In response to a few requests I am posting my recipe for a liquid nutella lure.
I can hear you say…that’s obvious…just add water!
But if you try this you will find it doesn’t work very well. The main reason for this is that nutella contains a lot of fat, and fat is immiscible with water (= doesn’t mix). So having said that I will briefly outline my other thoughts in concocting this mix.
- Make nutella (or a cheap equivalent) emulsify in water - use an emulsifier - I used lecithin - buy from a health food shop, or at a pinch you could use egg yolk.
- Reduce mould formation: add an anti-microbial - I use potassium sorbate (from home brewing shop) - not sure how effective this is with so much water present (probably optional)
- Need to dilute with water - but water will freeze and mix will become more solid as temperature falls - use a water-glycerol mix which freezes at - 15 C or so. Glycerol also has a moderate anti-microbial effect. In the past glycerol was used as an antifreeze until other products were adopted. Glycerol tastes sweet and is edible unlike car antifreeze.
After some experimentation I came up with the following recipe, but by all means add more or water-glycerol to achieve the viscosity you prefer for the application. My recipe was designed for the peristaltic pump in the AT220.
To make about 200 ml of nutella liquid lure:
- Mix 50 ml 1:1 glycerol-water solution (=25 ml glycerol and 25 ml water) with 1 tsp potassium sorbate and 1.5 tsp of lecithin.
- Place mix in a warm place for 1 hour to allow the emulsifier to hydrate.
- Put the mix in a food processor and add 150 g nutella, or cheap equivalent, and a further 60 ml of 1:1 glycol-water solution.
- Zap it! (you could do the mixing by hand, but I can’t be bothered).
You are done! Put the lure in a bottle. Don’t eat it.
If the lure is a bit too viscous - then add more 1:1 glycerol water solution. If it is too fluid - then add more nutella. For the AT220 you want something which has a similar viscosity to the standard mayo lure.
Additional observations: in the depths of a miserable, wet, Wellington winter you might find a bit of mould formation in the lure tray. This can be solved my increasing the frequency/feed time. The new lure covers up the old lure and the anti-microbial does the job. I have not experienced any major problems with using it over the course of a year.
The features of this nutella liquid lure are:
- It is cheap.
- It can be washed out very easily using water. This is not true of the mayo lure.
- It is non-corrosive (the mayo lure is very acidic and corrosive).
- Pro/con: it only targets rats and mice - at least that’s all I have ever caught.
Good luck and tell me how it goes!
