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Right, so this bad ass mother****** is the size of a not so small cat and SWMBO wants it dealt with. There's no significant food or waste outside so it's not eating here but I suspect lives in a burrow under the fruit bushes.
I've tried comically big sprung mousetraps, and now having seen the photographic evidence I can understand why it's been able to just steal the food and shrug off the trap 😂
But:
I'm not dealing with 'humane' traps, leaving the thing to starve in a trap over Christmas isn't an option. And our neighbours mostly have dogs. Some more likeable than others, but still don't want the dogs accidentally getting hold of rats laced with warfarin. Ditto the local 3-legged fox and red kites.
So:
Electric shocks or CO2 powered traps? I guess in both cases the kites and foxes would dispose of the resulting mess which suits my vegetarian sensibilities just fine 😂
Anyone got any tips?
Stick with a good quality spring trap, but use it properly. Rats are neophobic so leave the traps out unbaited for a good while so they get used to them and they lose any human scent.
Bait your trap with Nutella or peanut butter. Something it can't carry away. Put a little out away from the trap for a few days before baiting the trap. Put the trap in a tunnel or enclosure so a non target species (like a neighbours moggie) doesn't cop it. Consider pegging the trap down with tent pegs.
Or, get an air rifle and start practicing until you can put all your shots in a 10p sized circle and then bait them somewhere where you can safely head shoot them against a safe back stop. The latter method requires more skill and patience than a trap.
Option 3, unless it's actually causing you a big problem leave it be.
Good luck.
Option 3 would be my preference, but I'll get sulked at.
I tried peanut butter and left the traps hidden under sheets of wood, hedges, etc. They'd all been sprung and the bait eaten in 3-5 days.
They're cunning barstewards, that's for sure.
I've had to deploy a couple of spring-trap-in-a-boxes before now. Perseverance is all I can suggest - the blighter had to get lucky every time it takes food from the trap. You only have to get lucky once.
Covering a trap with a sheet of wood or placing it under a hedge is not as effective as a tunnel. The rat can approach the trap from the side or opposite end to the trigger plate causing it to operate prematurely.
This has the added unwanted issue of educating the survivors to be even more wary of the traps. It also means hedgehogs etc. could end up in the trap. An improvised tunnel with sides and a roof of just the right size for a rat and to allow the trap to operate will force the rat to approach the trigger plate straight on so it's neck is broken as soon as it goes for the bait.
Use bricks, tiles or similar.
Also, and I'm sure you know this. If you're seeing a rat in daylight, there are loads more nearby you haven't seen. You never really have "a" rat.
Put a fluffy tail on it and tell you other half a squirrel has moved in
We have a tribe of them living under the decking (bottom of the garden, not by the house). They come out when Mrs STR feeds the birds - if they start appearing too often, I tell her to stop feeding the birds and they go away, well at least stop coming in our garden.
She thinks they are cute....
There's no point trying to erradicate them, we back onto to a bit of scrub woodland, they would just replace themselves.
They don't really do much harm (apart from chewing the cables to my decking lights), I just tell Mrs STR to make sure she's washed her hands when she's been to the bird table. They've been around for a few years and we haven't died yet
I could loan you my cat. He'd sort them out. Only problem is he'll bring them into the house, alive, at 2am for you to play with. What a prick.
I used spring traps off eBay and peanut butter. If you buy small plastic boxes with lids, (big enough to let the trap function) box upside down, tape etc the trap to the lid and put in a wall or barrier so they have to approach the trap from the front. ( I made a sort of l shape from the hole in ) , then a small hole in the box to let them in and stop hedgehogs, children, birds etc.
also my traps had little oval pots to hold the bait so I used gorilla tape to increase the height so they had to go down the pot from the top and couldn’t just pull stuff out the side.
i have bird feeders and have collector flowerpots hung below them to stop stuff dropping down.
i have bird feeders and have collector flowerpots hung below them to stop stuff dropping down.
Brilliantly obvious 👍😂