As a volunteer I could only service traps every 4 weeks or so. When I checked a FT or DOC 200 and saw the bait had been eaten, usually by mice or slugs, and the trap not triggered I wondered for how long that trap had been without bait. In other words I wondered if the trap had no bait for say 3 weeks it was ineffective for 75% of the time. As a consequence we developed a concept of defending FTs and DOC 200s from mice attack by placing a Philproof Bait Station usually within 3 – 5 metres of a trap. We also had to protect bait in the Bait Station (usually Ditrac or Brodi) from slug and snail attack following the same principle to keep the rodent bait as present and attractive for as long as possible.
Using sides from an old twin set DOC 200 box we fashioned a base onto which a Bait Station could be clipped. Photos 1 and 2 show the wooden base for the Bait Station. We cut 2 groves on either side of the base and just inside the entrance in which we place slug and snail bait, usually Blitzem. The two supports underneath the base help keep baits dry and allow us to put additional Blitzem underneath and so out of the rain. Photos 3 and 4 show the Blitzem in place and the brodi blocks with fish oil squeezed into the centre of the bait blocks from fish oil capsules. Photo 5 shows the final set up in place facing a tree for added protection from the rain.
As a ‘welcome’ we smear some fish oil on the small ramp at the entrance.
When we pulse second generation baits, we have the important additional advantage of targeting mustelids.
Game cameras have shown the importance of not confusing a predator with a wide range of smells in one area. So we do not haze the FT, rat trap and Bait Station at the same time. Here the FT is the only trap hazed as possum is the target species. Additional smells such as peanut butter and fish oil are not hazed so we contain them in and on their relevant box and Bait Station.
SC possum catch 2026 shows the benefit of this type of set up. The FT had been set on the 14th April and the possum was fresh so probably caught just before my service on the 12th May. The Bait Station protecting the bait in the FT from rodent attack is to the right at the base of the puriri.
Cheers
