Hi this report from DOC covering trials on mesh and baffles on trap boxes might be of interest, it’s a pity the research did not go further and cover things like covering treadle plates etc but i guess they had to work to the Brief of work they were paid to do
To see the photos of all the setups they trialed you need to scroll right down to the bottom of the last page
Final Report - Biosecurity device efficacy testing on ship and Norway rats - DOC-10936502.pdf (1.8 MB)
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Some surprising findings there - especially the decrease in interaction just from adding the trap into the box. They did recommend further research on the treadle plate treatments, so hopefully there will be a follow-up paper soon!
Hi In other work I did last year like on the kiwi Safe Boxes etc I did suggest to DOC that when it comes to designing a new Trap Box having input from other sources like community groups, contractors, etc would be good as that it where the progress seems to being made, but that never happened.
It is good that they at least mentioned the possible aversion to touching steel which I and other have been on about and hopefully will be in a later trial.
regarding the Trap in Box making a difference a few years ago both Cam Speedy and I made different Boxes with holes in the wooden floor so the traps sat on the ground and the Treadle plate was very close to level with the inside of the floor, which made them more open to look through. The ones Cam did sat lose inside the recess and you set the trap outside the box with a tool, mine I screwed a piece of steel on the underside and bolted the trap to that. Problem is without backing and support it is just too hard to run trials that will stand up to peer review
One thing they may have overlooked was that the best practice internal Baffle is fairly restrictive as they had to make them like that to get more head strikes , a more open Baffle and body strikes did not always pass the NAWAC time to NO eye reflex
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One trapping experience I / we hear little about is the Perth ZIP programme. Have they eliminated stoats by doing any sort of successful modifications to the DOC 200 traps that they use or are they using the bog standard 200 set up ?
Hi from what I have been told the reduction in stoats etc in the ZIP project is more about the high level of Toxins they are using and secondary posioning effect.
I wondered if that was the case, thanks
Hello Dave. A big takeout from this report seems to be plywood baffles are so much less off putting to the animal than steel, particularly stainless steel. Should the message go to use plywood baffles and not steel mesh in the construction of DoC 200 box traps? Cheers Bruce Hodgson
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Hi Bruce, I think it is great that they started some of this long overdue research but really only half of the job was done. also the sample sizes were fairly small and personally I don’t care about the Rats in this type of trap they are just a pain. trial with Stoats and ferrets would be nice but probably outside the budget they had
I guess you found the charts on page 24, there is not really a significant difference between the ply front and Galv mesh.
What is interesting is that they talk about open entrance is better but the ply with a hole is not open. Also the Stainless screen preformed ok on the entrance but not on an internal baffle, but different to the entrance trial a trap was also included with the internal baffle.
I have never liked or would use the stainless screens but I understand they were developed because Kea were wrecking the mesh ones.
There is an info sheet I wrote in Tip and Tricks on ramps and covering Treadle plates and I think one of the main points for me was how well the Ramp preformed, but it is a longer gentler slope than mine
I hope they get to follow up with their recommendations like covering Treadle plates.
personally I will not be making any changes to trap boxes based on the report,
cheers
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Thanks for that Dave. I wonder if painting stainless baffles and shining treadles dark brown or black would improve the box.
Cheers Bruce
Hi Bruce
given the 15% of rats not caught/killed during other tests I think just about anything is worth giving a go, but we just don’t have the resources to know what real world difference things make so can only use what seem to make sense, Ramps , so the animals don’t have to climb up onto the Treadle, covering Treadles, and I think the Camo tape is good because it also helps with the potential problem of the Steel wicking heat out of animals Paws.
you raise a good point about painting treadles, but again we just don’t know enough about how animals view the world.
By chance last month I was given a pile of second hand good quality mesh that had at one stage been powder coated green, looks really good to me, but I’m not a stoat or Ferret
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