Rats

[DC]

I've got a trap smart rat making a mess in my compost bin. Any ideas? I've been using a conventional rat trap and it's learned to set it off or something. Every morning the trap is sprung and the peanut butter is licked clean.

[osage outlaw]

Glue a piece of popcorn onto the trigger

[bjrogg]

Might try putting trap inside a cubby box. Something with a hole in it they can crawl in. Fasten trap down so they can't move it or flip it over. You could just try drilling a hole in trap and use long nail to stake it down to ground but they might still bury it till it goes off. Also do like a like Clint said and tie bait on trigger. Sometimes I put peanut butter wrapped under toilet paper. They can be very hard to get rid of and pretty smart to.
Bjrogg

[Ed Brooks]

you can try something like this.
https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=0yWfuuNPhzU
or https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=6SIlYiiCGLI
I put a space in between you & tube they probably advertise on there.
I used to work at a fish farm, it was on an old dairy farm. I'd leave the light on in the barn, all day and by the end of the day, I had lot of fun shooting with the 22 and some bird shot. Good luck! Ed

[Chippintuff]

The most efficient mouse trap I have ever made consisted of a five gallon bucket, a piece of coat hanger wire and a soft drink can. I drilled a 1/8 inch hole in each end of the can, put the wire through it, put a similar hole on each side of the top of the five gallon bucket, inserted the wire through those holes and bent the ends of the wire so it wouldn't slip out. Then I positioned the five gallon bucket where the mouse could get to the top of it, filled the bucket half full of water and then coated the soft drink can with peanut butter. It's a killer. The idea could be adapted for rats.

WA

[bjrogg]

That is a deadly setup Chip
Bjrogg

[Marc St Louis]

What I do is push a soft raisin into the curl of the trigger then coat with peanut butter but that won't help if he is setting it off first.  I think you would have to set it up so he can only approach it in one direction, the trigger end.

P.S.  A rat trap is great for harvesting pigeons inside city limits 

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Single spring foothold traps in the 1 to 1.5 size work well too. On rat and weasel sized creatures hey act like a body gripper. Just look up a foothold box setup for weasels and that'll do the trick if you have any long spring footholds available. 110 body grippers work well too. Both of these you aim for the rat to walk through the trap and they get caught. With a standard rat tra, try setting the trap in a box that's tge same width as the trap, just tall enough for the arm to clear the top. And the only opening on the side of the trigger. But have the hole just big enough for the rat to get in, about 1.5" diameter should do it. Then put the bait behind the entire trap in the back of the box, make the bait a big chunk of something that they will try to drag back out the hole, so if they make it past the trigger one direction, the effort of dragging the bait makes it much more likely to get caught. This is the weasel box set up, you can guard the opening with any of the traps I mebtioned. This way the bait isn't drawing attention to the trap and the rat will walk right ontop of it, hitting the pan. In this setup a large pan works best. The 5 gallon bucket method will work too. Just remember that rats are used to and good at swimming. So you can always add something to the water to lower the suface tension so that they have more difficulty floating and it takes more effort to swim.

Kyle

[DC]

So you can always add something to the water to lower the suface tension so that they have more difficulty floating and it takes more effort to swim.

Kyle

Sounds like a good use for gin

[PEARL DRUMS]

Sounds more like the work of ground squirrels or 4 stripe chippys. Either way, the bucket of water works every dang time on either. If you can find the holes they live in you can fill a 2 liter jug with water and flip it quickly over the hole so the water pours down in. The critter will swim right up into the jug. My boys used to enjoy that trick.

[Pat B]

A  few drops of dish soap will break the surface tension. Save the gin for the celebration after.

[DC]

No ground squirrels or chipmunks on the Island. I went for the easy route and made a box to put the trap in. I'm not holding my breath though. We'' see tomorrow. I like the bamboo trap. Something that they are not familiar with might get them. It's a small plastic composter so there is not much room in it for the bamboo spring. If I out the trap outside the composter I catch birds.

[mullet]

I slide a piece of Bologna into the trigger groove then pour a little honey all over the trigger mechanism.They will stay fa little longer licking the honey till it's too late.

[willie]

if it has learned to spring the trap before feeding, than mo-coon's advice for the blind set is the way to go.

almost all birds are visual, so if you hide the bait from view, you should be ok, (unless you have  buzzards or kiwis to worry about)

don't forget to post your tillering job on the bamboo spring ,if you do the powersnare.

[Hawkdancer]

I like the .22 w/bird shot, but I have a direct action background!  A double trigger snare may work as well, trips from either direction, also the peta approved?👹😀 wire live trap, but then they expect you to release the critter, when you want to get hm out of the gene pool!  The 5 gal bucket should work - how long can it hold on to the can and then tread water?
Hawkdancer