Post by bathcat on May 19, 2012 12:55:22 GMT -8
I'm wondering what everyone uses in their pitfall traps when going for Carabidae. Currently I have had reasonable success with just pink RV antifreeze with no runners, but I'm sure that I made four or five pit complexes I would get more. Trying to figure out what microhabitat is most productive in the meantime, cause I don't see the sense in putting all the effort into a five pit complex only to find out that there's nothing walking on a particular kind of pine duff.
A Scaphinotus collector I know suggests half beer, half RV antifreeze, with a bit of dish detergent to keep the surface tension down. He also has a serious problem with raccoons and bears raiding his traps, probably because of the beer. I was thinking putting denatonium benzoate into the mixtures would help this. A taste of that stuff and that particular animal wouldn't be interested in the next cup on the line.
Also, what does everyone use for headlamping bait, the stuff you drop along a path before dark to occupy nocturnal, wandering beetles? I have tried the banana slices trick without much success, but the same collector I mentioned earlier says:
"I recently tried adding liquid bait to the banana trail and it greatly increased the effectiveness. I mixed beer (two cans), brown sugar, artificial banana extract and molasses in 2 liter bottles. Water was added to top them off. The caps were punctured with a nail hole. By squeezing the bottle I was able to deliver a constant stream of bait."
This sounds great to me, but I haven't tried it yet.
What about you? Post your Silphidae, Carabidae, Geotruipidae, etc. recipes as well.
A Scaphinotus collector I know suggests half beer, half RV antifreeze, with a bit of dish detergent to keep the surface tension down. He also has a serious problem with raccoons and bears raiding his traps, probably because of the beer. I was thinking putting denatonium benzoate into the mixtures would help this. A taste of that stuff and that particular animal wouldn't be interested in the next cup on the line.
Also, what does everyone use for headlamping bait, the stuff you drop along a path before dark to occupy nocturnal, wandering beetles? I have tried the banana slices trick without much success, but the same collector I mentioned earlier says:
"I recently tried adding liquid bait to the banana trail and it greatly increased the effectiveness. I mixed beer (two cans), brown sugar, artificial banana extract and molasses in 2 liter bottles. Water was added to top them off. The caps were punctured with a nail hole. By squeezing the bottle I was able to deliver a constant stream of bait."
This sounds great to me, but I haven't tried it yet.
What about you? Post your Silphidae, Carabidae, Geotruipidae, etc. recipes as well.
Although I found that Trypocopris sp. often comes to the beer in the pitfalls. But Nothing like the satisfaction of stir a good dung to find a nice Bubas or Copris 