I saw a rat in the coop today...

[crankster76]

thatsthe coolest trap Ive ever seen....thanks

 

[Yetti]

nice. My bucket trap has yet to get it. It prefers to get into the coop itself despite me chasing it out every night. I would imagine it'd go for my bucket trap outside the coop. I filled it with sunflower seeds and put peanut butter!

i'm very angry as I chased it down today (for the first time in broad daylight) and I just missed em with the bat. That gets under my skin, that the bugger gets to live another day.

put the cap end of the bottle near the edge of the bucket to give the mouse a false sense of security. he won't know the next step is a doosey!

 

[Yetti]

I two'fered! got another one bobbing in the trap today!

 

[Mattemma]

I am always suprised the animals in my repeating bird trap don't warn the others,or the others see them trapped and reconsider the risk of trying to get the food.

I have been catching mice with my sparrow trap. I could probably get smaller rats,but they would give that trap a good chewing. I like this bucket method.Though last time I tried it did not work. I will use a garbage can next time!

Here is my sparrow trap that I ordered from TX a few years ago.Got it in my crawl space after the mice kept eating the food off the snap traps:

 

[dwegg]

I have rats now every night and more than two or three...and I think they are living in my roof! I trapped two but the bloody trap only managed to snap their front leg off! Gross! And they still got away...so now I have put out poison and they have eaten all of it three nights in a row now!

I can see them out there from my house as I have a little light in the coop next to my big one. I have had two rats jump/fall on me as I ran out thereandopened the coop door...gross! I wack them with a stick but they are so quick.....

 

[Yetti]

Rats love to take the high ground. it removes them from things that predate on them.
I had roof rats here when they set my house. it had been a model home for Heckman homes. the rats love the loose fill insulation in the attic space. I used 50+ bags of poison pellets up there. I haven't had a problem since. the trick was finding where they getting in. my daughter spotted them one day running up the corner of the basement and up the corner of my vinyl siding. they had a straight run right to the roof.

my current bucket trap in the coop is at 3 kills. if you make one I am having great success with it sitting about 5' off the floor. its right against the corner post where they run up and down. make it easy to get to. rats & squirrels are great at getting in and taking the high ground so put the traps where they are.

 

[mendozer]

i eventually got the second one with my bat.

 

[dwegg]

I got all of mine...I put out bait as the traps were only trapping them by their legs ect...so I put out bait each night and brought it in every morning before letting the chickens out...I found two dead in the yard and my neighbor found one...they were huge...I have not seen any at night this week and no one is eating the baits any more...

Maybe they just got wise to it and have stayed away from the bait? Hope not...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can that bucket trap be used for rats too? we had something digging into and under our compost bin, set out the game camera and saw a huge field rat. yuck. So i am very concerned about using poison, we are talking about getting a rat trap. I don't want anything else [wild life to eat a poisoned rat and die because of it]. But It's starting to get close to brooding season and i don't want any chicks or ducklings eaten by a rat either.

 

[OrphanNanny]

I too have found the 'Secret of Nimh' in my coop recently

Got one big pregnant bat rastard with the pellet gun with my very first shot...then nothing since...they're on to me

LOL I've hung up the feeders to try and deter them but then I realized that they're getting their fill off of the wheat straw that I'm using for bedding (still some wheat heads in there~GREAT fun for the chickens, apparently for the bat rastards too) Would this bucket trap be considered "chicken proof"? Because I was thinking a little antifreeze in the water to keep it in a liquid state might work

but maybe that's not a good idea afterall and I'll have to just wait to use this trap til it's not freezing every night.
Here's a picture of the first and, so far, only kill...along side my size 11 boot for comparison