Rat Monitor

In order to monitor the progress and success of the Atiwhakatu Trapping Project and Project Kaka at Donnelly Flat we carry out regular monitors, generally two to three times a year.

Atiwhakatu Rat Monitor

In the approximately 1,000ha area of the Atiwhakatu Trapping Project we have 8 randomly placed monitor lines. In each line we have placed 10 plastic tunnels at 25 metre intervals, these remain in place all year round. During a monitor we put a piece of cardboard, with an inked section in the middle and clear sections at either end, in each tunnel and leave it overnight. Any pest, or insect, that walks through the tunnel will leave their prints on the card. The prints can then be identified when the card has been collected.

The number of cards with rat, or mice, prints does not provide an exact count of the pests, but does give us an indication of how many there are around. If 90% of the cards show rat prints, we have a lot of rats (not good!). If 3% of the cards show rats, that is low, and good.

Over time, following a number of monitors, we hope a trend will show of pest numbers going down, although there may be “blips” along the way.

The results for the Atiwhakatu monitor are published in the below table:

Key:

• NR = No record
• R = Rat
• M = Mouse
• I = Insect

Monitor	8/5/2017	2/8/2018	6/23/2018	10/6/2018	1/5/2019	5/4/2019	2/15/2020	9/19/2020	5/1/2021
Tunnel
AV 1
1	0	0	R+M+I	R	R+I	0	R	R	R
2	0	0	R+M+I	R	0	R	R	0	0
3	0	0	0	R	I	I	R	I	0
4	0	0	0	0	I	0	R	R	0
5	0	R	R	0	I	R	R	R	0
6	0	0	I	0	R+I	0	R	R	0
7	0	0	NR	0	I	R	0	R	0
8	0	M	0	0	I	0	R	R	I
9	M	M	0	R	R+I	R	R	R	0
10	0	0	0	R	R+I	R	R	R	0
AV 2
1	0	M	R+M+I	I	I	R	R	NR	0
2	0	M	R+M	M	M	R+I	0	NR	I
3	I	M	R+I	0	R	R+I	R	NR	0
4	0	R+M	R	R+I	R+I	R	R	NR	0
5	0	R+M	R+I	R+I	R	I	R	NR	0
6	0	M	R+M	R	I	R	R	R+I	0
7	0	R	I	R+I	I	R	R	0	0
8	I	0	R+I	R	R	R	R	I	0
9	R+M+I	R	R+I	R+I	R	0	R	0	0
10	I	R	R	R	R+I	R	R	I	0
AV 3
1	0	M	R	R	R	R	R	R	0
2	0	M	R	R	R	R	R	R+M	0
3	I	M	0	R+I	R	R	0	0	0
4	I	0	R	R	R+I	R	R	0	0
5	I	I	R+I	R	R+I	R	R	0	0
6	0	R+I	R	R	R+I	R	R	0	0
7	R+I	0	R	R	R+I	R	R	0	0
8	0	M	R+I	R+I	I	R	R	0	I
9	0	0	R	R	0	R	R	0	0
10	I	0	0	R	0	R	R	0	0
AV 4
1	I	0	0	0	I	R+I	R	0	0
2	0	0	R+I	0	R+I	R	R	0	0
3	0	R	R	R	R	R	R	0	0
4	0	0	R+M	R	0	R+I	R	0	I
5	I	0	R+M	R	I	0	R	0	0
6	I	0	R	R+I	R	R+I	R	I	I
7	I	0	R+I	R+I	R+I	R+I	R	0	0
8	I	0	R+I	R	R+I	0	R	I	0
9	I	0	R	R	R	I	R	0	I
10	I	0	R+I	R	R+I	0	R	0	0
AV 5
1	0	R+M+I	I	0	I	0	0	0	0
2	I	I	R+I	0	I	0	I	0	I
3	0	0	I	I	I	R	0	0	0
4	I	0	I	A	I	R	R	0	M
5	I	0	0	0	I	R	R	0	I
6	I	0	0	R	I	I	R	I	0
7	0	0	I	R	0	R	R	0	0
8	0	0	I	R	0	R	R	0	I
9	0	M	I	R+I	0	R	I	0	0
10	0	0	I	0	I	R	R	0	I
AV6
1	0	0	I	R+I	R+I	R	R	0	0
2	I	0	R+I	R+I	R+I	R	R	0	R
3	I	0	R	R+I	R+I	R	R	R	0
4	0	R	R+I	R+I	R+I	R	R	0	0
5	I	0	R	R	R+I	R	R	0	0
6	I	I	R	R+I	R	R	R	R	0
7	I	R	R+I	R	R	R	R	R	0
8	I	0	R+I	R	R+I	R+I	R	0	0
9	I	I	R+I	R+I	R	R	R	R	I
10	I	I	R	R	0	R	R	R+I	0
AV7
1	I	0	I	0	I	R	R	R	I
2	0	R	I	R+I	I	0	R	R	R
3	I	0	0	0	I	R	R	R	I
4	I	0	R+I	A	I	R	I	0	I
5	I	0	I	R+I	I	R	R	I	0
6	I	I	I	R+M	I	R	R	0	R
7	I	0	I	I	I	R	R+M	0	I
8	0	I	0	I	I	0	I	0	I
9	I	0	I	0	I	I	R	R	I
10	0	R	0	0	I	0	R	R+M	0
AV 8
1	I	I	I	0	I	0	R	0	I
2	0	I	R+I	R+I	R+I	R	I	R	R
3	0	I	R	R+I	R+I	R	R	R	0
4	I	R+I	R+I	R+I	R+I	R	R	I	I
5	I	R+I	0	R	R+I	R	R	R+I	0
6	I	I	R+I	R+I	R+I	R	R	R	I
7	0	I	I	R+I	I	0	R	0	I
8	I	I	I	R	R+I	0	R	0	0
9	I	0	I	R	R	R	R	0	I
10	0	0	R+I	R	R+I	R	I	I	0
Totals
No. of cards with Rats indicated	2	15	45	56	41	59	69	25	5
No. of cards with Mice indicated	2	13	7	2	0	0	0	11	1
No. of cards with Insects indivated	28	14	44	28	57	12	6	2	22
% of cards showing Rats	3	19	56	71	51	74	86	33	6
% cards showing Mice	3	17	9	3	0	0	0	15	1
% of cards showing Insects	35	16	55	35	70	15	8	3	27

Donnelly Flat Monitor

In the Donnelly Flat area of roughly 60 hectares we have randomly placed five monitor lines. Each line has five plastic tunnels set at 25 metre intervals which remain in place year round.

The results of the Donnelly Flat monitors are published below:

	Donnelly Flat Monitoring results from 25 cards
	Number of cards indicating species:
	Rats	Mice	Insects
31/08/2016	4	3	4
2/11/2017	4	3	15
31/03/2018	6	3	3
28/06/2018	2	2	2
19/10/2018	5	1	13
01/03/19	2	0	8
5/20/2019	9	0	1
2/15/2020	10	7	9
9/8/2020	2	0	0
4/29/2021	3	0	10