Finally found a solution to my rat problem

[TheBartman47]

I have tried them, they rarely caught a rat. The rats would trip them, but not get caught. The other black plastic trap I posted a pic of works much better.

Same results with me, sometimes catch a rat, but mostly they will trip them without getting caught.

 

[RESLLS]

Look up rat trap hood. Could make one with a milk carton or bleach bottle and a heat gun. Have seen people use a piece of pvc pipe cut in half over the bait.

 

[John in Ct]

I have had good luck this year with those sticky traps.

 

[Non-farmer]

Same results with me, sometimes catch a rat, but mostly they will trip them without getting caught.

One thing i learned was that friends who use peanut butter as bait don't get nearly as successful results as I got before I stopped needing to put traps out indoors. Rodents are smart and can learn to gently lick away the peanut butter. Before I stopped needing to put out traps, I made a change in baiting that was very successful. I'd take scraps of venison with tendon in them, and pull the pointed part of the trap plate thru the tendon. The kill rates skyrocketed.

But again, I'll say I have no experience with rats, as I've never had them here. I was strictly killing mice, as that was all that were around. Now I build cat-proof enclosures out of scrap lumber and load them with the safer form of Tomcat bait. I make sure the bait is unreachable inside the enclosure by a cat, and nature takes its course. Whenever possible, I save the effort of construction and repurpose things like old-school metal air cleaner assemblies, or anything else that's weather-resistant (I am protecting landscaping outdoors) and a cat can't reach a paw into and grab the bait.

@John in Ct: small world lol. I just recently bought some glue traps to try. I'll still need an enclosure for them tho, as again, all I worry about now is landscaping and I have concerns about how well the glue traps will hold up exposed to rain and snow.

 

[Ray,IN]

YEP!

We have had lazy, good for nothing cats that would be in the barn, curled up on top of a feed bag.
Sleeping their way away.
Cat gets up as we need some feed and low a behold there under the cat is a mouse nest with babies in it and they were not dead.

Midnight snacks the cat was guarding?

 

[Farmall m farmer]

We use a bucket of antifreeze they are attracted to the sweet smell and fall in the bucket and drown

 

[jon f mn]

We use a bucket of antifreeze they are attracted to the sweet smell and fall in the bucket and drown

The bucket trap worked great for mice but the rats wouldn't fall for it.

 

[jon f mn]

I have had good luck this year with those sticky traps.

Sticky traps worked good for the mice, but the rats just threw stuff on them to cover the sticky part and took the bait.

 

[BobnUt]

We have 'country' rats, most people call em potguts. They will wipe out a garden overnite.
Killed way over a 100 last year. Pellet guns are fun, but time consuming.
My solution was the Victor rat traps baited with cheese whiz. I put them in tunnels a few ft long made out of scrap 1x4s
Very effective and won't catch dogs cats birds, but it's like running a trap line.

 

[J Wendt]

I'm late to the discussion but I couldn't get ahead of mine either. Fed buckets for years. Bit the bullet and hired an exterminator. They used the tracking powder. Problem solved. You do need a license to buy it. So not a dy project but worth the expense. Not much different than buying all the poison.

 

[Mcrafty1]

Don't use Nolans cheese for bait.