Creepy Crawlies

We have finished the audit of the tracking tunnels, and just in time, because autumn and heavy rain have arrived. I have spent time over the past few weeks putting out bait, and bringing in papers with footprints on them, which the owners have left as they wandered in to grab a free feast. Well, feast isn't quite the right word. What has been on offer is peanut butter, rabbit jerky and fresh rabbit. And in warm weather fresh rabbit quickly turns into fly blown rabbit which by maggot locomotion can almost walk off by itself when you open the box.

Proud Mum and babies enjoying a piece of rabbit bait.

I was given routes that took me all around Zealandia, mainly on the main tracks and along the perimeter. On the way and inside the tracking tunnel boxes I saw quite a few creepy crawly bugs lurking about which added interest to my work.

A visiting cave weta with a back leg missing

A beetle scavenging about

Large male tree weta on fence post

Case moth

The papers showed up a variety of footprints but only one of the nasty kind which was mice. All it takes is a slight distortion of the fence or a morepork dropping its dinner to allow a live mouse to get in and they do. Other foot prints were interesting too. Little scratchy footprints meant invertebrates, probably weta. Toutouwai or robins are curious and they go in to have a look and leave distinctive bird prints behind. A smudgy line indicated a tuatara had ambled in and left a tummy print.

Evidence of mice

At one point I noticed a beautiful forest gecko on the outside of the perimeter fence. Of course it was unable to force an entry and I hoped it would be OK out there amongst the mammals. It had a more natural threat as well as I noticed a karearea or native falcon hovering high up above the fence and hunting for prey.

"Let me in! I wanna come in!"

My last foray was on the main path for the homestretch and as it was school holidays every time I stopped to check a box I immediately gained an audience. Such interest has to be rewarded so I had to explain what I was up over and over and show children the footprints and get them to guess what they thought they might be. Dads were extra keen and usually answered before the kids got a look in.

Each time I finished my fingers were as inky as the animals who had frequented the tunnels and no doubt there was an aroma of ripe rabbit and the odd maggot hanging about me but I enjoyed being given the opportunity to be involved in this pest identification work.

Eradication comes next, I suppose.

A steep section of the perimeter fence