Trap vandalism

[Kerie]

Our DOC 200 traps in the Matukituki Valley have been tipped over, set off and rolled off cliffs. At first we suspected a human until the Aspiring Hut warden spotted six kea sitting on a trap trying to roll it over.

They have set off about 50 different traps repeatedly.

Any suggestions as to how to stake the traps down so the traps can't be rolled?

BTW, we are also looking for a kea proof/water proof rat bait station.

[Dave Houston]

How about a heavy metal 'U' shaped bar (reinforcing iron) that you can nail the boxes to the ground with?  Might impede the opening of the boxes though ...

[Bernard Smith]

I've been grappling with similar problems vs Kaka with lots of dead ends... Here it's been more a case of chewing (as far as wooden bait/ trap stations go...) than tumbling, but has been getting worse of late. The most vulnerable have been ice cream container bait stations - they just take the lids off then loose interest. For some reason Novacoil stations are very rarely disturbed. Nest boxes of various species have been attacked too & so far flavour deterents haven't been successful & wouldn't try these on trap stations anyway.

At the moment I'm contemplating trying to fix gorse to wooden station lids (not entrances!) where it's in the area already, but I'm guessing that collecting/ sterilising/ deploying might not be practical in your case - we're lucky enough to have gorse handy /already throughout. It's not going to make servicing fun, but better than replacing boxes. Matagouri? Razor wire?

Would it be possible to mound rocks? Will still be inconvenient for refreshing/ setting but bugger all extra time involved. Can't see rocks detering most target species, and a few that are too big for kea to move sitting on sides & top may be enough.

Anyhow, been checking this thread every now and then with no proven solution to throw in, so might as well chuck ideas for now. Worth mentioning that others are having similar problems too...

[Kerie]

I think I've solved the problem; I used some half flat standards and banged them into the ground and screwed them to the tunnels. Because they were heavy, I didn't use them on all the traps, instead I screwed some traps to trees.

When I returned a few of the traps that were screwed to trees had come off - ones that were above a bit of a slope - so I guess they had more fun jumping on those ones and watching them roll off down the hill!

I had some bigger bolts which I used to attach them to the trees so, so far so good.

[Gerald]

In Arthur's Pass we had a serious problem last autumn with whole lines of traps being up-ended and generally messed about, even in areas unlikely to be Kea frequented. We deduced it being possum or humans with a problem. Weighing the traps down with heavy rocks, placing between trees, nailing to trees, etc appears todate to have resolved the issue. Also trappers now rely on their memory...!

[Alicia Warren]

I have DOC 200s  in an Auckland urban park.  My problem is humans not wildlife.  To keep them from moving more than a few centimetres I cut a length of 1mm stainless steel wire rope, put it through the trap box (along the edge of the floor on one side) and around a tree.  Then I crimp the ends together using a rust-proof crimp.  The length of wire rope is usually about 1.5 metres.  When I want to move the trap I cut it at the crimp and reuse the wire rope with a new crimp.  I got this stuff from a chandler (boat supplies) in Westhaven, there are possibly cheaper sources.  Costs were about $70 for the crimping tool, about $150 for 100 m of 1mm SS wire rope, and about $40 for 100 crimps.

[Kerie]

So, the latest is that we tried rebaiting the traps with rabbit paste and a golf ball!

Which seemed to stop the kea from vandalising the traps but we thought we could make the golf ball (!) a bit more attractive to stoats/rats.

Does anyone have any suggestions, perhaps a spray or something to put on the gold ball.

Someone must have a recipe for something particularly yummy for stoats and repellent to kea? Ok, I'm dreaming.

[Dave Houston]

Are the kea supposed to play with the golf ball instead of mucking with the trap (9 or 18 holes?), or is there some other practical purpose I'm missing?

[Kerie]

Lol, no the stoats are supposed to think it's an egg! Not my idea..... just following instructions from a higher authority.

Latest update: we have found trap boxes that have been opened and had rocks dropped in them (to set off the trap) and the egg stolen, so either it's a human messing with us or the kea are getting pretty high-tech. There have also been a lot of twigs found inside the traps and we presume the kea have been trying to get the egg out/ set off the trap by poking with twigs.

Do you think stoats would be attracted to the Smoked salmon ferret lure that Pest management sell?