Best Rat Trap

Just this channel will be sufficient. I've been watching Mousetrap Monday for years now. One of the best channels on Youtube.

Shawn doesn't use poison (because it'll kill animals the rats eat) or glue traps (because he considers it inhumane). That doesn't mean he's an unthinking animal rights activist; those are just his preferences. He's very clear about rodents being harmful pests that destroy everything and carry disease, parasites, etc.

He does have one poison he recommends, the mechanism of which is a pretty amazing thing to behold. It's only toxic to rats, and it doesn't painfully kill them either.

Rats are way, way smarter than mice and other rodents, so scaling up mousetraps typically does not work on them. Here is a trap that does work if you have a big infestation. A little expensive but probably quite resellable as well. The title says it all. It's not clickbait. He knows what he's talking about.



https://www.uhlikrepeatertraps.com/

 

Dude, all you apparently need is a bucket, an empty water bottle (or something else you can suspend and spins), and some bait, etc. You don't need to be mechanically-inclined or have hundreds of dollars. They even show you how on a bunch of those YouTube videos. Go do it and kill some rats.

 

Cats.

 

Call this dude (possibly too graphic for some?):

 

I looked at the active ingredients in that stuff and all I found was corn gluten meal and salt, but then found this :

From https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/56121/corn-gluten-meal-MRP-NYSIPM.pdf?sequence=1

Rodenticidal ActivityCorn gluten meal may also be used as a rodenticide with other active ingredients exempt from registra-tion. In particular, CGM may be used as a bait formulated with drying oils such as linseed and dehydrated castor oils (Perry 2013). The commercial formulation Corn Gluten RatX (ConSeal International 2012) has corn gluten meal as the only ingredient, and claims 25(b) exemption. As CGM is used as a food for rats and mice, the formulation apparently depends on other dehydrating agents that cause CGM to become lodged in the rat’s esophagus. Because rats are non-emetic, they are unable to expel the CGM from their esophagus by vomiting, effectively choking the rat.

 

Where were they at, like the attic or garage? If it was one of those spots you need to follow this advice -

This is the best and really only advice required along with basic traps (I prefer those vs glue).

Sealing everything is not only important for current infestations but also future ones. Ie if you didn't solve that problem they will continue to come back.

Next in the future don't use poison especially if you have pets, obviously 2ndary poisoning might be rare but it's not worth the vet bill.

Anyway, seal everything up, and regular traps work fine, rats will be curious and need to get food so will take chances once trapped (rats know better but once trapped and need food will take chances). Glue works too but need to be ready to have a plan. Check daily depending on location. If it's a hot attic the decay process is rapid - ie house will smell fast once they're dead. That's why I like traps, with poison they might die in a wall... On wood traps set like 10 at various spots (especially if you have a strategy with uv light, more below)

Lastly clean everything up with bleach/liquid like spray cleaner and get rid of droppings. If it's a poorly ventilated area wear a mask/gloves at the minimum and spray stuff down before you sweep/clean/stir up dust. Hantavirus is rare but not worth it, and there's other stuff etc but spraying and cleaning is ideal to avoid airborne transmission. In future you can also use a UV flashlight to not only track the issue but can use one now for cleaning and sealing up openings (if not done before).

Plus you need to clean out the mess they left to avoid future issues with pests.

Obviously other advice buckets etc work great too, but sealing is absolutely required. Steel mesh etc to block holes.

Seriously the old style wood rat traps with bait work fine once trapped, and I'm talking about like 10+ rats continuing to take bait once sealed. If it's not sealed area they will just skip it - they're curious but usually not stupid.

On a side note, I wouldn't use poison on anything just because I've had friends lose pets to antifreeze - it's not good, and while I don't like rats etc and they need to go to protect your investment, you want it fast and humane, and seriously if a poisoned rat dies in some hidden crevice in your house... You'd almost prefer having the rat back, haha.

Edit - I didn't know about this type of poison but still, having them die in a wall seriously.... It's not worth it

 

The only problem with RatX is they eat it and they off to die somewhere... if they're inside your walls, you'll start smelling the funk of dead rats soon enough, probably. That's one reason I'd rather use traps that are immediate. But then I've never had a rat problem or used a rat trap, so what do I know?

 

Yeah, I just saw post on it, I think main concern then is dying somewhere you don't want at that point.

Anyway if you think it's sealed then that's fine, the uv light is still a good idea to clean spots and confirm they're gone. For example in an attic infestation they won't touch the traps since they're typically smart for a rodent, and in your case if it was house interior/door opened - etc they're not trapped and will continue to avoid the traps getting food elsewhere, but once once trapped they don't have a choice.

I honestly didn't believe it myself until I saw it. Ie traps didn't do anything, once attic was sealed it was over quickly. Basically a week long battle suddenly ended in 2 days with basic wood traps. Prior to that nothing...

Like they basically would get the food but go back to check again since no food source and it'd finally trip the trap.

 

I bought my daughter a fancy bird feeder and hung it from the branch of a tree in the backyard. A few nights later I was sitting on the back porch and notice the bird feeder is spinning rapidly. I turn the lights on to discover two big rats having a feeding frenzy and carnival ride.Next day i picked up some plastic rat traps that I nailed to the tree. Following morning, I wake up to discover two dead rats hanging from the the tree trunk. I quickly threw them in the trash before the kids woke up. Go for round two and bam the same thing. The body count starts to climb as the week goes on, wife traveled for work and still had a few more days before trash pick up. At this point the trash smelt as if I had gone Carol Baskin and put my chopped up lover in the trash can in the middle of summer. The smell was a sweet nasty horror. I was starting to definitely think someone was going to call the police on me. Monday came with the trash getting collected and no Po Po on my door step.

I had been collecting coffee cans for my sons classroom, so I started putting the rats bodies every morning in a coffee can then placing it in the trunk of my car to be deposited Bad News Bears coaches style in the Wag a Bag trash dumpster on the way to the office.After a little over 20 days and 40+ dead rats the numbers started to drop dramatically and I lost all interest in the bird feeder and tossed it with the traps. God that smell can linger.

I just used Peanut butter on the traps, towards the end I had to use a machete on one of the little monsters as it wasn't quite dead when I woke up. That pretty much did me in on Bird Feeders. Besides I had no idea how freaking expensive those feeders can be.

 

This is wild man, just one dead is enough to make your place smell. I can't believe they kept coming like that.

Did the kids ever notice?

 

It's based on your choice of grill. The Matrix then determines how many rats will be put into your version of the matrix. Choose carefully.

 

Last time I used a classic snap rat trap this is basically what I found...

Spoiler

It was the cutest rat I had ever seen basically a skinny hamster - I felt bad.

 

That was really interesting.

 

How do they keep the little murder weasels from focusing on rats and not killing your pheasants or chickens or whatever?

"Anything will eat a chicken" is a very true axiom.