresh dead sparrow), use it as lure for your stoats. Less waste than biffing it into the bush for stoats to eat anyway.
Since getting involved with trapping (Haulashore island) I’ve become aware of the, little mentioned but I suspect widespread, matter of bird bycatch.
In previous years 5 to 8 birds (passerines like sparrows, starlings, thrushes) per year have been killed in rat traps on Haulashore. This was almost exclusively an issue in spring … presumably naive fledglings or perhaps overworked parents?
Happily it appears that such bycatch can be almost completely eliminated by placing a 100 mm length of 55 x 67 mm rectangular spouting at the trap tunnel entrance, see photos attached. Gluing works to attach the pipe but a single screw, see photos, is probably more permanent.
Since introducing this modification not a single bird has been caught (over 2 springs) when such pipes are in place. The one exception to this claim was a trap tunnel sitting on an angle … in this case the bird probably entered a small way and the slid on the plastic. So the tunnels should be placed horizontally.
No reduction in rat trapping efficacy has been apparent, that is after the initial effect of the novel change. Rats seem to get through the pipes just fine.
I hope others might try this out. No point in killing birds needlessly.
Regards, Andrew Fidler
Ps if you contact me at andrew.fidler.nz@gmail.com i can supply photos