Have you had any success with the Meat Lovers’, yet?
I’m glad to hear that the mouse-proofing worked.
Great stoat numbers!
The stoat and weasel populations here are unusually low this year, which may be due to the after-effects of cyclone Gabrielle.
Not yet. But going back up again in next day or so. Hoping, but not convinced it’s the answer for me. Others I have talked to locally say they’ve found it good for rats but not stoats. For me, a few shelled walnuts in each trap is a free rat lure. Was mainly looking for a stoat lure. Will give it another few months.
I’ve found it to be a very effective rodent lure when I use it in my snap traps. With my tunnels, applying Meat Lovers’ inside and outside has been a good way to generate activity. If your traps are experiencing a lot of rodent activity, it’s only a matter of time until mustelids show up.
My most effective mustelid lures have been dead rodents or other dead mustelids. I’ve been putting mousetraps inside my DOC tunnels to, hopefully, increase trapping rates, and brown rats love to scavenge.
I’m also putting walnuts to use. I’m keeping some in the fridge to use in the winter, when rats’ food supplies are low.
Glad it works for you. Only 3 rats today (and 4 in the other trapline with no good nature lure), ah well. Yes walnuts are great. And yes I too use fresh rat guts and scent as lure. Quite effective.
Just a note about mouse traps inside doc traps, hopefully you’re using them in bait area not in entrance?
I heard of a fenced project who had a big issue with many trap shy rats after the rats sprung the mouse traps in doc entrances.
But even if they are in bait area of trap, I would question isn’t it better the mouse traps are in a suitable size small trap box just outside the doc trap, to guide mouse to correct part of trap. Otherwise so many mice get foul caught and die a long slow death. And when bouncing around half caught in trap can hit the doc 200 plate setting it off.
What would happen if you combined walnuts with the Meat Lovers’ lure?
At the very least, I would expect mustelid interaction rates to increase.
The mouse traps are mounted well inside the tunnels (approx. 45cm). I’d be worried about killing birds if mouse traps were at the entrance(s). They’re screwed onto blocks of wood that are too high up for mice to make contact with treadles.
Dead mice are easy to see from the entrance and scavengers have to eat mice while they’re standing on the treadle. If the trap hasn’t killed a mouse, the lure in it might be enough to lure in a predator. If a predator that’s too light to set off the DOC trap gets caught in the mouse trap, it’s attempts to free itself might set off the DOC trap. It should be a good way to kill more female weasels, I reckon.
I do use several mouse trap double-sets that I made out of scrap wood, which I keep in the vicinity of DOC tunnels so the mice are handy lures. The mouse traps inside the tunnels are mounted to the base with screws, because it’s easier to lure, empty, and arm traps when they’re attached. I’ve noticed a big decrease in inhumane kills with secured traps, also. The plywood entrances have 1" diameter holes, to reduce interference from non-target species. Technically, adult rats could get through the holes, but there are easy-to-access traps nearby.
Cheers.
Excellent set up. Sounds like you have it sussed. I’ll use the last of the good nature lure but won’t buy more as expensive compared with cheap peanut butter and free walnuts.
As the traps have the lure hanging in pouches and walnuts on trap floor, (as well as fresh rabbit in a bait holder and sometimes a fresh pierced egg when I suspect a stoat is around.) I think I can’t do much else.
I also add fat in winter/spring, especially when the ground is snow covered.
So all that plus fresh guts as lure will have to suffice.
But really glad the lure works for you and some others.
Seems animals in different terrain/altitudes/vegetation go for different lures.
We changed all our snap traps over to meat lovers around 10 February around 150 traps over 5 different lines. Traps checked weekly. And up to today we have 50 kills – so they do like the stuff. Hard to say what the numbers would have been if we had stayed with mayo or possum paste. The positive issue that I can see is the bait cups in Kness traps remain full for longer than they do with possum paste. We have collectively used about six sachets, and I got five more from Farmlands on Saturday.
I checked the numbers during the same period for 2023 and 2022 – both had 28 kills.
Not a scientific analysis – but the results look promising .
Great news!
The fact that insects and slugs/snails leave Meat Lovers’ alone, can make a big difference. Even if we knew for sure that Meat Lovers’ is less attractive than peanut butter or mayo, the fact that it can remain untouched by creepy crawlies long enough to be found and eaten by rodents and mustelids gives it a big advantage over lures that are susceptible to interference.
You’ve chosen a good time to ramp things up, too, because it won’t be long until mold rears its ugly head again.
If you can find it, I highly recommend trying tallow (rendered beef fat). I wrote a post ages ago about it, called “Trappers, please try this lure!”
Please, keep me posted.
Does the tallow work for mustelids as well as rats?
Definitely. The fattier the lure, the better, because mustelids can’t store fat. Finding a source of 100% fat is the mustelid equivalent of winning lotto.
I haven’t trapped a mustelid in a snap trap with tallow, but I’ve killed at least 10 of them using tallow as part of a lure cocktail in my DOC tunnels.
Right now, I’m killing rats left and right with tallow in my snap traps. It’s only a matter of time before a weasel or a stoat bites the dust.
If you can find it, buy it!
Good luck trapping.
This is interesting. We got sick of mice cleaning out our lures in our DOC200s, so we’ve put in tea strainers and mouse traps. Amazing how many mice we are catching and the unsecured lures are still being cleaned out by their unsentimental buddies who scamper over the dead ones to scoff what they can. Console ourselves with the long-game theory - that the mice that are coming and going will eventually lead mustelids to the traps.
Tea strainers and mouse traps will, over time, make a difference. With dead mice inside your tunnels, it’s only a matter of time before mustelids get trapped. Tunnels with mouse traps should be an especially good way to trap female mustelids and juveniles. I think that tunnels containing dead mice must be one of the best ways to trap mustelids in winter, because the mice take longer to rot.
A quick mouse-trapping tip. If you’re using one of the models that have bait cups, a good way to increase your kill rates, is to push a raw chickpea on top of the base lure (PB, Nutella, a Goodnature lure, etc.). If mice decide to nibble on the very hard chickpeas, they create more movements and vibrations than normal. If mice try to take the chickpeas, the sticky base lure makes it difficult for them. Finding mouse traps stripped of lures has now become a rare sight!
Cheers.
