Cage trapping 101

A lure too irresistible to ignore.

Kai, from City Sanctuary shares some cage trapping learnings from his time working on the peninsula.

“With our recent work lending a hand with the elimination work on the peninsula, we shifted tactics away from conventional kill traps like Trapinators and Flipping Timmys, and onto cage traps. Cages can be a great way to mop up the last few possums in an area that are failing to interact with kill traps. A possum is more likely to walk into a cage on the floor than interact with a trap mounted on a tree.

Just like kill traps, the placement of a cage is important. When placed along pad runs in a visible area, or in a hole in a structure that the possum is using, butting the cage up against the access point is also effective. The cage must be made welcoming to the possum to ensure its steps all the way onto the trigger plate. Burying the floor of the cages slightly into the ground and ensuring it doesn’t wobble helps make the possum comfortable moving into the cage.

All the usual baits in your arsenal can be used in cages; fresh fruit, possum dough, treacle gold etc. We experimented with some interesting baits whilst on the peninsula. Licorice, fairy cakes and molasses, all had great success. We even tried hanging fresh possum tails in some cages! As the possum can see any bait or lure inside the cages, visual lures like this can also be very effective.”