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Living next to a creek in a woody area, there are always mice and rats to deal with. Mice are stupid and can easily be trapped with a slice of almond in the basic, old-fashioned Victor mouse trap.

Rats won't fall for it. The only thing I have tried on rats that works is poison ... then they die somewhere and stink ... and I have to be careful where I put the poison so the dogs can't get it. A Tubenet search on rat trap came back empty. So, are there any experienced rat trappers on the forum with a genuine, sure-fire gadget to trap rats?

this seems to attract quite a few of them.

I tried to get one of those, but I was told they were available only by prescription. I dunno ... probably some more anti-meth lab legislation.

1. Obtain a 5 gallon bucket.
2. Fill said bucket with water, enough to drown the rat but not enough to allow them to climb out.
2. Punch a hole in the bottom of a coffee can or other large soup can.
3. Run a piece of string or wire through the can and taut across the top of the bucket.
4. Cover the can with peanut butter.
5. Lean some sort of dowel against the bucket near the string.
6. Enjoy finding drowned rats in the bucket the following morning.

Rats will climb the dowel and make their way across the string to get to the peanut butter-covered can. When they prop their feet onto the can to munch down, the can rolls to one side or the other and the rat falls into the bucket.

I have used this and have found mice, rats, and voles the following morning.

Steven

I find it ironic that your name has "splatter" in it . Anyway, in AZ, any trap works when baited with pb. Guess theres nothing to eat here so theyre willing to take a chance.

I use the classic Victor trap - rat trap, of course, mouse trap is too small.

The local hardware store sold us an electric trap called "ratzapper", they're very enthusiastic about it. I didn't catch anything in it, and was also disappointed to find that it wasn't supposed to work with rechargeable batteries. If you can lure the rat into that thing, then it's supposed to be effective and tidy.

I think a piece of carrot works about as well as cheese or nuts. I guess it's like fishing, if they ain't biting one thing then you try another. Keep the stuff fresh, they go mostly by sense of smell, and anyway that way you'll be likely to check the trap once in a while - you don't want to go by sense of smell on that.

We unintentionally caught a few field mice type rodents in a pot of water, on a camping trip. Just a big pot from making spaghetti, left overnight almost full of greasy water - no trick platform necessary.

1. Obtain a 5 gallon bucket

I was a little unclear on the visualization, but a youtube search makes it plain.

SRanney wrote: I have used this and have found mice, rats, and voles the following morning.

Steven

What is a vole?

schlepporello wrote: My solution.

I use a .44 magnum loaded with rat shot to dispatch gophers when I go walking through our horse pasture. When it's a nice, clear, windless day, I do some target practice with a bolt-action .22 lr.

Steven

I'm going to try the bucket trap (clever) for the garage. For the house, I ordered an Agri Zap. Based on the Amazon reviews, there is about an 80 percent probability it will work. I figure it's worth 36 bucks to find out. We shall see. Maybe make some Demolition Man rat burgers.

Garfield, NJ.

Biloxi, MS

TubeNet.

Rat Zapper after following instructions using dry dog food

The way I remember it, that box is near a foot long, maybe 10"? Healthy looking rat.

maybe 10"? Healthy looking rat.

The official dimensions are 4 x 10 x 4.
It was a healthy looking rat.

Last rat I tagged was in my garage with a shovel.. Whacked 'im 'ard an' 'a'f 'is guts shot outta 'is mout' and the other 'a'f shot outta 'is arse! Aye!

I threw it out the back window as a gift to the Rat Gods. Found out later the neighbor's cat brought it home to Mommy as a gift while Mommy was sleeping.

I love nature.

A tuba works, at least on mice. I bought an old rotary valve "F" from Germany on ebay. It played really stuffy. I pulled the slides, nothing. So I took the caps off and knocked the valves out. I saw some "steel wool" in the tubing. So I strated pulling it out. It was what was left of a petrified mouse pickled in spit and valve oil, headless. He had crawled down the bell about 50 years ago, and went as far as he could go...couldn't turn around and couldn't back out. For rats, you might lay out some sousaphones...........