We live on the edge of a hillside/canyon type area, and are occasionally invaded by various critters. The other day, when I got up, I heard a skritchy-skritchy sort of sound behind the fridge. I turned on the light and caught a glimpse of a furry thing trying to be inconspicuous. I thought it was a large mouse or small rat. Turned out to be a pretty good sized rat. Rummaging around the garage, I found an unused rat trap, and set it with a hazelnut. In the morning, the hazelnut was gone, but the trap was still set. I used peanut butter the next night. Same result. Researching online, I discovered that rats also like fresh vegetables, so I used a small piece of cauliflower last night, wedged firmly in the trap trigger. Bingo.
It's surprising to me that a rat like this who presumably has never seen a trap before can somehow steal a hazelnut that I had impaled on the trigger, and then lick off all of the peanut butter off of the trigger the next night, with no harm to him/herself. I used the old style Victor wooden trap, and these things are scary. They'll snap if you don't set them down gently enough. I didn't hear any furtive rustling this morning, so I'm hoping that there was only one.
It's surprising to me that a rat like this who presumably has never seen a trap before can somehow steal a hazelnut that I had impaled on the trigger, and then lick off all of the peanut butter off of the trigger the next night, with no harm to him/herself. I used the old style Victor wooden trap, and these things are scary. They'll snap if you don't set them down gently enough. I didn't hear any furtive rustling this morning, so I'm hoping that there was only one.