Backyard Trapping: A low effort, effective way to support our wildlife

The importance of backyard trapping can not be understated in New Zealand’s effort to reach our goal of being predator free by 2050. Not only does household trapping support your immediate environment, but it also plays a wider role in decreasing populations nationally. Rats and mice tend to be the main pest suburban homes face, and whilst irritating when they chew through electrical cables and plumbing, their migration into the forest imposes a massive risk on our native wildlife.

A constant challenge facing our national 2050 goal is the rate at which rats and mice breed and how quickly their populations can ‘explode’. Seasonal changes and food sources have a massive effect on these populations. Rats and mice tend to feed on several different items; seed, grain, vegetation, food scrapes and importantly small creatures and critters. The rate at which they eat and metabolize prevents any native species from hoping to defend their own populations. In the winter months rats and mice will seek out areas like your house to live in which are dry and often have a compost bin or other food source nearby. When spring and summer take hold trees flower and an abundance of fruit, seeds and insects are left for rats and mice to eat. It is at this point when a notable increase in populations is observed - just when our native species need this same food source to recover from a long winter and extra fuel for nesting. This annual cycle in our forests can have a huge effect on our wildlife's ability to bounce back! 

This begs the question; how can we meaningfully counter this issue? At home trapping during the autumn and winter months! By eliminating rats and mice during these months you are stopping the exponential growth of these populations into the environment. This then means that those trapping in your local bush areas will have less pests to worry about (not to say they don’t already have their hands full!).  An added bonus here is that you will likely notice an increase in our lovely birdlife around your home!

Here at Envirotools we are passionate about aiding you in this endeavor, our range of rat and mice traps have been designed specifically for ease of use within your backyard. Our D-Rat Pro and D-Rat Supervisor are awesome options for any outdoor area. Got pets or children you don’t want accidentally getting snapped? Our Supervisor Max trap comes with a long-nosed shroud to ensure that only mice and rats are able to reach the trap. All of our traps come with a 5 year warranty so you don’t need to worry about replacing them, and if you use a little crunchy peanut butter with a drop of vanilla essence as the bait (our personal recommendation) you have a cost-effective solution to nabbing those pesky rats.