Hi all. This one in response to the recent query re apples being ratted from a kill trap. It’s a long post so figured it best to start a new topic. This is a post I just added to a new Facebook group, Trapping Outside the Box NZ. If your interested in sharing innovative trapping ideas and of a mind to experiment please come and join us.
On Oct 13th, 14 Steve Allen SA2 traps were baited with a single, Value brand, dried apricot. All remnants of previous baits were removed. On Oct 14th, 2 more apricots were added to each trap so each had three cots on the bait screw. 3 possums were removed. Oct 18th, 4 possums were removed. At the same time, cyanide was added to prefeed pots along the same ridge. The next day, 3 possums were removed from the SA’s and 12 cyanide kills were tallied. Oct 22nd, 1 in SA with 5 more cyanide. There had been a few days of steady rain and the apricots had swelled to double size but all traps, except one, still had the 3 cots added 8 nights previous. Oct 27th, 2 more even though cots in some traps were showing some mould spots. Not done yet though, 2 more Nov 2nd. A total of 15 possums over 19 nights from the Oct 14th baiting. Lures in SA’s are accessible to rats from the opening in the top of the trap. The traps in this test were screened on top to ensure that a possum couldn’t reach in and claw a bait loose. Easy for a rat to avoid the trigger of an SA though, especially if the bait is pushed all the way along the screw up against the trap wall.
That was our official trial of the Value brand dried apricot, but not the record for being a long lasting effective lure. A single SA in another area caught a mama, and her hairless kit told just how fresh she was. That single apricot still worked after 25 days. It had been nibbled on, I assume by a rat, and was starting to show mould spots. Being out of baits at the time I checked a nearby Trapinator, previously baited at the same time. It’s apricot was untouched, and with it’s dry location, was not showing mould.
More to be told though. We discovered that rats do not find all dried apricots to be best left alone. As a result of the success of the initial trial we purchased a 10 kg box from Bin Inn. We didn’t realize there could be such a difference in dried apricot quality between brands. I rate the Bin Inn apricots at ten of ten, the Value brand two of ten. Single, Bin Inn cots, in SA’s have attracted and trapped eleven rats. They do go missing in others. But it’s an apple and oranges comparison between the sweet, juicy cots and the much drier ones that I assume do cause rats to choke as the online warning to pet rat owners states.
The Value brand cots show a sugar content of 53 grams / 100. I have not been able to find the sugar content of the Bin Inn brand. Have tried a
Tasti brand as well. Their sugar content shows as 65/100. Taste wise they are less sweet than Bin Inn but they disappear from traps too. Have yet to try a Countdown product, Sunreal brand, that shows the lowest sugar at 46/100. Again though I suspect that the reason the Value brand is shunned is because rats are physically unable to swallow them. Yet to be determined if that is true of other brands.
Hope you will give the Value brand a try in your possum kill trap and share the results.
