Capsaicin-treated bait trials for Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards in Georgia and Florida, USA 2020-2021
Dates
Publication Date
2023-08-25
Start Date
2020-03-17
End Date
2021-08-17
Citation
McBrayer, L.M, Haro, D., Brennan, M., Falk, B.G., and Yackel Adams, A.A., 2023, Capsaicin-treated bait trials for Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards in Georgia and Florida, USA 2020-2021: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9UXLTG0.
Summary
Invasive Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) are trapped with chicken eggs when populations are discovered in the United States. Unfortunately, non-targeted mammals are trapped in tegu lizard traps which reduces trap efficacy. We evaluated if non-target mammal captures could be reduced by coating the chicken eggs with a known irritant to mammals (capsaicin) while maintaining a highly desired bait for tegu lizards. The data set quantifies trap disturbance by non-targets species and efficacy of capsaicin coated eggs as bait in live traps set for Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards (Salvatore merianae). The dataset consists of three live trapping experiments to test if 1) trap disturbance by mammals habituated [...]
Summary
Invasive Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) are trapped with chicken eggs when populations are discovered in the United States. Unfortunately, non-targeted mammals are trapped in tegu lizard traps which reduces trap efficacy. We evaluated if non-target mammal captures could be reduced by coating the chicken eggs with a known irritant to mammals (capsaicin) while maintaining a highly desired bait for tegu lizards. The data set quantifies trap disturbance by non-targets species and efficacy of capsaicin coated eggs as bait in live traps set for Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards (Salvatore merianae). The dataset consists of three live trapping experiments to test if 1) trap disturbance by mammals habituated to eggs without capsaicin from previous trapping efforts decreased when capsaicin-coated eggs were deployed (experiment 1), 2) mammals not habituated to eggs as bait (either treated with capsaicin or not treated with capsaicin) disturbed live traps at the same rate as those habituated to eggs in experiment 1 when presented with either capsiacin-treated or non-treated eggs (experiment 2), and 3) tegu capture rates were different when capsaicin-treated eggs were deployed in Florida (experiment 3).
Our goal was to evaluate capsaicin-coated eggs, a known distasteful irritant to mammals, as a non-target bait deterrent in live traps set for tegu lizards in both Georgia and Florida while maintaining an attractive bait for invasive tegu lizards.
