Any tips for catching a garden rat ?

Got traps included a sonic trap which unfortunately killed a squirrel first....nothing is working.

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TomCat rat trap baited with peanut butter. Set it up in the evening. Check on it in the morning. If you’ve caught nothing, put it somewhere no critters can get at it, then put it out again in the evening. Rats are more nocturnal, so setting it up at night makes it less likely other animals are going to be killed by the trap.

revenant · F

@stratosranger tried that....the rat *knows* and avoids it. He even unlodged the peanut butter bit from the back of the device instead of going in...🥴

stratosranger · M

@revenant Interesting, The TomCat trap I use has the bait in the center of the trap. They can’t get to it without sticking their ratty little heads in there

revenant · F

@stratosranger he will not stick his head in it at all...he gnawed the back to get at the peanut...King Rat !

stratosranger · M

Wow! Huh. I’ve at times had to go searching for the trap but almost every time it has killed them. Not sure what else to suggest. There are youtube vids on building rat traps that drown them if you’re handy, have tools, etc. @revenant

revenant · F

@stratosranger bucket with rolling pin ? that was an idea I have not tried./

stratosranger · M

It’s actually a length of wood that goes out over a drum or trash pail half filled with water (don’t know why I said bucket first time. My bad.) Where the wood is attached to the bucket there is a spring that keeps the length of wood horizontal. A rat runs out onto the wood toward the end where peanut butter bait has been smeared. The weight of the rat makes the spring release its tension, the wood bar tips down and the rat falls into the water. Since the sides are smooth plastic, it cannot climb out and eventually drowns. This vid shows a variation on the same idea but for smaller rodents (mice).
[media=https://youtu.be/YwAfp9QB5mk]
@revenant