How to kill a rat

[DannyG]

Hi Guys,

Anyone got a magic recipe for baiting rat traps (back-breaker style)?  I've heard peanut butter or pumpkin seeds work well.  However, the little bugger who's has decided to call my kitchen "home" (and take nightly craps all over my kitchen benches) seems to be a little too smart or fussy to take up on either of those two options.

Cheers,

DannyG

[John_Kunkel]

He might have seen the movie Ratatouille. 

Seriously, if the rat isn't hungry he probably won't take any bait. Is there another food source in the kitchen? Also if the trap was previously used it might need to be ridded of the smell of another (dead) rat.

[The70RT]

Sticky trap. Try some soda pop. I heard they can't belch and they die??? Hell get a cat that will work for sure.

[ramit]

Glue traps should work....kind of messy but should work.

[pettyfan43]

NUTHIN works like a 16 pound black Bombay Cat named KANE!!! He's my buddy.

[Old Moparz]

Since my daughter has two pet mice, I end up using a Havahart trap to catch the mice that infiltrate my basement. I use peanut butter on a cracker, then stick it to the trigger inside so they have to work at getting it & get trapped. I drive to the park, which is 1.5 miles away, & my daughter enjoys seeing them run off into the woods. I've read that if you don't take them far enough away, like at least a mile, they'll be right back.

http://www.havahart.com/resources/trap-guide

I don't care how smart they are, they don't get out once they trip it.

[Steve P.]

I am not a rat trapper, but I once played one on TV.    NO really, I have to say I am a bit freaked out by a RAT in the house. It's not just their crap they can spread. Also killing it inside may have some bad mojo.  If you do poison it, the damned thing may get into a wall or behind a cabinet that you CAN'T get to and die. It's odor will be hell to get rid of..

I think I would first find out HOW it got into the house. Then block it up permanently. Then I would use some type of sticky paper, (think fly paper), or a trap that will catch him and keep him alive.

My mother-in-law had raccoons living inside her attic where it was impossible to get. They had climbed onto her roof and hung over the side. Ripped off her gable vent and moved in.. One became a mother of who knows how many. At any rate, she had to wait for them to move out and then take down all the drywall ceiling in one room as the are much like rats and use the can anywhere they like.. It ruined the ceiling and smelled like hell. She now has a thick wire mesh over the vent hole and a new vent. All new insulation and drywall ceiling.. All due to a Raccoon.   

We have fruit rats here in Florida. Those little shits have eaten their way into 2 of my 65' Coronet 500s.. I don't even have 1 tree on my property. ALL MY NEIGHBORS DO....... 

[superduperbee]

Lowes or Wal-Mart sells some poison called Tom Cat. We had a rat problem in our neighborhood till I started putting some of this stuff out. It comes in teal colored blocks and the rats really like the taste of it. I found trails of teal colored turds across the back yard a couple times, leading to rodent remains.

[Steve P.]

Yup. It works.. It works on Opossum's also.. I haven't used that stuff in a while now, but I do have 3 traps screwed to the cross rails of my back fence. The rats like to use the cross rails as a highway. I don't even put any bait on them. I just put them in their path and at least once every 2 weeks I have a snapped neck mess to clean up..

If I could get all my neighbors to keep the fruit off the ground we wouldn't have near these problems. Nobody eats their fruit anyway. I have asked them. I also asked why they don't cut the damn things down then.. Never a good response..  Idiots.......   

[DannyG]

Thanks guys.  As always, you can count on a Mopar guy to come up with handy and practical advice.  I'll starve the little bugger for a day or two then set the traps with peanut butter. 

Cheers,

DanyG

[Ponch ®]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvVqcuNQHpI

[speedfreak68]

When I was growin up we usto go down to the river with our 22's and so packrat hunting. There was usually like 3 of us so there wern't many that got away lol.

[Brock Samson]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,28595.0.html

[Steve P.]

I remember some of those pics.   The little bassards filled the window trough in the back seat of my black 65'. Of course that was after they eat their way through the trunk plugs and then the back seat and then the side panel....  That was 2 years ago and I have cleaned it out and sprayed it with white vinegar. It STILL stinks in there... 

[oldgold69]

try mixing peanut butter on steel wool it will plug them up.  or get a big bucket and put a little anti freeze in the bottom that should kill them.  just put it some where no pets or kids can get at it.

[Chargen69]

Sticky traps with a couple of pieces of dog food in the midlle of them.  Those little crap heads cant refuse good smelly dog food!

[Mopar440+6]

Get a NEW rat trap (back breaker kind) and get some ham, not the sliced sandwich kind, the block stuff. Cut a small cube of the ham and wedge it as tight as you can into the pan of the trap. I grew up on a farm and we used to get rats in the feed room. The ham trick worked almost every time...