The Brownies are undertaking it as a community project, doing what they can to help New Zealand’s birds, reptiles and insects from predation by rats and other predators.
The Ryman’s Men’s Shed donated 20 hand-made wooden cages to capture the rodents in and these were presented to the Brownies at a recent meeting.
Men’s Shed representative Lynn Andrews said the cages and traps were too small to allow cats into them, thereby protecting household pets.
‘‘Ryman’s are very generous and they donate all the parts which our small team make into both traps and besting boxes.
Mr Andrews says over the years they have made in excess of 2000 units, given to both conservationists and community groups all over the country.
WDC Pest Free Waimakariri staff member Richard Chambers instructed the brownies on how to prepare the traps and what they had to do before they installed their traps.
‘‘Before they set traps they have to learn what pests they have in their backyards by using chew cards.
‘‘These are not poisonous and don’t hurt animals.
‘‘If an animal chews on the card then we can tell by the marks it makes what kind of animal it is,’’ Mr Chambers said.
He said if the bite cards showed the presence of rats or rodents then one of the best lures was a small amount of peanut butter or Nutella.
The Brownies will be using the Trap.NZ app to record how many times the traps are checked and how many times something is caught.
