01-17-2016, 10:01 AM
Polynesians brought the rats that helped destroy Easter Island and they did so long before the "mainlanders" that pahoated refers to arrived. It made no difference that they were Polynesian rats not Norway rats.
A couple of researchers are doing a study on rat and mongoose populations here in Eden Roc. They are researching whether those species eat coqui frogs. They first set up trail cams and have seen several cats and many rats. Hardly any mongooses so far. Some of the traps are snap traps and kill the rats directly. Some are live traps. Those captures must be euthanized. All captured rats and mongooses get dissected and their stomach contents analyzed. In a previous post I mentioned a similar study done in Lava Tree State Park. This graduate student's professor did that study. He said relatively few mongooses that ate coquis but there was one that had recently gorged on 15. Anyway this morning's catch included Polynesian rats, black rats, and Norway rats. It doesn't look like the local cats are making much of a dent. These rats were all taken from my back yard and neighboring properties but I am not having any specific problems that I attribute to the local rat population.
ETA: The trail cams showed rats eating dead frogs left as bait so even if the rats don't hunt them they will scavenge them.
A couple of researchers are doing a study on rat and mongoose populations here in Eden Roc. They are researching whether those species eat coqui frogs. They first set up trail cams and have seen several cats and many rats. Hardly any mongooses so far. Some of the traps are snap traps and kill the rats directly. Some are live traps. Those captures must be euthanized. All captured rats and mongooses get dissected and their stomach contents analyzed. In a previous post I mentioned a similar study done in Lava Tree State Park. This graduate student's professor did that study. He said relatively few mongooses that ate coquis but there was one that had recently gorged on 15. Anyway this morning's catch included Polynesian rats, black rats, and Norway rats. It doesn't look like the local cats are making much of a dent. These rats were all taken from my back yard and neighboring properties but I am not having any specific problems that I attribute to the local rat population.
ETA: The trail cams showed rats eating dead frogs left as bait so even if the rats don't hunt them they will scavenge them.