electronic rat traps

Why can you not use traps that don't kill them?

Tip traps, not kill traps.

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

As for traps that don't kill them, I don't want to let it out only to find it comes back in. If I remember correctly if you take them too far away from their patch they die anyway. 

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

BTW, what make/model was the night sight?

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

One rat - you may be lucky!
I caught one rat in a humane trap. Think he told all his mates before I found him, because none of them went near again.

We got about seven mice in a week with humane traps in the kitchen, so mice aren't as smart.

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

BTW, what make/model was the night sight?

Pard NV007.

https://www.scottcountry.co.uk/products/pard-nv007-rear-mounted-night-vision-add-on

Budget model, works fine. On a cheap .177 Chinese PCP air rifle.

 https://www.justairguns.co.uk/smk-pr900w-pcp-air-rifle-177/

The rifle will put four shots into a 1 cm circle as 25 metres, then misfeed a pellet and it'll be 10 cm away.
Good farm gun though, as a few scratches don't matter.

(Rats were slowly demolishing my old stone farm buildings by hollowing our the walls from inside....)

Thanks. I've not used one of those pcp rifles - mine's a spring loaded Weihrauch. Powerful enough but noisy. Before i got the cat i was thinking about a gas powered rifle, but seems a bit indulgent now. 

Luckily we have an evil kitten = no mice or rats. But apparently my ankles and toes are fair game also .

Are you using air rifle in the house ?

Mark671 said

Thanks. I've not used one of those pcp rifles - mine's a spring loaded Weihrauch. Powerful enough but noisy. Before i got the cat i was thinking about a gas powered rifle, but seems a bit indulgent now. 

£200, no recoil. Helps with the accuracy. These PR900w rifles feel like a toy, but they are great.

Scorpion Moon said

Luckily we have an evil kitten = no mice or rats. But apparently my ankles and toes are fair game also .

Are you using air rifle in the house ?

I’d get told off for that.

I wouldn’t be the first family member to shoot a real firearm indoors though….    Kenya was fairly exciting the first half of last century.

Huw said

Mark671 said

Thanks. I've not used one of those pcp rifles - mine's a spring loaded Weihrauch. Powerful enough but noisy. Before i got the cat i was thinking about a gas powered rifle, but seems a bit indulgent now. 

£200, no recoil. Helps with the accuracy. These PR900w rifles feel like a toy, but they are great.

Thanks for the tip.

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

I had a similar problem  15 years ago.  I live on the edge of the countryside. Rats were coming in (and nesting in) through ‘dead’ drains that hadn’t been capped off in the house we had just bought.  I called Environmental Services.  They sent a guy who came in and placed poison in the obvious places. He spotted the drain issue and told me where to get caps and how to fit them…..but only after he was sure he had “driven the buggers out”.  He showed me how to block off all other potential access points with chicken wire.

Once I had done all that he came back and checked everything was ok.  And it was.   Total cost and 15 years rodent free….

about £140 inc VAT.

He said killing them is unavoidable as “they are really intelligent…and because of that they will avoid all the non lethal stuff”.  He had also be killing rats since he was about 8 and got a terrier puppy.  The dog sought out rats on his farm and he just followed in from that.  He also opined that today’s moggies were too fat and happy to take on grown rats red in tooth and claw……but terriers did it for fun.