An improved 1080 paste for control of possums (<i>Trichosurus vulpecula</i>)

Abstract

A new 1080 paste (PTP) was developed by PestTech Ltd and then evaluated in a series of comparative trials with Pestoff possum paste (POP) The research indicated that PTP was significantly more palatable to captive possums than POP following 57 h of exposure to hot conditions (hot conditions were 30C for 6 h followed by 18 h at 13C on a 24 h cycle) Acceptance by bees was low with significantly less PTP than POP removed by forager bees over a 30 h period In the field the control efficacy of both pastes was high (8994 kill) with no significant differences between treatments Based on these results it is recommend that PTP is registered for possum control in New Zealand