Songbirds

Part of being an active and thriving community is having a fantastic environment free of pest plants and pest animals. Although council and other environmental groups are busy trapping and getting rid of pest plants in our open local spaces, this is just a small part of our environment. We also need to be trapping in our own backyards and take responsibility for our own little piece of paradise. The evidence is clear – when predators are removed, wildlife bounces back. Be part of saving our precious and unique native species, while helping research that makes our efforts even more effective.

Songbirds Project

If you think that you couldn’t possibly have rodents in your backyard, be assured they are everywhere! Some examples are the giant Norweigan rat caught in McFarland St (picture below), or the mighty cat in Tahapa Crescent that caught 14 rats in one month. These are certainly not isolated examples in our suburbs. Contact us to get yourself a trap, potentially for free if you have paid your membership subs for this financial year.

Meadowbank and St Johns are outside the target zone for the highly successful Eastern Bays Songbirds Project. We have secured funding from the Orakei Local Board for traps made for MBSJRA by the local community organisation Mens Shed Auckland East. The project is now up and running and we have traps to distribute to help bring back the birds and other wildlife in Meadowbank and St Johns.

How can I get a trap?

Send an email to to get the ball rolling. If you let us know in advance you can pick one up from us at our next monthly meeting held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7.30pm at St Chads, St Johns Rd. If this doesn’t suit, we can arrange for you to collect a trap.

How does the loan programme work?

Our Residents Association will loan traps to our financial members free of charge. Traps are also loaned to other members and residents at a one-off cost of $10 which also covers our annual household subscription to 31 March the following year. In all cases ownership of the traps remains with the Residents Association. We provide full instructions for their use and support for getting you started.

The only commitment we ask of trap users is to sign up to our group on the Urban Rat Project website and file weekly reports which take about 2 minutes per week to file. In our view, this provides what we think is the quickest and simplest way of reporting. This means we can measure the effectiveness of our efforts – and chart our success! There is no cost to join the Urban Rat Project and we have instructions on how to do this – click here.

How does the trap work?

The tunnels we supply come with either the wooden “Victor” type traps or black plastic “T-Rex” traps. Both work well but the T-Rex is arguably a little easier to set. We suggest you use peanut butter for bait, or buy yourself some long life lure such as Goodnature’s rat and mice lure which are available from local hardware stores. There are several videos online showing how to set the traps, and we have detailed instructions – click here.

We also recommend watching Zealandia’s great video on how to set your Victor trap, use the trap in the tunnel and dispose of your catch. Click here to watch. You can watch the official Victor trap video here too about how to apply your peanut butter and set the trap. The T-Rex trap is arguably a little simpler to set. You can watch a video about setting the T-Rex trap here. It is used in the tunnel in the same way as the Victor trap in the Zealandia video.

Where shall I put my trap?

Rats are usually active at night and prefer dark enclosed spaces. In open areas they will stay against vertical surfaces such as walls, fences, furniture etc. They are creatures of habit and will use the same paths on repeated nights. They have good memories of the routes and are suspicious of new things in their environment (neophobia) so it may take a few weeks before you catch anything.

Place traps perpendicular to and against walls or other upright surfaces where rats have been travelling or are likely to travel. Be patient. Rats may take several days to ‘get used’ to the trap in their environment before they enter the trap for the bait.

Check out the Urban Rat Project for clear advice on trap placement.

More information

Predator Free NZ has some good information about where to put your trap and an introductory video you can watch. The Urban Rat Project has a helpful list of frequently asked questions.

Here is our how to guides for filing reports on the Urban Rat Project website and our instructions on how to use the traps.

Helpful websites include:

 

Happy trapping and make sure you remember to file your reports. Here is a picture for inspiration!

Image courtesy of www.traps.co.nz

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