Rats in trees

If you have fruit, nut and avocado trees on your property, you may need to consider placing traps up in your trees. These trees provide a constant food supply for rodents, often meaning they do not need to come onto the ground at all.

Bryce Buckland of Birdlife on Grampians in Nelson writes for Predator Free website:

“In the bush (where most groups trap), the best food for rats is up trees. It’s where all fresh shoots, nuts, seeds and flowers are, and tracking tunnels have little success.

“Trees are a far safer place to live. Up there, they are much safer from weka, hawks, falcons, hedgehogs, cats, dogs and (especially) humans with scary ground-based traps. Many trees also have cosy, dry entrance holes in their trunks just right for raising young in high-rise living.

“Traps are best nailed in a reclined position, about a “rat’s body length” above the fork of a tree. Laying the trap backstops the peanut butter running out and encourages the rat to lean onto the trigger plate. Nailing the trap loosely with a galvanized clout allows the tree to grow without pushing the trap off, and a floppy trap lessens the chance of a rat leveraging itself free.

“We use smooth peanut butter (PICs, of course) and apply it with a 50mm syringe. This dramatically speeds the job and is less messy.”

You can even place the rat trap directly above a possum trap. Chances are you will catch both rodents in one night.

If you have ever been out at night in your orchard with a torch and looked up in the branches of your fruit trees, you might get the shock of your life as it comes alive with rats scurrying along the branches. Happy trapping.

The Whaka Pest Trap Library, a WCI initiative, is open the last Sunday of every month from 3-5pm at 469 Whakamārama Road, by Whakamārama Hall.