Hunting Rats?

[russm86]

Well, more like trapping them... Seems we are getting more and more rats in BC, Kamloops specifically. We've had them in our garden and now the wife thinks there's one in the house. I've never had any issues getting mice, whether the old wooden traps or the bucket with popcan, but neither of these seem to have worked for the rats outside either at my place or my dads place. I have 2 dogs that love catching and killing them but the rats give them the slip too. Anyways, cause of the dogs and what not I'd prefer not to use poison and if I use any "open" traps I will need to be careful where I place them not to catch a nosy dog or have them find a dead rat to eat should it actually catch something.

Anyone have any luck trapping/killing them? Any tips/suggestions on traps or bait that actually work for rats? I'm not opposed to a live trap and dispatching them myself if it saves the dogs nose/toes or keeps them from eating them or if the work better than the killing traps.

[Onesock]

Peanut butter for bait

[ghost]

i used to use a live trap and drown them in a 5 gallon pail,peanut butter works great for bait

[adriaticum]

There are some ingenous rat trap videos on youtube.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQdMltoZ8zw

[goatdancer]

I have a Victor Smart-kill electronic trap. It is battery powered and will use wi-fi notification (if you have coverage where you place it) to report the zapping. Available at CT and Buckerfields.
Not cheap but it works.

[robert05]

Best way I have found is to put dry instant potatoes in a bowl and place inside a length of stove pipe. Rats love potatoes and will
eat up the dry stuff, he drinks water and the spuds expand, only thing is a rat can not regurgitate so he bloats and dies and is safe
for other animals to eat. Old school but it works.

[cdub]

Best way I have found is to put dry instant potatoes in a bowl and place inside a length of stove pipe. Rats love potatoes and will
eat up the dry stuff, he drinks water and the spuds expand, only thing is a rat can not regurgitate so he bloats and dies and is safe
for other animals to eat. Old school but it works.

Years ago my dad told this way except the ending was explosive according to him.

[Linksman313]

Hi Russ, Love to contribute on the trapping bit, but had the most success with a Mother/Son Maine Coon's team that cleaned up my 100+ year old barn full in less than a month. When we moved in the barn was full of all sorts of vermin mostly rats. We tried every kind of trap in the book and eventually followed our farmer neighbors advice. Maine Coon's are killing machines - especially when competing lol, also they grow big winter coats and can manage themselves outside for some temperature. But alas your dogs

[TUGGER]

Rat zapper plus from amazon with all the leaf lickers composting the rat problem is on the rise been here for forty years Rats are now a frequent problem

[TUGGER]

Like linksman313 just picked up a rat terrier

[MOOSE MILK]

I have some rats in my wood pile, I used the Victor (plastic) traps from Cabelas. When I first started using them I had 2 traps that went off 13 times and I had 13 rats!
I thought that these were the cat's ass traps, I decided to set up my trail cams to see them in action, I have videos of a couple large rats that will not touch the trap no matter what bait I use. I even made up one of those walk the plank into a bucket of water traps, the rat will eat all the bait tight up to where the plank starts to tilt and then they back off. These things get to be smart.
Think I might try one of those electric traps.
MM

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Trade in those two dogs on two cats. I would never know we had a rat problem if it weren’t for the carcasses the boys leave behind. Steady supply left behind. Neighbour uses poison but the cats are a more green approach.
Other neighbour’s have chickens which I believe attracts them. Chicken chow.

SSS

[firebird]

Like linksman313 just picked up a rat terrier

ya I had a child good friend with a terrier and he used to sit up in his (and neighbours) barn with a .22 and the dog would search around in the hay and straw and get the rats moving and he would shoot them

[walks with deer]

Ha ha i used a 12gauge full choke at 10 feet on packrats cut them in half.

Cats get the mice..
No city rats at my elevation but from my experiance eliminate there food source or you will not eliminate them.

[TUGGER]

Takes a big cat to kill one of these city rats Coyotes get all the cats in my nabourhood

[firebird]

Ferret is better than a cat on rats

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Takes a big cat to kill one of these city rats Coyotes get all the cats in my nabourhood

My cats have killed at least 40 of them.
Regular sized tabby cats

[butthead]

i put the trap up some wheres in the wood shed then put some peanut butter up a bit form the trap so they have to stand up to get the treat
usually gets them

[Jagermeister]

We've been getting them here in Chase ever since some dude tore down a old derelict building at the foot of 1st Ave. They seem to have less and less in my realm because we have been actively trapping them (no Victor type traps, plastic jaws of death are our choice. Too many sprung Victors) Peanut butter and dog kibble work. We have a troop of night crawling cats and we have some owls coursing through the night with a hoo-who here and a hoo- hoo there. We don't have as many as we once had.
You should know, we have the brown rat and the black rat, or AKA the roof rat. They're both brown, the brown rat is larger and his tail equals his body length whereas the roof rat is smaller and his tail is one and a hall time his body length. If you are going to get a rat in the house, it most likely is going to be the roof rat as they are known jumpers. The brown rat just doesn't have the oomph to get airborne.
Create a runway where you think that may be dwelling. 6" black pvc pipe works. Get some Tees and make some side chambers in which you place the trap(S) Block off the backside after you insert the trap so they cannot go in over the trap.
In India, they skewer the whole rat and roast them over an open fire. When done, they just peel away the skin and nosh on the flesh underneath. Apparently it is quite the delicacy although I have never partaken so I would not know.

[4 point]

Caught a big one in friends condo while staying in Maui. Exterminators couldn’t get him. Cheese in a big snap trap i put out did. He was out several night running around the place. Scared the crap out of the wife. Really dampened the trip.

[Baconator]

When I was a kid we used to trap them in the hay sheds on the ranch. We used to use whisky as bait, my mother said that was what they used when she was a kid. Used a #0 or #1 trap and put them on rafters and beams with long chains so thy would hang in the air once caught. A 110 Connibear would work great. Sounds like Jagermeister has found a new calling in life!

[dabber]

I had a rat problem a few years ago . I finally found out that they were climbing the chimney and had chewed threw a knot hole next to the chimney . I kept the doors closed to the basement which was good . And the lights and the stereo going 24-7 , and would go hunting . I ended up getting 22 rats . 9 in traps the others ? CCI has great ammo shot for a 22 and work well with a short barrel.
By the way rats don't eat processed cheese.

[Kos]

Bacon for bait has always worked for me.

[dodge456]

As others have said, peanut butter is a decent bait. I used to crunch up some ritz crackers and mix with the peanut butter. One important thing is the location of the trap. If you can find their pathways that is where to put the traps. They often won't go out of their way just to get to the bait so the trap needs to be where they are going on their own. If you are using the large Victor traps, be sure to secure them to something. I have had the traps disappear with rats in them if they get caught by a leg, also had one that had been caught right over his shoulders and still managed to make it quite a ways dragging the trap before I found it. The last place we lived was out near Bridal Falls and unfortunately the people next door were severe hoarders. The rats overran their house and then made their way to mine. Very important to have your home and crawlspace etc. very well sealed up as they will find any small crack or opening where they find airflow or warm air and chew their way in. Once they find a way in they will keep coming back to that spot so it is important to find those spots and eliminate them. Use sheet metal or something similar where you can as they will chew through wood with great ease. I was told once that steel wool stuffed into small openings with spray foam insulation then sprayed into the wool would keep them out as they didn't like the steel wool. This did work sometimes, other times they would manage to get it all pulled out as well. It can be a real battle trying to get a handle on these little critters. They reproduce at incredible rates with large litters starting at a very young age.

[Iron Glove]

Last year we discovered rat crap in the furnace room so we put out all kinds of traps, electric, snap, you name it. Zero success. Cheese, peanut butter, nothing worked. Filled in or covered every possible hole we could find. Cat sleeps in the furnace room, she did bugger all. :-(
Dogs nailed one on the front porch.
Went into the crawl space, set out poison, didn't find any bodies but they haven't been back in almost a year, fingers crossed.
Last month go to the local Oil Change Shop, kid lifts the hood and says "Sir, you have a nest under here." Get out of the truck, take a look and the guy starts hollering "Look, it's a rat - there it is.", sure enough little bugger is looking at us. Kid starts hollering, pokes at it and it takes off into the pit below the truck. Shop owner is screaming at the kid "I don't want the effing thing down here."
We dug around under the hood, only damage was a bit of gnawing on a cloth wrap on the battery.
Owner comes up top, says he just got rid of rats in his house, he'll get the one down below. I asked him if I got a discount on the oil change because it was my rat he was keeping. Get this stare then he breaks out laughing. :razz:

[SeaScene]

Peanut butter mixed with dark chocolate ... hardens, rats apply more pressure to eat it springs trap.. works for me on the farm....

[wideopenthrottle]

My cats have killed at least 40 of them.
Regular sized tabby cats

ive got a small cat but she loves to kill vermine...She eats them so I have asked my neighbours to not use poison...mostly she will only leave the stomach, some or all of the tail, and usually a foot or 2...If disturbed she generally will leave it and not come back...I have a pic of a dead rat 17 inches nose to tail that she started eating but didn't finish...

[IronNoggin]

This is the best bait we ever used:

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/tomcat-rat-mouse-attractant-gel-1590242p.html#srp

Neighbor has issues in his stand alone garage (never used). They spill to our place in the fall. I kill a handful as they do (six traps running 24/7/365). Then they disappear until the next fall. Might get one or two for the balance of the year besides that.

The bait I noted above outperformed peanut butter, bacon, hotdogs, fish and cheese run right alongside it in another trap. Every single time.

Cheers,
Nog

[Iron Glove]

Anyone ever use the electronic gizmos that hook up to your car battery to "repel" rodents with "sonic" waves and such?
Some folks swear by them.
A marmot got into the guy across the street's engine compartment and did a lot of damage.

[simonvancouver]

as above we had success with mice and rats with peanut butter , one rat was a bit big for the electronic trap but it worked still. (in Kamloops too)

[Stone Sheep Steve]

ive got a small cat but she loves to kill vermine...She eats them so I have asked my neighbours to not use poison...mostly she will only leave the stomach, some or all of the tail, and usually a foot or 2...If disturbed she generally will leave it and not come back...I have a pic of a dead rat 17 inches nose to tail that she started eating but didn't finish...

Luckily my cats don’t eat them. They toss them around and play with them...usually at the end of the driveway. Something usually grabs them after a day.
I have a theory that the one cat has a deal with the local yote patrol. Cats leaves the rats for the yotes and they don’t eat the cats!

SSS

[alpinedust]

Well, more like trapping them... Seems we are getting more and more rats in BC, Kamloops specifically. We've had them in our garden and now the wife thinks there's one in the house. I've never had any issues getting mice, whether the old wooden traps or the bucket with popcan, but neither of these seem to have worked for the rats outside either at my place or my dads place. I have 2 dogs that love catching and killing them but the rats give them the slip too. Anyways, cause of the dogs and what not I'd prefer not to use poison and if I use any "open" traps I will need to be careful where I place them not to catch a nosy dog or have them find a dead rat to eat should it actually catch something.

Anyone have any luck trapping/killing them? Any tips/suggestions on traps or bait that actually work for rats? I'm not opposed to a live trap and dispatching them myself if it saves the dogs nose/toes or keeps them from eating them or if the work better than the killing traps.

What type of dogs?

[TUGGER]

Have a look at the automatic trap Have one I use it for squirrels it is supposed to work for rats too

[russm86]

Hi Russ, Love to contribute on the trapping bit, but had the most success with a Mother/Son Maine Coon's team that cleaned up my 100+ year old barn full in less than a month. When we moved in the barn was full of all sorts of vermin mostly rats. We tried every kind of trap in the book and eventually followed our farmer neighbors advice. Maine Coon's are killing machines - especially when competing lol, also they grow big winter coats and can manage themselves outside for some temperature. But alas your dogs

Yea, unfortunately our dogs are in fact hounds (treeing walker and bluetick) and aren't overly fond of cats... haha

[russm86]

What type of dogs?

Coon hounds. 1 treeing walker and 1 bluetick. The treeing walker is especially good at catching them and quicker than the bluetick but the dogs will team up on them. They got a whole family of 5 or 6 pack rats up at our property out of town over 2 days. Have caught a few chipmunks even, which I thought would be too quick for the dogs.

[russm86]

I've tried peanut butter on the victor traps and bucket traps with no success on the rats either inside or outside, plenty of mice outside though. I've heard nutella is suppsed to work pretty well so might try that and some of the tomcat attractant/bait next with a couple different trap styles.

[ActionJackson017]

I've been battling rodents in my garage since fall. Unfortunately my garage is also my pantry... and once rodents are in and know there's a food source they are relentless - I've killed about 20 so far this year but now am no longer getting them inside as I've sealed off their usual ways in, so I'm picking them off outside the garage. I think I've finally gotten the upper hand after spending about $500 on various deterrents. I feed the crow gods with them when I catch them, they're gone within an hour or two as our neighborhood has come resident crows.

For mice, I would HIGHLY recommend the following traps over the standard Victors: https://www.homehardware.ca/en/2-pack-reusable-mouse-traps/p/5442176?page=category%20page#ccode=8183

They are far more sensitive. The mice were licking the bait off the Victors and not triggering the traps, whereas these bad boys have a hair trigger seemingly. They're also very easy to bait and set up and less dangerous on your own fingers lol. In terms of bait, I'm alternating between standard peanut butter, and peanut butter with a small chunk of ham. Had a friend recommend ham as an attractant, and it's worked well too.

[alpinedust]

Hi Russ, Love to contribute on the trapping bit, but had the most success with a Mother/Son Maine Coon's team that cleaned up my 100+ year old barn full in less than a month. When we moved in the barn was full of all sorts of vermin mostly rats. We tried every kind of trap in the book and eventually followed our farmer neighbors advice. Maine Coon's are killing machines - especially when competing lol, also they grow big winter coats and can manage themselves outside for some temperature. But alas your dogs
Are these a common breed? Is there a source for finding reliable breeder? How much more effective would these be vs a normal tabby cat?


Coon hounds. 1 treeing walker and 1 bluetick. The treeing walker is especially good at catching them and quicker than the bluetick but the dogs will team up on them. They got a whole family of 5 or 6 pack rats up at our property out of town over 2 days. Have caught a few chipmunks even, which I thought would be too quick for the dogs.
Wow, I would have thought they would be too big to catch rats. I was thinking you'd have a rat or fox terrier.

[Linksman313]

Are these a common breed? Is there a source for finding reliable breeder? How much more effective would these be vs a normal tabby cat?

Hey Alpine, i would visit your local pet store and inquire first before Googling a breeder. We were immediately put in contact (by pet store employee) with a farm/rancher out Rock Creek way and had our pair within a week (yes we took them for shots and made sure they were spayed/neutered before entering property). i can say that we were very lucky to get the two as fast as we did. I did run across an article that stated "reports of the Maine Coons demise are greatly exaggerated" lol, in speaking with other cat owners in grocery stores or the bye and bye i found that approx 60% of the folks i ran into owned or had owned Maine Coons in their lives. I could not tell you their effectiveness vs regular tabby (Google might) but i have been nothing but impressed with the breed from personality, energy, to sheer violence and aggression and when on the hunt. If you forget or are late on a feed, they will feed themselves but you will know about it, great family pet as well.
Hope this helps
P.S. we deal with Norwegian Rats here in the Boundary which can get quite large in size (tails alone up to 20cm) and they are no match for the big pawed full bodied Maine Coon. My two devour about half the rat then leave the rest of the remains on the floor where my chair sits in the shop, as a present of course

[alpinedust]

Hey Alpine, i would visit your local pet store and inquire first before Googling a breeder. We were immediately put in contact (by pet store employee) with a farm/rancher out Rock Creek way and had our pair within a week (yes we took them for shots and made sure they were spayed/neutered before entering property). i can say that we were very lucky to get the two as fast as we did. I did run across an article that stated "reports of the Maine Coons demise are greatly exaggerated" lol, in speaking with other cat owners in grocery stores or the bye and bye i found that approx 60% of the folks i ran into owned or had owned Maine Coons in their lives. I could not tell you their effectiveness vs regular tabby (Google might) but i have been nothing but impressed with the breed from personality, energy, to sheer violence and aggression and when on the hunt. If you forget or are late on a feed, they will feed themselves but you will know about it, great family pet as well.
Hope this helps
P.S. we deal with Norwegian Rats here in the Boundary which can get quite large in size (tails alone up to 20cm) and they are no match for the big pawed full bodied Maine Coon. My two devour about half the rat then leave the rest of the remains on the floor where my chair sits in the shop, as a present of course
Wow they sound like true hunters. I definitely agree that asking around would be better than googling for breeders. Thanks for all the info!

[Jagermeister]

Get a ferret and a dog. Send the ferret in and the rats will bail. Then it is up to the dog.

[thick]

Caught 16 rats in the old wooden victor traps since August. All using dried cranberries for bait

[MOOSE MILK]

I too had rats lick the peanut butter off of the trigger and not set it off, I used an old pair of wife's nylons and cut them up into about 3" squares and put a dab of peanut butter in and tied it up like tying steel head row bait and tied them to the trap trigger.
That worked really well but I still cannot catch the bigger smart one. I even wash the trap in the dishwasher and use rubber gloves when handling the trap. I have set them out unset for a few days and put bait around which they eat but will not touch the trap.
Entertaining watching on my trail cams how they avoid the traps.
Must have the Covid boredom...LOL
MM

[Jagermeister]

I too had rats lick the peanut butter off of the trigger and not set it off, I used an old pair of wife's nylons and cut them up into about 3" squares and put a dab of peanut butter in and tied it up like tying steel head row bait and tied them to the trap trigger.
That worked really well but I still cannot catch the bigger smart one. I even wash the trap in the dishwasher and use rubber gloves when handling the trap. I have set them out unset for a few days and put bait around which they eat but will not touch the trap.
Entertaining watching on my trail cams how they avoid the traps.
Must have the Covid boredom...LOL
MM
I think I'm going to leave mine in the composter for a while. I do know that they hang out in the neighbor's compost heap.

[Ridgehunter604]

I mange a wildlife and pest control business so we deal with rats daily.
If they are in the house it can be harder to trap them. Generally they are there for shelter not food (but will take advantage of food if available so ensure you secure anything they can get into)
they will be going in and out everyday for food and water.
The key is to figure out how they are getting in and seal that up along with anything else like it.
Once they are trapped inside they get pretty desperate and will hit a trap quick.
Peanut butter is a good bait. I’d suggest the crappier sugar stuff like skippey rather then some organic fancy thing. Also mixing in some Nutella helps. This time of the year extra sugars really seem to attract them so I’ll often add honey to make it that much sweeter.
The local black rats seem to go for this more then the bigger Norwegian rats. (Though the Norwegians will hit it too.)
often a really oily smelly meat can work well on the Norwegians (left over bear scraps seem to do well)

the big key though is figuring out how they how they are getting in and stopping that.

[russm86]

I mange a wildlife and pest control business so we deal with rats daily.
If they are in the house it can be harder to trap them. Generally they are there for shelter not food (but will take advantage of food if available so ensure you secure anything they can get into)
they will be going in and out everyday for food and water.
The key is to figure out how they are getting in and seal that up along with anything else like it.
Once they are trapped inside they get pretty desperate and will hit a trap quick.
Peanut butter is a good bait. I’d suggest the crappier sugar stuff like skippey rather then some organic fancy thing. Also mixing in some Nutella helps. This time of the year extra sugars really seem to attract them so I’ll often add honey to make it that much sweeter.
The local black rats seem to go for this more then the bigger Norwegian rats. (Though the Norwegians will hit it too.)
often a really oily smelly meat can work well on the Norwegians (left over bear scraps seem to do well)

the big key though is figuring out how they how they are getting in and stopping that.

We've been doing renos and lots of moving things in and out, as well, the other half has the habit of leaving the door ajar for the dogs to get back in when they go outside so I believe, if there is actually one in the house, it got in through the open door. The house is all mostly old glass stucco with the front having aluminum siding, we've done a lot of work there and haven't noticed any holes inside or out. One has been hanging out near the entry area, I've seen it a few times and tried to catch up to hit it with something or sick the dogs on it so wouldn't take much for it to find the open door between trips of hauling stuff in or out.

[Ridgehunter604]

If that’s the case, and it’s stuck in there it should hit a trap pretty quick.
If it doesn’t that means one of two things. It’s found a food stash in the house or it’s freely getting in and out.

[horseman2]

My son's Jack Russell Terrier in the parks around downtown Vancouver after a rat hunting session had to be washed as he was covered in Blood, Guts and Excrement.
The snap traps with the new bait from Buckerfield's works once then they must contaminate them with a scent. Will have to wash them with dish washing soap.
I though the rats were eating the bait and not tripping the trap but it was slugs but on occasion the slug would trip it.
No luck yet with the Instant Potatoes.

[Deer_Slayer]

Use the victor snap traps baited with peanut butter. Place a milk carton or a box over top with some holes cut big enough for a rat to fit through. If you use a box just put some weight on top to stop it being blown or pushed over by a dog.

[Jagermeister]

I found earwigs are just as bad as the slugs for de-baiting a slug.