Rat catching in a house.

[Migmac]

Reminds of the story about a wife, whose husband was a keen gardener and had been plagued by moles in his garden.

One day she rushed into the house, all excited & breathless, shouting "I've caught the mole on the grass". Husband: "What have you done with it?"

Wife: "I put a bucket over it"......

OK, I'll get my coat

Thanks, I’ve now got an iPad needing cleaned. Shouldn’t read and drink coffee at the same time!

 

[Bravheart]

The rates here are extortionate @ £ 4,000 pa

Ha Ha soooooo posh

 

[Bravheart]

Fenn traps are the kiddies, those plastic traps are hobby only might do a youngster but not a full grown rat. Had one of those cages for a few years now, set on runs and baited with all sorts and caught 1 in all that time, whatever make sure they are tied down.
No experience of the sticky pads, might try some.
Btw. careful using bait round the house they stink!
Thought you need a certificate to buy poison now also poisons work in slightly different ways, don't know which is which but once ingested some make them crawl down a hole others make them thirsty so the body may be found near a water source and easier to dispose of.

 

[armalites]

You have to tether the traps or there is a chance they'll disappear. Rats can take weeks to trap because they know when something is different and will avoid it. They are pretty smart.

 

[pedrobedro]

Got one in the back garden the other day in our catch em live trap from Toolstation. It's not as much fun shooting them close up but it's more humane than the bucket of water. We got several birds and a hedgehog in it over the last couple of weeks which is why we stopped using the kill em dead traps. I was gutted when we caught a wren in one.

 

[brightspark]

Got one in the back garden the other day in our catch em live trap from Toolstation. It's not as much fun shooting them close up but it's more humane than the bucket of water. We got several birds and a hedgehog in it over the last couple of weeks which is why we stopped using the kill em dead traps. I was gutted when we caught a wren in one.

I caught a hedgehog in the live catch trap opened the door and couldn't get it out as it had to come out backwards and all the spikes were stopping it .so I just cut the trap up and got it out

 

[Nomad]

The kind of setup in this video should be fairly straightforward to replicate, and seems to work very well:
This loks the best option for me so far, many y thanks

This looks the best option I've seen so far. Thanks

This is the one I have been using... he set this one of once but was not killed.View attachment 246100

Same here - I've seen rats in 5 of our small sheds/huts. I put down 3 of these traps, the one in the toolshed has been triggered twice but not caught anything. The other traps haven't been touched.

Paging @fizzy as he was asking about traps recently.

 

[magnet]

This looks like a good option i have killed rats with primitive figure four traps but this looks to be way more effective. Simple cheap and easy to make in multiples

 

[DAPPH]

Even better in stainless steel formed rods set up in a wooden or 3D printed base & a simple 3d printed fulcrum point etc. . Could be very good for the squizzers that plague our garden , using bungee cords on broomsticks as the spring & setting them up running along the fence panels along the back fence putting hazel nut baits on 30 mm long 2.5 to 3 mm wood screws brazed to the support rod .
I've got a Fenn trap but my fingers no longer ( Ouch kin OUCH! ) like it nor are they strong enough to set them safely .

 

[magnet]

Even better in stainless steel formed rods set up in a wooden or 3D printed base & a simple 3d printed fulcrum point etc. . Could be very good for the squizzers that plague our garden , using bungee cords on broomsticks as the spring & setting them up running along the fence panels along the back fence putting hazel nut baits on 30 mm long 2.5 to 3 mm wood screws brazed to the support rod .
I've got a Fenn trap but my fingers no longer ( Ouch kin OUCH! ) like it nor are they strong enough to set them safely .

I like where you're going with that

 

[brightspark]

mk 4 fen traps are the best for catching them no matter what brilliant for tree rats as well if you put them in a box with open ends and sprinkle bird seed in

 

[brightspark]

wifey saw a rat sat on the wall 2day eating the bird food out of the feeder his mate was there as well; opened the window and got the gun out of the bog and shot it just been round and baited the place up with the big cheese rat bait blocks . allways have it handy

 

[jordhandson]

Father uses the The Big Cheese ultra power all metal rat trap from mole valley farm shop cheap to, he tried the cage ones, total waste of time also waste of time were the plastic ones. He put them around the hens houses at night sorts them out a treat. Be careful not to put them where cats can get as they are powerful. As father would say, just my two peneth

 

[Keith 66]

My wife was Rochford Councils ratcatcher for 5 years, she enjoyed it, then transfered to be a food safety officer. So in one go she went from being the person people most wanted to see to the one they didnt!
Poison was the weapon of choice but you run the risk of one dying under floorboards & they stink something awful.
Most traps have indifferent triggers & a bit of work with a file or slip stone is worthwhile so they can be set nice & light.
Once a rat has gotten away with it once they become very wary. Peanut butter is irresistable to them.

 

[pedrobedro]

We've had 4 in the catch'em live trap now. They are a bit suspicious of it at first but when it's been out there a bit they can't resist a bit of bacon rind and peanut butter on crust It's on next door's now as we seem to be free of them for a bit.

 

[maz0]

Rats are really clever, been told they wont touch a new food source for a few days when it appears. I had one that wouldn't go near the poison dish until I wrapped the bowl in bin bags, then it was at it like a roast dinner.

 

[bigegg]

I've got one of the GoodNature co2 powered rat traps in no.2 shed (dunno why they congregate in there, rather than the other two: unless it's the smell of paint + chemicals)
Its got about 20 in the last 12 months.
No trace in the other sheds (I have cheap wildlife cameras set up)

 

[brightspark]

well i had a look 2day in shed and on back wall and behind greenhouse and no bait been nibbled . will look tomorrow nite and will see the lead up the ass seems to have done the trick

 

[Matchless]

They stink like you wouldn't believe, if you're considering poison. Incase they die some where you can't get too. Smell lasted about a month and a half for us.

We had a really bad smell in the reception area at work, could not track it down, seemed to be from our side of the counter, was terrible when you opened up in the mornings, one day it was so bad I even stripped down the invoice printer, sitting on top of the circuit board was a dead mouse! very dead!

 

[ronan]

A lad i knew had a serious problem with mice. Plastered the place with poison and he and the family went on 2 weeks hol's. He came back and the house was stinking to high heaven. He asked me what could be done. Short of taking up the floorboards, absolutely nothing. Gross it was.

At least you lads in the UK can buy an air rifle without much fuss, cannot do that here. Ideal tool for the job.