Experiences with AT220

Predator Control strategy
#21

As requested Liquid nutella lure.

#22

Hi,

I’ve had an AT220 for 2 months now (Haruru, Far North). I got it to try and kill some rats living in our roof, and it worked within a couple of nights! I then moved it outside our chicken coop to kill possums I could see on camera raiding the feeder. For some reason its only killed one possum, but several more rats, and a few mice too. Another possum may have been wounded by the trap, as fur all over the place - but no dead possum nearby, or blood for that matter. I’m a little surprised/disappointed it hasn’t got more possums yet - may try dusting some cinnamon around.

The AT220 is killing around 4x as many pests as my A24 (19:5), with the AT220 getting possum/s and mice too, as well as more rats.

Yes, most rats get stuck in it unfortunately, and I think the possum I got too. It could be nice if the curved-bar at the bottom was more of an angled ‘slide’ made of plastic or metal wires. I’ve also had mice get ‘mashed’ into the corner by the sensor and in the spring too. Poking them out with a stick usually works, and rain seems to clean things up mostly.

Cheers

Alex

#23

Thanks Alex, great hearing your experiences and insights. On possums, I attach a metalized reflective bag nearby, to attract the possums. I know it works (trail cam) but I can’t say it necessarily encourages the possums to put their heads in the trap. Cinnamon is always worth a go, although you might put off rats - not sure how strong the evidence is for this one way or another.

1 Like
#24

Hi Alex, just out of interest do you still have the trailcam on your AT220? How often do you inspect the trap? Do you get pigs in your area, which can be very partial to dead possum?!! Lots of fur can often be as a result of one possum getting caught and then another one attacking it while its hanging there … just a thought … cheers, Tony Oh, and do you know what version of the trap you have? The most recent upgrade was meant to help stop smaller pests from getting stuck in the mechanism.

1 Like
#25

Hi Tony, I didn’t have the camera there recently due to weather and battery charging etc. I may put one back again. I check the trap every day as its on a small lifestyle block, near an area where a few people live. There are pigs in the forest and sometimes farms nearby, but they never come into this ‘residential’ area. I only bought the trap a couple of months ago, so presume its the most recent type. Last night I had a mouse wedged above the bait bath, so poked out with a stick. Cheers, Alex

#26

Thanks Alex. If you bought it from NZAT then I expect it’s the latest version. Any doubts, send them an email, they are very good at responding and commenting if you are concerned about small pests getting stuck. Cheers, Tony

#27

More comment on AT220 here In an ideal world - #19 by david.swann.new.zeal

#28

Dan,

Thanks so much for your insights and for the liquid nutella lure recipe. When you get some experience with your apple-cinnamon lure, please share that as well. I’m curious to see how it goes.

1 Like
#29

We’ve got a fleet of 150 AT220 traps that are proving really effective - and that was just based on carcass counts. I’ve been doing some analysis to compare carcass counts with AT220 computer counts with Celium Node counts… and found that we’re undercounting kills. For small predators, we’re only identifying 20% of kills; for large predators, around 60%. That’s significant for two reasons - the first being to monitor progress on our journey to a predator-free Motupohue, the second being that we’re not doing justice to the amazing kill rates of the AT220. I’ve produced a report on this. Let me know if you’d like a copy.

1 Like
#30

Yes please! tonygchad@gmail.com thanks

#31

Yes please to the report. maungatapu3@gmail.com
I have found that the AT220 often records a definite possum kill as a rat kill, so undercounting possum kills for sure. No way of checking rat counts though.
These traps are awesome though.
Thanks,
Pat

#32

Yes Please , can you send to macblack@xtra.co.nz , much appreciated, Neil

#33

David, it’s very generous of you to share your findings. Is there any way you could post a PDF copy on this site. I ask because it would be of interest to a great many people, some of whom will be reluctant to post their email addresses. Quite understand if this is not possible :slightly_smiling_face:

#34

Thanks Dan. How do I post a PDF onto the site?

#35

Good point, I am asking TrapNZ.

#36

@danbush @david.swann.new.zeal we have just added a upload option for you to be able to upload a PDF. I hope that helps

1 Like
#37

Thanks to the admins, it’s now possible to upload documents… so please find attached BHMET’s report on our AT220 kill analysis.
Trapping Results for AT220 Traps.pdf (218.2 KB)

3 Likes
#38

Hi David

Do you think the device could be overcounting at all?

#39

That’s a great question and one that we considered. But the Celium coverage that we have suggests that the Celium ‘triggers’ (we use vibration mode) match up reasonably well with the AT220 computer triggers (which are based on ‘breaking the beam’). So we’re confident that the trap is firing the number of times being reported. We’re going to be doing some more close-up trail cam monitoring so that we can really understand what’s going on.

#40

Thanks David, interesting report. In reference to Bevan’s question, in my (very limited) experience the AT220 does not give false triggers, but I am not convinced about the distinction between small and large animals. I have also had carcasses disappear from time-to-time. I know this because I visit the trap almost every other day. I loved your “Ruru vending machine” comment!

Couple of questions:

  • do you catch many stoats?
  • do you have an issue with rats becoming jammed in the basket?