title: Evaluation of a bait trap for Habu, the venomous snake, Trimeresurus flavoviridis.
abstract: The box trap for the venomous snake, Trimeresurus flavoviridis, 25 X 45 cm and 15 cm high, was made of a sheet of polypropylene board, and involved the use of a small rodent in a wire mesh cage as bait. The efficacy of this trap was evaluated in the field on Tokunoshima Island, one of the southern-most islands of Japan. The catch rate of the trap was expressed by the probability of snakes caught in trap-days, a product of the number of traps set and the period of set days. In one experiment, a result was successfully achieved by setting the boxes for almost 2,000 trap-days each for 2 different test materials in a limited geographical area. The one-way entrance made of flexible polyethylene sticks arranged conically allowed significantly more invasion of snakes than that of a swinging hinged door as shown by the catch rates of 12 snakes/1721 trap-days to 0/1682, respectively. Using traps with a conical entrance, the catch rate with the albino rat, Ratus norvegicus, was 6/2324 which was significantly higher than 0/2450 using rat feces as attractant. The catch rate with the field rat, Ratus rattus, at 31/2402 was significantly about 6 times higher than 5/2446 with the albino rat, whereas an albino rat was about 5 times more attractive than 2 albino mice at significantly different rates of 17/2455 and 3/2284, respectively. The box trap baited with a small rodent proved attractive to snakes and attractiveness differed with the species of bait animals.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051379:Mice; D010571:Pest Control / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D012911:Snakes