Hi There. New to Trap NZ but been trapping for few years. Have a couple of cameras on my line and been seeing couple of feral cats for a while. Also have a couple of resident Kiwis so I’d like to remove the cats. Tried using Timms traps with meat baits and recently added some SA2’s to the line baited with PB and Cat biscuits. Also tried sardines. Mounted these up off the ground about two meters up.
Be great to hear what other trappers experiences traps and baits.
Cheers
Iain
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Hi Iain
I understand your frustration about catching feral cats, a problem most of us bird predator controllers face from time to time.
I just did a google search through my photos using the word “cats” . While farming, I used cages as I could check them each day – sometimes two cats over-night and often around holiday periods where people dropped them off at a nearby parking area near the road to the beach.
For the last ten years I have done pest control in a 100 acre local community Park – there is often feral cats around and they are very difficult to catch – I am not there every day so I can’t use a cage.
Currently I am after a cat using a couple of Timms traps with standard size entry holes – rabbit meat on the rod and tinned salmon for lure scattered in and around the box. Timms traps work better if you enlarge the entry to 100mm as cats don’t like brushing their whiskers on an entry hole. They also work better if you mount them on a short ramp or an a stump – a more natural head entry for a “walk up” cat.
I have had good results using an SA2 trap on a ramp - but only in non-public areas – I have had much more success using a Possum Master mounted on a natural log timber ramp. I suspect that the entry to a PM is much less imposing for an animal than putting its head in an SA2.
A search on this site using “cats” will provide useful information but if you want more extensive information try a google search or if you have some spare time try this site -
Sadly – trapping cats is not a PC subject – but they are an APEX Predator!
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