Rat Trap

[ThreeOfSeven]

Has anyone tried one of these rat traps? I set it up a while back, but it was out in the open, and the squirrels had their way with it. Now it's in the large chicken run that is fenced all around and overhead. Squirrels can't get in. Hoping to find some angry rats in it tomorrow morning.

 

[pibb]

Yes I built one. Used peanut butter and cheese. I was very disappointed. I caught nothing. They wouldn't go up there. It looked like a great ideal from youtube.

I grabbed some snap traps and put peanut butter on them. People say peanut butter is the best mouse bait but I can't catch any with it. I put cheese on the snap trap and I didn't make it out of the run and [snap]. I caught them all (5 i think) in two nights.

 

[Ebony Rose]

They're fond of jelly and jam too.

 

[gtaus]

Has anyone tried one of these rat traps? I set it up a while back, but it was out in the open, and the squirrels had their way with it. Now it's in the large chicken run that is fenced all around and overhead. Squirrels can't get in. Hoping to find some angry rats in it tomorrow morning.

I have seen these traps work on YouTube. Never tried one myself. If squirrels cannot get into your chicken run, how are the rats getting in there?

 

[ThreeOfSeven]

I have seen these traps work on YouTube. Never tried one myself. If squirrels cannot get into your chicken run, how are the rats getting in there?

Squirrels don't go underground. LOL!

 

[ThreeOfSeven]

Yes I built one. Used peanut butter and cheese. I was very disappointed. I caught nothing. They wouldn't go up there. It looked like a great ideal from youtube.

I grabbed some snap traps and put peanut butter on them. People say peanut butter is the best mouse bait but I can't catch any with it. I put cheese on the snap trap and I didn't make it out of the run and [snap]. I caught them all (5 i think) in two nights.

I would think that they wouldn't be able to resist the smell. At least my Beagles can't resist it. LOL If the peanut butter doesn't work, I'll try cheese too, maybe the stinky stuff.

 

[gtaus]

Squirrels don't go underground. LOL!

Well, some do, like chipmunks which are all over the place where I live. Even the red and grey squirrels dig into the ground, primarily looking for seeds. Mostly we just learn to live with them. Like this friendly little fellow trying to get to the wild bird feed my wife puts out on our deck.

More to the point, if you have rats digging burrows into the chicken run, can you not simply put a snap trap in the hole and/or next to the hole where the chickens could not set it off?

Also, I wonder if putting down a 2 foot wide 1/2" wire predator apron around the chicken run might solve the problem better than trapping.

 

[cmom]

I tried something similar and also water in a bucket around 2/3 full of water with sunflower seed floating on top of the water. Noting touched either. I even put a ramp on the buckets but no takers.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I have tremendous success with bait stations-
few & far with traps, homemade or conventional.

 

[cmom]

I ended up putting out some rat bait boxes and that took care of the problems. At first I had to replace the rat bait but now hardly ever. I check it often. I can check the bait through the little window on top. Only rats and mice can get to the bait. They usually have tunnels and go down in their tunnels and die. I rarely find a dead one but know they must be when the baits haven't been touched.