'Stinky' fish and peanut butter sauce 'makes best rat bait'
Thursday, August 23, 2001
A New Zealander thinks he's found the ideal bait for rats made from peanut butter, oats and Thai fish sauce.

Mike Nixon from Karekare uses the sauce to catch up to 25 wild rodents a week.

He's trying to reduce the rat numbers that have increased during several mild winters.

He said: "My partner and I are both keen cooks and like Thai food. The fish sauce makes the peanut butter go further and it stinks."

He says he wants to protect long-tailed bats, skinks and geckos which rats attack and kill.

"We're so close to the environment. We live in the bush," he says. "People who live out here tend to be very environmentally conscious."

He puts out between 20 and 30 rat traps each day.

Of the rats, he told the Stuff website: "I've got a lot of respect for them," he says. "They're very, very cunning. They're excellent hunters.

"They just occupy a place in the eco-system which means they have a big effect."

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