The Reactions of Common Rats to Four Types of Live-Capture Trap

(1) Common rats (Rattus norvegicus) enter traps less readily than many other small mammals. Two new designs of multi-capture trap were compared with two other multicapture traps embodying a non-return door system. The new traps incorporated a bait hopper, to facilitate long periods of pre-baiting, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of applied ecology Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 453 - 459
Main Authors:	Taylor, K. D., Hammond, L. E., Quy, R. J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford [Eng.] Blackwell Science Publications 01-08-1974 Blackwell Scientific Publications
Subjects:	Animal traps Cage traps Food Rats
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	(1) Common rats (Rattus norvegicus) enter traps less readily than many other small mammals. Two new designs of multi-capture trap were compared with two other multicapture traps embodying a non-return door system. The new traps incorporated a bait hopper, to facilitate long periods of pre-baiting, and a non-return door system that remained outwardly unchanged when the traps were set after pre-baiting. (2) One of the new traps caught a higher proportion of rats in an experimental colony than any of the other traps and was subsequently compared in the field with a commercially produced trap. Although the new trap caught fewer rats than the commercially produced trap, it caught a higher proportion of the rats feeding from it during prebaiting.
ISSN:	0021-8901 1365-2664
DOI:	10.2307/2402199