Dunedin’s own “Trap” family
Espen baits a rat trap on one of his routine checks.
City Sanctuary volunteer Michelle has been trapping in the town belt for the past couple of years. She’s also a backyard trapper and we recently learned that her boys Thomas and Espen are avid helpers. We caught up with her to find out more about her family’s experience as City Sanctuary trappers.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you came about volunteering with City Sanctuary?
We live next to the town belt, and I kept encountering possums on my morning run. When exploring the belt, we were also noticing a lot of dead trees, trees partially debarked, and not much regrowth of new vegetation. One night my 8-year-old and I decided to have a sleep out in the playhouse on our lawn. I got up in the middle of the night to go inside... ...and almost tripped over a possum on the way. I contacted City Sanctuary the next day.
You mentioned your boys are regular helpers too. We’d love to hear what they love most about trapping!
...They both mentioned they enjoyed setting the rat and possum traps, and identifying the catches. I think they also enjoy getting to officially walk through the town belt donning a city sanctuary vest 🙂
Espen (9), is determined to create a pest museum. And he is currently working on curating some skulls from our catches. We noticed a lack of pest displays around Dunedin, specifically showcasing:
The different colours rats and possums come in, and juvenile vs. adult sizes.
How to sex rats and possums, and what different sized joeys look like
Showing different species of rats and how to tell apart different species of rats (this is still a bit of a mystery to me)
Have you noticed any changes since you started trapping in your area?
I have not noticed any possums on my morning runs for over a year. I used to come across 2-3 scurrying across Queens drive almost every morning.
What’s been your most interesting or memorable catch?
We noticed a fair bit of local regionalisation. The possums we were trapping in our backyard, and in the nearby golf course have always been grey. The possums we are trapping just a little further along and across the road, are always black. (I had no idea there was such variation). The most notable catch was a huge stunning black red female possum. It made us appreciate why people a long time ago might have thought it was a good idea to establish them in NZ, but also how unfortunate and sad it was that such beautiful animals had become such devastating pests, and the importance of nonetheless managing them with respect and empathy.
Do you have a favourite bait you like to use?
Possum dough smells delicious, and feels like it really belongs in hot cross buns.
Do you have any tips to share with other City Sanctuary trappers?
We hit a trapping lull with some of our backyard traps, and also had problems with mice eating the possum bait. Moving the traps just a few meters to a different site enabled us to trap several more, just as we thought we might have been done!
Michelle and her boys have caught a whopping 21 possums in the past year. Thanks for sharing your story with us! We really love what you do!
We often hear trappers are keen to know what species of rat they have caught. So, what’s a good way to tell the difference between a roof rat and a Norway rat? There are a few differences that you can keep an eye out for. You can look at the length of the tail relative to body length. A roof rat will have a tail longer than its head and body, whereas a Norway rat’s tail will be shorter than the head and body combined. Another easy check you can do is to fold the ear forward. A roof rat ear will cover its eye when the ear is pressed forward, it won’t for a Norway rat.
Identification of rodents (Predator Free New Zealand Trust)