By Jo, Boathouse Bay resident and Goodnature Supertrapper.

Ross and I were one of the first couples to move into the new waterfront development at Snells Beach. We were drawn to the beautiful blend of coastal bush, beach, and modern architecture that respected the land.

You can read more about the design vision here, but to us, it felt like a place where people and nature could live side by side responsibly.

As it turns out, we weren’t the only ones who thought that. Boathouse Bay’s council resource consent includes a requirement for an active pest management plan, a responsibility that falls to the residents. We had no experience with pest control, but we pitched the idea of a community-funded trapping network as part of our residents’ society. When we got the sign-off, we got cracking.

From 4 traps to 606 kills (and counting)

Ross had heard about the self-resetting A24s and it felt like the right fit, as the terrain is steep in places with no formal tracks, making the maintenance of manual-reset traps a no-go for us. Plus, we didn’t want poison that could cause suffering or come into contact with shoreline wildlife or water sources.

We ordered 4x A24 Smart Traps, and while waiting for delivery, we deployed some trap location cards on trees. Within one night, they were shredded. We didn’t even realise we had a pest problem. No one had seen a live rat.

The traps arrived and off we went to set them up with a drill, garden gloves, and a mobile phone. The next day? We already had kills. It was confronting, but also satisfying. The next week? We were already in double digits and growing fast.

Today, we have nine traps spread across our shared bush block, covering the boundary that wraps around 33 homes. We’re more thoughtful about placement now, refining to 50-metre intervals for better coverage. We’re currently at 606 humane kills, mainly rats with a few mice, and counting.

Our kill rate has gradually slowed to a few kills per fortnight, but it changes from season to season and we still get regular strikes. It’s important we keep the trapline in good working order to maintain low rodent numbers.

Data, durability and (cool) nicknames!

Each trap is equipped with a Smart Cap, which syncs with the Goodnature App. I can tap the top of the trap, open my phone, and instantly see the number of kills, timestamped, temperature-logged, and completely hands-off. Most strikes happen between midnight and 5 a.m., which is probably why no one’s ever seen a rat in action. Some nights, a single trap gets multiple hits. Our record is three in one night.

We’ve had a bit of fun with it too. Each trap has a name: Terminator, Stoat-Slayer, Lara Croft, RoboCop, Xena, and Von Trapp. (Terminator and Stoat-Slayer are the current leaders with 95 and 89 strikes, respectively.)

They’re placed in smart spots, like under the old pūriri trees, where natural cavities make ideal nesting areas for rodents. And the traps themselves? So easy to maintain. At first, we walked the trapline weekly, but when we saw they didn’t need servicing that often, we moved to fortnightly checks, then monthly, especially during the wetter months when it got very slippery. Sometimes we see carcasses or decomposing remains, but often ruru or other scavengers tidy them up for us so we don’t have to touch anything. The perfect solution.

Birds, bush, and shorelines

One of the best parts has been the change in birdlife. It’s an absolute delight to have tui feeding from the flax flowers just metres away, and tauhou (silvereye) and piwakawaka (fantail) dancing through the pōhutukawa.

We also have kākā, grey herons perching in the pūriri, and the majestic kererū swooping around. Not to forget our resident ruru (morepork), of course. They’re not just up in the canopy anymore, they visit our bird feeders, and swooping between houses.

We also have a growing population of California quail that run around in large convoys to the homes that put out wild bird seed. Their chicks are tiny and adorable. They really put a sparkle in the community. The chick survival rate here is much higher than in other places I’ve read about, which is a great visual indication of how well the trapping is working.

And it’s not just the bush that benefits. Our other boundary is the coastline, so we hope our trapping helps protect the resident Dotterels, our ground-nesting shorebirds, from rats and stoats stealing their eggs.

Always on

We keep the trapline running at all times, even during low season, because we believe in ongoing protection. We don’t expect to eliminate pests entirely, not living so close to streams, ponds, farms, the sea, and other residential areas.

We’ve set aside a yearly budget to replace older traps as needed and plan to grow the trapline to cover more areas. In future, we may install a top-line network and add more possum traps, although we seem to be keeping on top of those nicely. We're also likely to focus more on mice control around the residential areas, as they’re known to sneak into garages and nest under decks in the winter months.

From quiet neighbours to proud protectors

We didn’t set out to be supertrappers. But what started as a small, quiet effort has turned into a community success story; one that’s good for the land, the birds, and future residents.

We have a lovely community vibe and often meet over a glass of wine in the common area or in someone’s garden. The conversation always lands at some point on the kill count or which birds people have spotted lately.

We keep everyone updated via our residents’ Facebook group. It’s become a bit of a thing. People ask how “Lara Croft” is doing or whether “Xena” is still beating “Von Trapp.” Some neighbours are keen to go on a trapline tour and are amazed at the stunning native bush we have on our doorstep.

The best part? We haven’t needed extra help as the maintenance is minimal. We have small project groups focused on regenerating and preserving the landscape, and everything is done naturally and toxin-free. Everyone helps where and when they can, but there’s no pressure.
Honestly, apart from the sheer volume of rats we didn’t expect, the biggest surprise has been how easy it is to get on top of the problem, if you have the right tools. Goodnature traps are so easy to maintain, they make us look like professionals when really, our input is minimal.

If I had one message for other communities thinking about pest control? Start. Even if it’s small. You’ll be surprised what a few smart traps can do.

About Goodnature

We’re a B Corp certified pest control company. Our toxin-free, self-resetting traps are used in over 60 countries, and we’re on a mission to eliminate 100 million pests by 2030—without harming anything else.