Sam the Trap Man - Rat/Stoat Trap & Possum Trap Update

We have been having trouble with our traps - they aren't catching anything! So we asked Sam Gibson who has worked with DoC and Goodnature to come and talk to us about trapping. He was full of information and helped us relocate our traps. 
Sam lowered the rat trap. It was originally 12 cm off the ground but is now only a shaka (a term he discovered when he was in Hawaii - it's a handshake) from the ground. He also put the possum trap in a willow tree because possums will only climb for two reasons; either to be soclal or to eat. The willow tree serves both purposes. 
He also told us lots of other interesting information. Some we had learnt from our research at the beginning of the year (but we had forgotten lots) and some we had never heard of before. We will post our top 5 facts on our individual blogs soon.
We also now have the Goodnature dashboard so we can see where our traps are and any hotspots. What do you think a hotspot is?
Sam also gave us two more traps for the sheds we have seen rats in at school. We were so excited because it took us ages to get the ones we already have.

The shaka

The A12 possum trap being

installed on a willow tree.

Here's what we can see on our Goodnature dashboard. We can zoom in and out on the laptop. It will also collate all our information so we can study the graphs.