I wanted to add that these terracotta lures (with Connovation chocolate lure) continue to prove just as effective as nutella without the problems of mould, insects or stealing. Furthermore, I am finding they remain effective on rats several months after each re-luring, well past the time you would have thought there was any scent remaining.
A great option if you want leave traps without checking for several weeks, or don’t want to keep replacing food lure.
It’s good to hear that they’re long-lasting. I’ve read several studies that found that rats prefer to interact with lures when a strong smell weakens, so that makes sense. That being said, the rats where I trap are very fond of white vinegar, the fresher the better, and that’s an intense smell!
I’d love to know what would happen if you lured a few of your traps with terracotta lures and didn’t refresh them for a whole year. You could place a trap that gets its lures re-soaked every few months, to see which traps sees the most action.
Yes I read the same thing in the report by Boffa Miskell on the development of their ceramic stoat lure. It would be really useful if they released that report without redaction so we could all learn from it. Especially if they received government co-funding.
On the second point, regarding leaving the lures for a year. I agree that that would be an interesting experiment, however in order to make a statistically meaningful observation you would need to use quite a large number of traps with a track record of several years, and I am not willing to forego the potential missed catches. Co-location of traps might be a partial way round this, but at present no one is offering to give me the additional traps. What I can say is the lures still work after three months.
Must have been doing something wrong. I put out 20 clay lures on a range of trap lines, the mustelid and the rat scented ones, and had absolutely no luck. They’re still in the traps (all DOC200s) and I rebait with other bait (Erayze and/or peanut butter) beside them. Not at all scientific for an expert like you @danbush but my outtake from all this was I wasted my money buying the PouUku lures! Maybe I need to invest in more scented lure and try again…
Hi Briony, Thanks for you comments. Always good to have them.
I have only used the Connovation Chocolate lure so I can’t speak to the “mustelid and rat lure” which comes with the PouUku ceramic lures. I know my terracotta, in combination with the chocolate lure, works very well on rats and mice.
I wouldn’t want to besmirch the PouUku lure but there have also been comments along the lines that the PouUku lure had “gone mouldy”. This is surprising because the ceramic will be inert. So there are only two obvious possibilities, either the lure has something in it which can support mould growth, or in fact the surface growth is akin to the lichen you can get on roof tiles. This is for the manufacturer to work out. If your lures have also “gone mouldy” I wonder if that was partly the problem. Who wants to eat mouldy food?
I have not experienced any serious mould growth on my terracotta pieces, and where there is some surface contamination it wipes off very easily when I re-charge them. It is important to choose a terracotta pot/saucer/whatever which is porous, and preferably has a smooth surface, like most gardening pots are. Not all pots are porous, you need to check this by dunking in water and seeing if it seeps through (don’t submerge it).
Happy to respond to any more comment you have
Update 23/4/23: I ran the blocks for 4 months without a refresh or any maintenance (apart from removing rats). Still catching rats until the very end. I have now refreshed them but who knows how long they could remain effective? Four months seems more than enough for me.
Mouse caught today with terracotta impregnated with chocolate lure. The last refresh was 3 months ago.
