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OT: Help!....trapping experts?

firkin

firkin

Joined
Jan 26, 2002
Messages
2,737
Experts at vermin trapping that is.

Got a rat in the garage that has "the touch".
Licked all the peanut butter (my old standby) off
without triggering the good 'ole Victor rat-trap.

Any suggestions? What else is irresistable to the
critters but is tough enough to tie or wire to the
trigger?

(Very OT, and kinda gross, but I figure that
there's an expert at most anything on this forum.)

Don't suggest any khuk stakeouts either--
the scat ain't THAT big, plus the floor is cement.
I hate taking big dings outta the knives.

--I wonder if it would be a faux pas to ask this on the survival forum. :)

TIA!!!
 
Thanks, Skeletor!

I think I can score some Cheerios and thread them on the latch wire.

He's SOL if he expects froot loops though--I don't eat the things and I sure ain't buying a box to give a %$#& rat some for his last meal.
 
For some reason I have this image of Bill Murray vs the Gopher in
"Caddyshack" :)
 
I had the same problem and switched to glue traps. Now my rat and mice problem is no longer a problem.
 
I don't have much problem with rats with the two dogs that I have. They kill anything they can sink a tooth into. I used to use bacon and it can be tied to the trigger of the trap. I did that once and a mouse got in the darn thing and got his rear caught by the trap. I felt kind of sorry for the critter but I ended it quick for him. No need for him to suffer any more than he already had. I heard the pop when the trap triggered so it wasn't that long.

If you use cheeze some has to get down into that hole in the trigger. :) :) :D
 
..i used peanut butter warpped in wire mesh (made from one of those chainmail-condom lookin things you put over the hose on yer washing machine -- wife says they're called lint traps, not "chainmail condoms"
Then you pack some p-butter in there, twist tie it to the bait end....

Coincindentally, an buddy from India says they have traps that do not harm the rodents. it is like a miniature raccoon trap, with the hinged and locking door. (Trust the Hindus to find a non-lethal vermin control-clever!) My only prob with that method is--where do you transport a rodent, so that it doesn't go into your/another person's house?

The sticky traps i've never tried, but sounds easy enough.

If none of those work, I say get invisible fencing and slap the collar on that varmint.

Keith
 
I had the best luck with some stuff (a pre-emergent of all things) that was cornmeal based. Caught at least 4 of them in my mother's garage, after noticing that they had chewed through the bag. Nothing to grab onto and walk away with. Just powder. Maybe plain cornmeal itself would work.
 
I've heard that glue traps work really well. Those things hold the critter TIGHT. the only problem i have with them is 9 times out of ten you find the little booger still kickin' and pullin' trying to free itself. Sometimes they even dislocate their joints when they pull too hard. I'm the kind of guy that wouldn't think twice about braining a charging grizzly (yeah right;)) or offing a deer to feed my family or even harvesting a wild pig that i hunted in a sportsman like manner. but stepping on a little critter thats already down on his luck, that just seems like bad Karma to me;). i'm such a wuss like that:D.
 
Adjust the bar on the rat trap, make it a hair trigger. Don't sweat him getting a few meals, eventually, the trap will do it's job.


munk
 
Why not just capture the little fella and make him a pet.....he will be your friend for life.
 
Bruise: should we change the old ditty from

"There ain't much that a man can't fix, with enough money and a thirty-ought-six"

to

"There ain't much that a man can't fix with enough dynamite and a 30-06" ?

Just thinking a dowel will patch up a .30 caliber hole in the floor - just trim it to size, put some glue on it and hammer it in - easier than cleaning up after the use of explosives.

Incidentally I remember them selling 22 lr shot ctgs. that the brass was crimped to a conical point. They actually called it rat-shot. Can't testify if it worked.
 
Thanks, guys!!:)

I knew you would come through!!

Well for smart-lookin' (but the proof is in the trapping!) Kis and Ferrous win so far for making the peanut butter hard to get without tugging. Pappy's bacon sounds good too, but I'd hate to feed him/her that good :) Already chewed up some stuff.

One of those will be the next strategy if the peanut butter-smeared cheerios on the wire next to the trigger don't do the job.

Munk, after lubing the dayum thing up with the p-butter, I think your suggestion is currently in operation--I had a hell of a time just setting the dang thing. Barely escaped a 3-stooges scene. But I'll still fight buying the *&^&%$#%^ a whole box of inedible (to me at least not under the influence of drugs) froot-loops at least for now.

Dunno if glue traps work for things as big as rats, but after renting a place where a couple were permanetly afixed to areas of the kitchen, they are not the first choice on my list. Inhumane also. Though the regular traps can be too--I've spent some time in the middle of the night clad only in my underwear chasing a rat through the kitchen with a big wrench 'cause the trap only caught the nose. Definately bad karma. And desperately messy. Plus I was really scared I'd get bit on the foot. I tied this trap down. It's a long trek to where a live-trapped one could be released. Too bad.:( If I was in a place like that I could be hunting/trapping som'thin that I could eat or get some use out of.

Oh well, wish the urban nimrod luck, and thanks for the ideas. There's some stuff there I'd really rather not see chewed up into nest litter.

I hope the heavy-handed Bruise method isn't required, that would really be "caddy-shack".



:)
 
in my experience, rats are an darnsight more intelligent than a mouse, and thus you need kill only one or two for the lot of them to get the picture that this place is haunted by bipeds of a destructive nature. Mice, you must get all of them. They'll bring the friends and family along to the picnic. Lambs to the slaughter.

Keith
 
I had a similar situation many years ago. I solved it by sitting quietly in the corner all day with a Crosman pellet gun and a good book.
 
i used peanut butter warpped in wire mesh (made from one of those chainmail-condom lookin things you put over the hose on yer washing machine -- wife says they're called lint traps, not "chainmail condoms
Click to expand...

If none of those work, I say get invisible fencing and slap the collar on that varmint.
Click to expand...

:DROTFLMAO:D
 
What do they say about eating something that eats the same food as yourself?

...beating him to the punch?


Western Washington is not Washington. Interesting place.


munk
 
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