Interested to hear anyone’s experiences with the new GoodNature meat-lovers lure, both in the ALP / A24 and the prefeed pouch. I’m wondering if this would be a good addition to a doc 200 for rats and stoats. Thanks, Tony
I’ve just started using it a week ago. No luck as yet. I’ll reply back in another week or so.
I’ve been using the lure for years, formerly known as Stoat Lure, and had good results with it in my A24’s. It’s the best Goodnature lure to use, IMO, because it appeals to both carnivores and omnivores, while the chocolate and nut ones are far less likely to kill mustelids.
It’s been especially effective for me in/on snap-traps and in DOC tunnels. I’m confident that there would be a significant drop in my kills if I stopped using it. One downside is that it can be easy for mice and rats to lick it off of snap-traps or out of the lure cups. I’m going to try mixing it with a thicker lure, like PB, to see if that works better.
It’s an excellent lure to use during wet and humid weather, because it’s waterproof and mold-resistant (like the other kinds).Mold can be a curse during winter, because predators won’t eat moldy lures, which are toxic to them. Peanut butter can turn blue or go fuzzy in 24-48 hours, but Goodnature lures take a very long time to go moldy, and it’s usually because it’s been applied next to, or on top of, moldy bait.
In DOC tunnels, it’s a good lure to spread on to the far side of the treadle, because it resembles drying blood (and is designed to mimic its smell, of course), and the vast majority of predators stop on the treadle to investigate the lure and eat it, instead of travelling across the treadle to the lure area, often too fast to trigger the trap. I have killed numerous medium-sized rats, juvenile mustelids, and female weasels this way that I nromally wouldn’t have been able to.
It’s also a cheap lure, because 1 sachet can go a long way.
Cheers.
It also works as a coating on flesh/fat lures in Timms traps, because it prevents them from going moldy, reduces the rate at which they deteriorate, and it’s been a good way to keep blowflies away, too (the texture, perhaps?).
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Thanks for your detailed reply! I have had the “blood” lure before, but then it became unavailable. I didn’t realise the new lure was actually still the old lure! On the strength of your glowing report I have ordered the ALP and also the pouch of lure which, like you, I plan to use in doc traps to add a bit of spice. I usually just use the cat/mustelid cubes that I can buy locally from Greater Wellington RC and put an additional half cube on the treadle. The A24 is something I have never had any real luck with. I think they don’t work well when you have other traps nearby. I intend to get it set up again for stoats and then just find an untrapped part of the property and set it where stoats might pass through! (or put it on a friend’s place). cheers, Tony
They’ve gone from Stoat Lure, to Blood Lure, to Meat Lovers’.
The Meat Lovers’ Lure would act as a sort of glue for the pieces of cube that you use, which would make it a bit harder for smaller predators to steal it. A 70g rat might disturb a treadle set at 80g enough to set it off.
I’ve read several A24 studies that compared its performance to DOC tunnels, and researchers found it to be an effective, low maintenance way to reduce pest populations when they are used in areas that have received little or no pest control.
After racking up kills for a few months, A24’s were then found to be no more effective than conventional lines of single-kill traps. Basically, they’re an excellent first-wave trap, but are then average or below-average once predator numbers have dropped significantly. One problem with the A24, is that a lot of predators refuse to put their head in to the tube. These wary predators are more likely to be killed in a DOC tunnel, for example, because they feel more comfortable interacting with them.
As a rule, the more traps that you’re using in an area, the better your odds are of trapping predators. Interaction-rates will be higher, because the odds are better that predators will find a trap. Siting traps fairly close together, but in different kinds of habitat can also be effective.
Of equal importance to trap numbers, in my experience, is to use a range of traps. Predators can learn how to avoid triggering a certain trap model, which make it nearly impossible to kill them. A rat that’s learned how to eat the lure off of a Victor Pro without setting it off, may fall victim to a T-Rex, or a DOC trap, or an A24, or an AT-220, or a Timms, or get caught in a cage. So, combining standard traps and A24’s definitely could pay off.
If you have a trap at a site that gets high kill totals, you could try placing the A24 nearby. Clearly, the site receives plenty of traffic, and the A24 would help to reduce the number of mice and small rats that steal or eat the lures that are meant for larger predators. Scavengers that visit the A24 for a mouse might decide to check out the DOC trap a few metres away also, especially if there isn’t anything to scavenge.
I hope this helps. Let me know if the Meat Lovers’ lure is a hit or not. It isn’t exactly scientific, but if more and more trappers find success using a certain technique, we need to share the advice, especially with new trappers.
Cheers.
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I’ve had success with the “meat-lovers” lure in DOC traps and Victor snap traps for rats and ferrets. It seems to do better than the other Goodnature lures in these traps. Too early yet for the ALP version for me to draw a conclusion. As for A24s I’ve found the critical thing for rats is to install them as close to where the rats live and socialise, in my case where muhlenbeckia vines mass - rat heaven. Curiosity gets the better of them within a few days and they put their head up the hole! Critical then to leave the trap in place as once a good rat home always a good rat home and you will get the inevitable incomers. A24s are pretty hopeless in the traditional grid type trap layout, just too risky for them. I also doubt that A24s will ever be effective against stoats in a typical bush situation where there is a ready supply of food, stoats are generally just too clever and wily to be caught in an A24 in these situations. Different in an island situation where they have eaten everything - when they are desperate for food - then anything will work.
Thanks for the input! What is it about the muhlenbeckia vines? We have a couple of those on our property. Cheers, Tony
They are dry, rodents are safe from most predators because of the dense tangled environment and they just happen to support the highest percentage of invertebrates of any native plant, a full larder. Perfect place for rodents to live. Perfect place to target.
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