Mustelids and possums
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@Chris-B. dead mice is also good for rats...only problem is, this means the mouse has set off the trap and the rat eats the mouse and lives....my first couple of traps I made a rookie error and didn't tie the traps to something and they disappeared, I found one months later with a mouse skeleton in it about 10m from where I set it, yet to find the other.
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Was going to follow @Hooroo's advice and just get one. Called Hunting and Fishing who are the agents around here and they have sold out! So someone is using them apart from DoC.
@Chris-B Yeah will have to do tests. They use a rabbit based bait which is a bit unfortunate as cat eats rabbit a lot. Hole on the A24 too small for cat not sure about the possum one.
They do seem to have it worked out but as you say for $200 it would be good to know how effective they are.Stouts apparently follow the same paths most of the time so you put out the bait cards and see if they get nibbled them put the trap there.
I will get one next week when back in stock and report when I have injured myself with it, caught something, caught nothing, or killed the cat.
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@taniwharugby Rats will also cannibalise their friends once they're trapped and dead. That's my usual way of telling when I'm getting close to having the rats eradicated (that and when you can't hear them in the ceiling any more)!
Of course, for the latter you can never be sure it's not Captain Howdy in which case a priest may be more use than a rat trap!
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Yeah we don't have an issue with rats in our house, caught a fair few mice, although not for many months.
Surprisingly, when we had a few rats in spring, and they lived in the flax by my chickens, they weren't stealing eggs, so guess they had a decent food source from somewhere.
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@taniwharugby Re Rats - Got any palm trees around? Pheonix in particular I think. A mate is a gardener and he said they are basically rat nests. Not sure if they can eat them but certainly like living in there. The neighbour has one and our cat just sits there and waits for a snack.
We don't lose chook eggs to rats either, the girls will have a go at a rat - but not a stoat, they know they will lose. Apparently the shits just kill the hen and then only eat the heart. Hence me looking for answers on stoat killing (without using a car @Hooroo ).
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@Crucial Got me thinking now (not always a good thing).Weren't mustelids introduced in the late 1800's to get rid of the rabbits? Thought that was why they were in NZ. That worked about as well as cane toads in Aus.
Are there any examples of biological pest control that have worked and not just introduced a new pest?
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@Snowy nah no palms, they live in flax bushes.
I had 3 mice in my traps yesterday, but we don't have a problem that we see any of these pests, and as we have a new build on a concrete slab there is only one place anything can get in and an adult rat wouldn't fit.
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@Snowy I can't recall the pest it is being introduced to deal with, but NRC have been granted consent to introduce some wasp to deal with another pest.
Edit Just googled it, and is 2 insects to deal with an invasive plant.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=11783802
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@taniwharugby Hmmm. Wasps (German and common) were a great introduction the first time...(although accidental not biological control I think).
This reed may be a problem but maybe creating another unforeseen one.
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Massive history of biological controls causing issues or just not doing the job:
Cane toads
Koi carp
Myxomatosis (sp?)
Calici virus -
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Nah. I think there just isn't enough known about how a new species will adapt and be adapted. Too many unknowns and the law of unintended consequences.
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@booboo said in Mustelids and possums:
Nah. I think there just isn't enough known about how a new species will adapt and be adapted. Too many unknowns and the law of unintended consequences.
you sound like you're running in the state election for One Nation
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Faark off @mariner4life
I'm not talking climate change.
My point about to many unknowns was based was based on faintly remembered memories about the introduction of calicivirus.
Farmers just wanted it lobbed in as soon as possible.
Scientists wanted to hold off until they knew more and could maximise the effect.
Was introduced unofficially and randomly and after initial decline we now have just as many bunnies but they're resistant.
Koi carp were meant go be the shit when they were introduced.
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