Predator Control Tips & Tricks: Getting the best out of your DOC 200 trap

Cam Speedy is a predator control expert with over 40 years’ experience and he’s here to share his tips and tricks to make your DOC200 more effective. In this clip, Cam discusses using eggs as visual cues, creating runways that lead to your trap and the importance of pre-feeding.
DOC200s are primarily used to trap stoats, but can also be used to trap rats and hedgehogs. Ready to learn more about the DOC200 or purchase one for yourself? Click the link below to our website:
shop.predatorfreenz.org/produ...

[@markrm16]

I've had some luck putting small pieces of a lure on top of the treadle. In the middle or far side of it, predators will stop for more. This is good if there are mice and small rats around, because they'll leave urine and faeces on the treadle, which are very powerful scent lures for other rodents, and the mustelids that hunt them. Female stoats and weasels eat lots of mice and small rats, so a tunnel that smells like them will increase interaction-rates. The blocks of white fat that you can buy in grocery stores that resemble candle wax, are an excellent, very cheap lure that is very attractive to all predator species, and lasts for a long time. I can't smell it at all, but predators sure can, which isn't a surprise, considering how attractive high-fat foods are to them. If you've had quiet traps for a while, I highly recommend giving it a go. Do a pre-feed to let the locals know what an amazing, calorie-dense food they've found, using small pieces/shavings of the fat, because you want it to be difficult to remove from the tunnel. If will be easier for predators to eat the small pieces inside the tunnel, where they'll leave strong scent-lures that will attract more predators to the tunnel(s). It's also really good in the bait-cup of snap-traps, like the T-Rex or Snap-E, or on the bait-holder of a Victor Pro. Just give it a decent squeeze inside or on top of the trap, to make it harder to eat. This winter, I've never had a piece of white fat go moldy, either, which is a huge plus. I don't know how well it lasts in hot weather, though, but I think it should smell more than it does in cool weather.

[@ninograhonja6991]

hi , just a quick question , has anyone used a mirror to entice pests into the box traps ?

[@waltereerdekens1713]

Does the DOC 200 works well for rats ( rather small rats, ) ? The 150 is not available in my country .

[@Willowflat16]

It definitely does. The DoC 200 is easier to use, IMO. It's also easier to calibrate 200's than 150's. The DoC 200 is a larger trap, so it will require a larger trap box/tunnel. This is good, because you can put other traps inside the tunnel, like mouse and rat snap traps (but they have to be screwed down). Where do you live?

[@waltereerdekens1713]

@@Willowflat16 Thanks for the info. I ve bought a DOC 200 + tunnel from a shop in Finland. ( Hunter ).

[@Willowflat16]

@@waltereerdekens1713Are you happy with how the trap is performing? If you have any problems, let me know, and I may be able to help. A very important thing to do is to calibrate your DoC trap to the proper weight. Before I learned how to do this, I was only killing really big rats, because the DoC 200 was set at 300g. Once I recalibrated it, I started killing all size. Traps are supposed to be set at 100g, but that's rarely the case. I have mine set at 80g, which is the weight that a lot of professional trappers have theirs set at. There are small sets of weights than you can use to determine the firing weight (5g, 10g, 20g, etc) and a safety clip. When you're trapping rats, leave the body of a kill that's in good condition in the lure section at the rear. The best rat lure is another rat, because they're such social animals. If you have rat around that's really difficult to trap, using another rat as a lure is your best bet to trap it. Rats are also big scavengers, so if they can tell that the other rat is dead, they'll be lured in for a big meal. I use a pair of tongs to remove bodies and spoiled lures. Do you trap weasels, too? I'm a big hockey fan and some of my favourite players are Finns, like Miro Heiskanen, Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen, Antti Raanta, etc. Good trapping!

[@waltereerdekens1713]

@@Willowflat16 Thanks for the very important info. I ve bought the trap from a shop in Finland but I am living in BE. I did not know about the calibration. Sometimes we have a rat , it can take 6 months before catching 1. Thanks again

[@restorerodneyeast2130]

wohooo