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Wondering what to do after a successful van-ert capture?
Should I clean nest out or leave it?
Thanks
Darrell in KCUsually the rule is if you capture the female you leave the nest in the box and the male will attract a new mate. If you capture the male (ya!) you take out the nest as the female will not return without the male there. Then when another male claims the nest & they begin nest building, you can set the trap again. I usually give them a day or so after there is a pair before setting the trap to be sure they are committed to the nest. Also, this keeps them busy at this box, hopefully letting the blues build their own nest at another box. Others need to chime in here to be sure what I remember is correct.
Thanks for that excellent advice Carol. I trapped and disposed of the male on my first try, and none have been back since, except the TRES pair that just returned from the south to claim the box. I got lucky…..for now.
Scot
Great job, Scot – I have not been so lucky. I have trapped a couple of males but the others have been females. The past 3-4 days I have ben trying to get the pair that have nests at two of my boxes I believe, because I see them going from one to the other. But once I set the trap, they sense something is different and have been too smart, thus far, to trip it. Because I do have bluebird eggs in a box at the very back of my large yard, I went ahead and took out the nesting and I believe, like usual, they will start all over again. I may have let them go too long (too much nest) before I set the trap this go-around. Another thing that usually helps is to place a few blades of nesting material over the arm of the Van-Ert so it is camouflaged a little. Here we go again ……………!!
Great ideas, Carol. It also helps to cover the orange dot if your trap has one. Not sure if he is still sticking those on…
Gin
Atlanta, GAYes he is. I’ve had a HOSP here and 2 on the trail that claimed a box and as soon as I put a trap in those little stinkers would not go in the box for days. I even camouflaged the bar and put a leaf over the dot and still nothing. I finally took out all 3 traps and just gave up for now.
Tammy
Yep, I put tape over the red dot, only left a very little red showing, too. Those evil minds of the HOSP must be on the genius scale!
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