We have been installing AT220s around our area on private land (nearby DOC land subject to Treaty claims and heavily covenanted) and one anti-pest trapping resident was questioning what is in the white lure. We are not pursuing access to this land as she seems pretty determined - lots of chat about animal cruelty, how a gun is better than a trap, etc. She also has cats and is concerned about them. Sigh. Wasn’t swayed by NAWAC standards or the daytime deactivation features of the trap either.
What we realised is that we don’t know what’s in the lure - can someone shed light on it? Just trying to be ready for such a question in the future.
Cheers.
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Hi. We’ve been using a number of AT220’s for a few months now. The issue with bait is not the mix of the bait but that rats which are killed do not always drop out of the trap becoming caught up in the trap near the bait (we had a mouse caught up last week). They effectively become bait for other pests such as stoats and wild cats. That is good in remote areas where the trap is effective against a bigger range of pests but could be problematic when installed near residential properties with domestic cats! Cheers W.
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I had understood it was mayonnaise based? When loaning a A12 to a neighbour in a residential area we talked about the risk of cats so tried some mayonnaise with the local cat and it showed way too much interest in it. We opted for the goodnature goop instead. I know you can’t use that in the AT220. Your neighbour could always keep their cats indoors if they really care about them.
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Dunno about the lure either sorry, just thought I’d say my cat loves the mayonnaise from my MotoLure. I had it just outside the house (lure only, no trap) to see what was around, but my cat cleaned up the mayonnaise every morning. And then went back for weeks after I had removed it too! All caught by trailcam.
So anyway, cats are interested in mayonnaise too. So if the AT220 lure is mayonnaise based you can expect to attract cats.
Yes, pretty sure current formulation is mayonnaise based. Give the guys at NZAutotraps a call or an email and they can confirm.
It’s mayonnaise. Contact NZ Autotraps and they will confirm.
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Mayo-based with rather a lot of vinegar. Not to my taste, but some possums seem to like it. The idea is to have a multispecies lure that doesn’t become solid during the Winter months.
As mentioned above, there are other species-specific lure options that wouldn’t attract cats (excluding carcasses acting as bait) but it would be interesting to hear directly from the good people at NZ Autotraps.
Not sure there are any easy answers to unhelpful cat owners. A law/regulatory change is needed to protect birds from predatory cats on private land.