The hardest hunt I have had in five years....

[pilar]

OK, I will take on the role of contrarian against cats here.

IME, trying to solve animal problems with animals hasn't worked out very well for me.


A Norwegian Rat is about as big as a gray squirrel. IME, cats do well with mice, voles, and moles, but don't do very well against rats.


Now, I've seen some dogs that can get the job done, but that is usually an ambush situation.


I've used these with great results (actually, the older style with just a metal tab to hold the bait - "prebaited" means nothing):

Victor® Wide Pedal Rat Trap

Victor® Easy Set® Rat Trap - 1 Trap The original wood-based wire snap trap, the Victor® Easy Set® Rat Trap, 1 Trap Pack, provides instant rodent control and is safe for household use. For effective rat control, each rat trap comes pre-baited with a large, scented plastic ‘swiss cheese’ trip...

www.victorpest.com

Maybe a bit too cliche, but I've had the best luck with sharp cheddar cheese. Just push it into all the crevices, where the rats have to work for it.

I’m with you, we had a few barn cats and I have seen them catch a rat and then start playing with them and the rat takes off running away into the wood pile and escape, cats aren’t big enough to kill a rat effectively, then they have kittens and the tomcat kills the kittens or runs them off where they become a wildlife nuisance ( quail and songbirds)
Poisoning them or peanut butter traps is better

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Interesting variety of execution styles. Electrocution, gassing, poisoning, drowning, firing squad (my favorite), imprisonment for life (shortened artificially) ... I've even seen guillotines advertised. And the cat ... close as we can get to an executioner that draws and quarters its victims. Seems the Victor trap is the only method proprietary to rodents.

 

[dchamp]

Feral cats work well for me. Feed them just enough to stay around. If the rats get up in your walls and/or attic then a ferret would be better. Keep a air rifle handy for back up.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Is there a conibear trap made that's small enough for ship rats? In the days when I helped a friend with his trapline I recall we took quite a few ermine and they are about the same size as rats. Can't remember what equipment was used, but up here the law requires killer traps or snares.

Forgot about snares ... so I guess I could add death by hanging to the list of execution styles?

 

[JimP]

Seriously … … old style Victor traps with the metal pedal have proven best in my experience. They come in both mouse size and rat size. They are getting harder to find though with latest iterations having a stupid yellow plastic pedal. Simply flatten out the curled metal pedal with needle nose pliers then glue a piece of salty pretzel to pedal with clear epoxy. Can last several catches if you check and reset often after catch. That keeps bait in place because relatives will eat the bait with the dead relative in the sprung trap.

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A few years ago I had a number of ground squirrels moving into my flower gardens and lawn. I had a couple of these traps after a unsuccessful try at one a couple of years before. A little bit of peanut butter and with them sitting near the squirrels holes made quick work of them. I don't think that they were set longer than 15 minutes before there were no more ground squirrels.

On the one that I didn't get a few years before, he was living in my garage and one day I chased him out. Right around the corner there was a 2" piece of conduit and he ran right into it. I blocked off one end and quickly dispatched him.

You just need to be tenacious in your pursuit of them.

 

[BonUm16]

Drop me a pin and I’ll swing by. We’ll get that filthy vermin sorted out in no time. I’ve got a spare boater but you’ll have to provide your own tweed.

Seriously, hope you find a solution. I’ve had to get creative to outwit the occasional “smart” mouse but, thankfully, never dealt with your issue.

 

[Bonk]

I use dry dog food to bait mouse/rat traps. Doesn’t get moldy and the mice love it. Got to put it where the dogs can’t get to it though.

 

[fourfive8]

Some pics of mouse and rat sized snap traps. A couple of them have years of “experience”. The older mouse trap has over 100 kills under its belt. Also a pic showing diff of old and new with stupid plastic pedal.

 

[fourfive8]

Oh and forget about using one the popular warfarin baits! Can be deadly to pets and you may start asking, in six months, “What’s that smell in the wall or in the sofa?”

 

[CJW]

I don't like those plastic pans. I think that if they set them off too close to thr edge they either just get whacked on the nose or missed completely if their reflexes are fast enough.

 

[tomahawker]

Standard victor rat trap. Wet paper towel with cooking oil, rub on trap latch and notch to slick it up. Wrap sliver of raw bacon around trap pan. Peel a thin string like strand of duct tape and secure bacon to trap pan. Test fire trap to gauge sensitivity. Place in likely spot, a bit out of the way so target feels comfortable working the trap. If target is completely trap/bait wary find a #1 to #1.5 leg hold trap and place in runs where target is forced over trap. NO BAIT, no nothing, simply trap. 110 conibear works as well. Again test fire these traps to gauge amount of force needed to set them off and the more traps the merrier. This is mortal combat. No quarter asked and none given.

 

[Sideshow]

@steve white have you tried pumpkin seeds in your traps? You can use a needle and thread and stitch them on to the trigger arm. Rodents seem to love them and will tug away till it goes off.
I also make this up with a bucket and fenn traps. (Pic above) cut two holes and add drain pipes in each side place fenn trap in and he will come in. Put lid on. That way you don’t catch the unwanted prey. Also if you leave it unattended for a few days in your loft space he wont melt into your insulation.

 

[Sideshow]

Mice with the pumpkin seed trick. The plastic lid is to stop the melt. Rat zilla from my bucket trap!

 

[steve white]

OK, he may not be a Norwegian rat--his tail is not as large diameter, nor probably the body--but he was plenty big enough to scare my wife when he jumped past her off a box in the closet. When I catch him, I will make a better identification.
One I caught years ago in the attic had a white stomach--tree rat perhaps? Plus a whipy tail. I caught him while targeting a raccoon, with a small leg hold trap polished until it would go off if you blew on it. I forgot about that. I put it in a shallow box filled with wood shavings and he set it off digging around to find the bait. Will go look for that asap. Might work again!
Thanks, all.

 

[steve white]

WOW, so we are going through and getting rid of stuff while trying to get the rat to go out the door, and I find an old purse my wife had stored, FULL OF WWII RATIONS CARDS AND BOOKLETS OF DIFFERENT KINDS. ! They were for five relatives, more than they could use. Neat little things. Never seen one before. Some had tanks pictured, some artillery, etc. Haven't decided if they are for fuel food or what.
One deacon told me tires were rationed, and that tires had a number on them, like a serial number. A relative swiped his new ones, and he tracked him down to Dallas, identified the tires by the numbers, and the judge gave him the option on jail or join the army. He chose army, lol.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

The prey is practically a genius. I have become a real crank, some of you may have noticed, due to 5 nights of very poor sleep trying to kill it....a Norwegian rat! First one to ever make it into the house in 40 years. Wife would kill me if she saw me post about this, but I need HELP. I have scoured the internet for ideas. Even tried the five gallon bucket water trap, baited with peanut butter.

No trap, no stickie, no bait block, or concoction of Jiffy cornbread and baking soda has been touched, no mixture of confectioners sugar and plaster of Paris, either. It has no attraction to drinking anti-freeze; maybe the new stuff isn't sweet enough. Nothing has been touched, even in the attic or crawlspace. Wax rat blocks always worked before in the attic.
No leopard has been more clever. Ideas?.....

I have had luck with difficult rats by setting up a "feeding station." If you can, determine his usual travel routes. Use food, peanut butter works best, and put it on something like a plastic coffee can lid, and place it on his path. Refresh the bait station every day if he takes the bait. Do this for at least a week. You are training g him to eat at a certain location. After a week, place a live trap in the location and set it, but place the bait at the entrance. If he takes that for a couple of days, set the trap with the same bait.

About forty years ago I worked for a pest control company and developed this technique while there, and yes, it is kind of labor intensive. The same method also worked on educated raccoons, but use cat food for bait.

 

[Hunt anything]

Sorry to go off on a little tangent but, I had rats in my duck boat. I just used regular rat traps and was cleaning them out pretty quickly. When I would take them out of the traps I would just throw them in the yard and come back and dispose of them but after a day or two they would already be gone. The next morning I was throwing them out and before the rat could hit the ground a swallow tailed kite swooped down and caught it. That kite hung around for as long as I caught a rat every other day or so before it went on north in its migration.
I used peanut butter with bird seed on it for bait. (Back on topic)

 

[Green Chile]

View attachment 732063

Fantastic dog species. I have a little female pit bull that is a rat killing machine. She's desperate to get the squirrels in the backyard but that would probably require a trip to the vet for stitches!

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I use exclusively Tomahawk brand live traps. They are designed witha lighter trigger. No, I do not want to keep a live rat, I kill the rat... but for true rats (not just little mice) it makes a difference. I find that rats are MUCH smarter and avoid a spring type victor trap. I bait primarily with peanut butter. I put the bait in the trap so that the rat must climb on and activate (press) the trigger.

When I set the trap I cover the trap with something. An old blanket, a dark trash sack, etc.

Give the rat the feel he is entering a protected place and he doesn't see the cage he is entering.

I have been traping various species for 60 years.

God bless.

Dale

Absolutely right !

 

[double rifle newbie]

cats. definitely cats…Tiger and Juneau keep the yard clear. squirrels, juvenile possums, snakes, spiders, frogs, chipmunks, rabbits, and sometimes an unfortunate bird. pretty much anything smaller than them that they can catch.