From: Jill Key [JillK@sprep.org] Sent: Saturday, 20 September 2008 9:48 a.m. To: aliens-l@indaba.iucn.org Subject: RE: [Aliens-L] feral cats live trapping Fernando, You might like to try an alterative attractant in your traps, not a food but the smell of other cats. Use cat urine or liquefied feaces on cotton wool balls at the back of the trap (and get this from a pet cat, or feral caught and held in a cage for a day or so). You shouldn't have trouble with ants and lizards that way, and it may improve your catch rate. This was used very successfully in the Galapagos Islands as part of the eradication of feral cats from Baltra Island a few years ago, and found to be far more effective at luring cats into traps than food baits. Good luck! Jill Key Pacific Invasives Learning Network -----Original Message----- From: Reese Brand Phillips [mailto:rbrand@unm.edu] Sent: Friday, 19 September 2008 10:43 a.m. To: aliens-l@indaba.iucn.org Subject: Re: [Aliens-L] feral cats live trapping Fernando, Your trap success does seem a bit low, but it does depend on the density of cats. Have you attempted to gauge the cat density using another technique, such as spotlighting, using scent/tracking stations, or radio-telemetry? I've used live-traps to monitor, control and eradicate cats in various island enviroments (California Channel Islands, Galapagos, and Revillagigedos) with good success. Feel free to contact me (off list). We can evaluate your methods and perhaps improve your capture rate. Best regards, Brand R. Brand Phillips, MSc PhD Candidate Department of Biology 167A Castetter Hall MSC03 2020 1University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:21:51 -0400 "Washington Park Bonaire" wrote: Hello everyone, I'm trapping feral cats with low success (9 in 350+ trap nights) in a shrub forest in a very hot and dry climate where the bait spoils quite fast. Also, I'm having trouble with ants and lizards with the bait. (canned can food mainly, but also fresh chicken organs also). I can definitely use some tips...visual and hearing devices... Thanks ahead. fs ********************************************************************************************************* Fernando Simal Manager, Washington Slagbaai National Park STINAPA Bonaire, Barkadera s/n PO Box 368 Bonaire, N.A. Tel. (599) 717 8444 Fax (599) 717 7318 e-mail: washingtonpark@stinapa.org web site: www. stinapa.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to send a reply to this message, to be read by all members of the list, you may just hit the Reply button in your e-mail program (This does NOT WORK when reading a Digest!). ATTENTION Please: if the message to which you are replying is long, please delete as much of it from your reply as possible to reduce message lengths for other List subscribers. Thank You.