Rat trap: Snapped on my finger today (yellow plastic paddle trigger is too sensitive)

[DD_BobK]

How about a tape in the photos for scale? Rats do not normally come out to get trapped during the day. That animals ears look more mouse like than rat like JMO

The plastic triggers suck.

[DD_BobK]

rats have much more pointed noses,

+1

[gfretwell]

Did you look at the bucket lid. That is almost 13" across and the rat is almost that long with the tail. You are thinking about Norway rats. That is a roof rat.

[gfretwell]

I use Costco laundry detergent that comes in a bucket with that lid and I did post a picture with a measuring tape on the lid.

[Roy]

The EARS say MOUSE...the NOSE says MOUSE...I have trapped DOZENS of these mice in my old house. They also have a habit of "pack-ratting" all kinds of material and stashing that material in boots, shoes and winter wear (overshoes). Every fall they try to find a nice winter home and infiltrate no matter how I try to mouse-proof the old shack.

[Unquestionably Confused]

And I say, who cares?

I got tired of setting traps for mice in the garage and, in the fall, in the laundry room.

I bought a pair of Rat-Zapper Classics (now called "Raticators")

Powered by AA batteries they work like a charm.

Check it out:

When the pilot light says it's got one DRT, I just shake it out into the garbage can or back in the field and drop in two more small pieces of dry dog food and set it back down next to the wall.

When I first got them and set them out in the garage and shop, I was zapping three or four mice per day. Now I might get one every two weeks or so.

[gfretwell]

How many were almost a foot long with the tail?

[DD_BobK]

WARNING.....

I bought on of these POS's..... ~$50....took forever but eventually killed one rat.

Developed "error condition" replaced batteries... twice. Still doesn't work, company gives run around.

I cannot afford to kill rats @ $50 a pop.

Reading Amazon reviews.... lots of people love these units, a fair number hate them. I'm guessing they have QC / production problems (made in China?)

If you get a good one, you;re golden if you get a bad one...you're SOL. :(

cheers Bob

[DD_BobK]

Well done..... our local rats don't look like that (all the ones I've caught over the last 30 years) That looks like one of our local mice but MUCH bigger.

I'll defer to your expertise.... I've never caught a rat during the day, only at night. Mice, OTOH, day or night...they;re really dumb.

I've seen this style rat.

cheers Bob

[Unquestionably Confused]

For once I apparently was lucky and, thus, golden. Bought a twin pack for something like $75. Had one instance where, as you alluded to, it went to error condition (showed there should be a dead mouse/rat/critter but there wasn't).

Washed it out in a shallow pan per the instructions, let it dry and all's been well ever since.

Had mine two years now and have changed the batteries out three times. It's a hit! Just keeps knocking them dead! (sorry, couldn't resist).

Spring time now and wife will move one out by her herb garden and decimate the gopher/ground squirrel population.

Buddy who tipped me to these is out in San Diego where tree rats (or roof rats) are a problem. Damn those are some big dudes. Thought that maybe he had to catch them and pound them into the traps to make them work He's sent pictures of the damn rats with their ass hanging out of the trap. DRT!

So long as it works, I'm happy and SWMBO is happy and that's all that counts.

[gfretwell]

I did a little looking as a sanity check and it turns out roof rats are the most common here in Florida but far outnumbered by the Norway rat in most of the country.

This is a pretty good comparison graphic

I have killed a bunch of them, including three I shot in the house. (much to my wife's dismay) I found out, if you can get your thumb in a hole, a roof rat can get in it but they usually open it up to about 1 1/2" pretty quickly. The only way to keep them out is to SEAL up the house.

[gfretwell]

I had the best luck with the live trap in that other picture I posted. It did not seem to disturb the ones I didn't catch right away and they kept getting caught until they were all gone.

They seem to learn pretty fast and start avoiding a trap they see a dead buddy in. The glue pads work pretty good too if you put it along a wall where they like to run. Just be sure you anchor it or they will run off with it. That was the first one I shot in the house. He was running around dragging a clue trap and the dog bowl the glue trap caught along the way.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Rat Zapper recommends occasionally cleaning out (soak in a shallow pan with a bit of detergent and let air dry). Likely to remove the scent of death more than anything else.

IIRC placing any trap along the wall is the way to go. Little buggers don't seem to like scurrying out in the open and tend to follow the walls.

The mechanical cat (the trap that scoops them up and flings them into a holding cell to starve to death recommends that placement. You see the commercial bait traps at Costco, Sam's and by factories always along the walls.

I know Rat Zapper recommends locating them that way. Seems to work just fine.

[repairs]

Times are hard. The economy is worse. There are a lot of hungry and starving people. One of your neighbors probably took it home and cooked it for dinner. -OR- What did your wife cook for dinner last evening? Maybe you ate it, and didn't even know!!!!

Or you have a cat in the neighborhood, and cats are your friends whern it comes to rodents.

[gfretwell]

Not true at all. Cats start by killing everything else that is easy and then start working on the rats that are expanding into the larger food supply available because everything else is dead. Cats will never make a dent into a rat population. They breed faster than cats can eat them.

Someone here loves to tell us about Towser the wonder cat that killed of rats but they never say there was a shortage of rats for Towser to kill.

If you have a lot of cats, you are moire likely to have rats and very little else..

[Danny D]

Yup. Both covers are exactly the same (and both from Costco).

[Attila Iskander]

What a small rat...

[Roy]

That's because its a !@#$% DEER MOUSE.

[victor3410086.2]

I HOPE YOU CALLED AN AMBULANCE!

This could kill you!

[Danny D]

It didn't kill me, but the nail is about to fall off ... :)