leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jun 12, 2015 14:44:16 GMT -8
There have been several threads related to Bait Traps and how well they perform in the field, especially in the tropics. I have been designing, fabricating and developing Bait Traps since 1975. Here is what I have learned. Number one: Lepidopterists in general are poor. Money can be tight. Being creative and making their own bait traps is expected. I on the other hand design bait traps that work, repeatedly, ever day, 24/7/365. They are designed to be exposed to the elements and survive year after year, and effective, year after year, every year. The material I used in the Dura Life Bait Traps will survive the elements for 15+ years. I own the original Dura Life Flat Bottom Bait Trap and it turn 14 years old in March 2015. It is still hanging, currently in Perry County, Indiana. None of the home made IKEA, Costo, Bug Dorm and BioQuip will survive one year of 24/7/365 in the elements. I have put BioQuip, Bug Dorm and the young lady from Canada (Who’s name I shall not mention as she thinks I am a handsome old devil!!) to the test, none survive beyond 6 months. Duck Tape, Hot Glue, Nylon Thread, fishing Line and Gorilla Glue could keep them together when exposed “Long Term” to the elements. Number two: Then there are the tropics. I designed a number of 12" Diameter X 42" Tall Flat Bottom Bat Trap. The screen is military grade Nylon Mosquito Netting with a Plastic zipper and HDPE Plastic Platform and Flat Bottom. A Tupperware 6 oz. round container for the bait. It can be suspened with 10 Pound Nylon Fishing Line. I have several dealer in Peru, Boliva, Africa and SE Asia who purchase these traps. These are used 24/7/365. The elements in the tropics is twice as caustic as here in Kentucky. These are excellent products and are lightweight, less than 6oz. Number three: If you spend $2000 to $4000 dollars on a trip to the tropics, I would think you would want a trap that will produce excellent results and will last for many years to take with you. However, that is just my thinking. What is yours? And here is a challenge. Top this, over 1500 butterflies and moths in one trap that were caught in 24 hours.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2015 17:27:37 GMT -8
With the exception of about a week of cold weather after I put my bait trap up I have had such success that I will be buying more of them. I am picky when it comes to what I keep and thanks to this trap I can be even more picky. The nice part is it doesn't kill the specimens so you can release what you don't want. But don't be too surprised if they come back. But that's another story.
Joe
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Post by bichos on Jun 12, 2015 19:36:23 GMT -8
I wonder what the long term effects on butterfly populations are of setting these up long term. Day after day, year after year. Particularly in fragmented forests and rare or endangered species.
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Post by Chris Grinter on Jun 12, 2015 21:42:01 GMT -8
The effect seems to be minimal to none. Vernon Brou in Louisiana has trapped *extensively* on his land for decades. Dozens and dozens of traps of every kind, millions of insects year after year. Yet if anything he has surmised his catch has increased over the years. Given how closely he observes exact numbers of specimens caught, a trend would have been immediately apparent. Traps are fairly passive devices (even baited or light traps) and only pull in from a small area. Most adult insects have mated and oviposited by time you find them so very little (if any) impact is had on the population. Driving your vehicle probably kills orders of magnitude more insects than any trap in any location. Trapping insects is essentially a method for observing populations.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jun 13, 2015 2:21:52 GMT -8
I have used bait traps for over 40 years. I set them in habitats that I know will attract moths. 99.9% of the butterflies are released. The moths, well that is another story. During the late fall and through the winter, I take a larger percentage of the moths. Possibly 75%. Whatever I take from the bait trap is mounted and goes into my collection. I keep nothing in envelopes except what is in my freezer, and in time, that will be pinned and mounted.
This is a guess, 15% of the moths in my collection were collected in bait traps? If I kill it, I will mount it. I do have some large series of some species. I consider 20 specimens a large series.
Also, most of the aberrant butterflies in my collection were taken in bait traps.
Bait traps allow you to look at a large number of individuals and only take what you want. If I collected every butterfly and moth that I collected in a Bait Trap, I would spend most of my waking hours papering them.
But, I will admit, when I travel out west and use bait traps, the percentage I collect increases significantly.
Bait traps are a great tool for collecting LLepdoptera. You can use them 24/7/365. All you do is add bait, the trap does the rest.
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Post by beetlehorn on Jun 13, 2015 6:30:23 GMT -8
Bait traps are one of the collectors' most useful tools, and can be very effective. The option to release what you don't want to keep is a favorable aspect both for the collector and local insect populations, so in my opinion there is virtually no impact. Chris made an excellent point that has actually been proven and confirmed,(and I have mentioned it before). There are many more butterflies killed inadvertently on our roads and highways in one year than have ever been collected by all the collectors worldwide throughout history!
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Post by trehopr1 on Jun 13, 2015 20:04:41 GMT -8
Leptraps, without ANY doubt in my mind your products are simply THE best and you stand by that. I only wish I could muster enough money to pull togather a tropical excursion because that is where your traps would be absolutely invaluable.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 14, 2015 4:25:48 GMT -8
I just landed in Uganda last night, and am looking forward to putting my new bait trap to the test.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2015 5:15:13 GMT -8
Tom,
I hope you brought plenty of insect pins, glassine envelopes and spreading boards with you because with that trap your going to need them! Looking forward to seeing what you collect in it.
Joe
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Post by cabintom on Jun 14, 2015 11:47:23 GMT -8
I've brought a fair amount of supplies, though I won't be surprised if I need to have more shipped in sometime next year, since space and cost were limiting factors.
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Post by joee30 on Jun 17, 2015 21:29:25 GMT -8
Leptraps, just out of curiosity, but you mentioned that you caught a lot of moths here in the west. Now do you think that bait traps would work here in the Great Basin or montane areas? I have done a little bit of blacklighting and we have some nice noctuids and geometric moths out here.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Jun 20, 2015 9:56:58 GMT -8
They will work no mater where you collect in the United State. You will do very well in the Great Basin. Bait Traps work best when it is relatively dry. Keep you bait juicy. Place your traps near streams/creeks. Hang them over water when possible. The photograph that I used in a previous post with a 1000 Asterocampa in it. It was long the banks of the Rio Grande River in Starr County, Texas. I currently have several along the North Elkhorn Creek in Scott County. KY. They are always productive.
Where exactly are you located?
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jun 20, 2015 12:42:03 GMT -8
It's a pity these traps don't catch Papilionidae. They are great for a lot of other butterflies and moths though.
Adam.
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Post by joee30 on Jun 20, 2015 22:45:10 GMT -8
I'm in Reno, NV. Other than the Sierra Nevada to the west, and the mountain ranges in the central part of the state, most of northern Nevada is sagebrush steppe.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 25, 2015 6:00:57 GMT -8
Just wanting to report that I've got my bait trap up in a tree here in Kampala (really, we're in Lubowa, which is on the south end of the city and nearish Lake Victoria). So far I've had better results than I anticipated. I haven't had the chance to identify all of my captures, but at this point I've found 3 species of Sevenia and several Charaxes (C. pollux, C. candiope, C. cf. varanes, and a couple of others). I've stayed at this inn on 2 other occasions and have not previously encountered any of these species on the premises.
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