On Sunday the 2nd I heard stuff dropping in the kitchen. Knowing no one was in there I went to investigate. I had a squirrel that was running on shelves near the ceiling fly toward me. I redirected it to the bathroom. I then opened the outside door to let it go outside but it ended up going back into the house.
I set up a Havahart trap with sunflower seeds and peanut butter and a trail cam in the kitchen to try and catch it. In the morning the trap was untouched but the trail cam showed the squirrel running around with a new friend Mr rat.
The next night I set 2 rat traps with peanut butter with the Havahart trap and the trail cam and I saw only the rat. Nothing was caught in any trap. I kept moving the cam and the traps and everywhere I put the cam I saw the rat. I went around and plugged any hole I could find with hardware cloth. I found where the squirrel came through from the front porch and plugged it.
I heard the rat in the ceiling and I figured out it must be coming down a pipe chase. I set the cam at the entrance and sure enough the rat was there. I set 3 rat traps where it comes down the chase, and the cam and I caught and saw nothing.
Last night I set the cam back in the kitchen and I saw nothing. There were 2 bags of potatoes that the rat chewed and sampled that were stored in the cellar stairs. Those bags were there for months before the rat ate them .
My question is what do I bait the traps with to catch the rat? My go to bait, peanut butter no longer works. One of the rat traps was tripped ( probably the squirrel ) but it wasn't eaten. I have also tried cheese and pork fat with zero results. The rat may have been eating the squirrel and that is why it wasn't tempted by the traps. I have never had any trouble catching rodents before.
TLDR- What bait fo rat trap when peanut butter, cheese and pork fat doesnt work.
Rolo's worked in traps at our commercial building. They were eating them and only them from the snack box, so we tried it and they worked.
What a persnickety rat. I thought peanut butter is their kryptonite.
Follow lotusseven's advice. Figure out what the rat likes to eat and bait the trap with that.
What you need is a predator that includes rat and squirrel in its diet. I'm thinking Burmese Python might be a good choice.
In addition to the bigger predator approach, you gotta seal up other sources of food.
As I mentioned in the other thread when we were having a mouse problem. The only thing that ended up working was to have a wildlife remediation company come, set traps in the attic, and then seal the ENTIRE outside of the house. They came back and checked the traps every week for 4 weeks after that. After 2 weeks no more problems and haven't in almost the year since.
Of course that cost me $1500, but I consider it well worth it.
I hot glue dog food and walnuts to the trigger. They have to pull the trigger to try and get the treat.
This took care of a small colony of chipmunks in my last garage and some squirrels that thought the wife's Jeep was a good place to store their walnuts.
Thanks for all of the ideas. The only source of food we found so far was the potatoes. Everything else is in metal cabinets. It must have a store from the summer or is eating the squirrel. I think the rat moved back into the basement as my trail cam upstairs was clean again. We normally have cats but the last inside one died last summer and we have not had the time to find a new one. I guess we need to find the time. I don't use poison becouse we have outside ferel cats that keep the outside and garage patrolled. Now I have to go out and buy some rolos.
1988RedT2 said:
What you need is a predator that includes rat and squirrel in its diet. I'm thinking Burmese Python might be a good choice.
Coyotes? More common where I live than large snakes.
Lightning roasted mushroom?
thats the problem I also have ,
there is lots of stuff around to eat and they seem to be able to live on cardboard , or like to chew on it !
and mine do not like peanut butter either !
i hope you find something else that works !
Good Luck
Rats have terrible vision, they will tend to follow walls. Put any traps along walls, especially if there is a known path.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
1988RedT2 said:
What you need is a predator that includes rat and squirrel in its diet. I'm thinking Burmese Python might be a good choice.
Coyotes? More common where I live than large snakes.
More common; sure. But you'll need an alligator to get rid of the Burmese Python and alligators are already predators of coyotes so why get a coyote only to then need an alligator?
*DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING*
And the winner of the best new rat trap bait for the year 2022 is:
lotusseven7 and Rolo candy
I killed the dirty rat on the first try when everything else failed. Of course the rat left a huge mess that I get to clean up but it is finally gone. I hope there aren't more but as we know there are always more.
I know, it is time to get some cats.
