Got the dirty rat

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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.
 
We are rat free in Alberta, having got organized prior to European rats reaching our boundaries. We have an active rat suppression program and actually have a rat patrol poisoning a strip of land along our borders. If you have a rat show up inside the boundaries there is a number to call for a government crew to come down and take care of the problem. The last big problem was at a city dump on the east side of the province and it make front page news, with updates daily. Call 403-310 RATS.

SF
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Last year in the dead of winter, we were laying in bed and heard a scratching sound coming from the wall behind the headboard. I got up and banged on the wall and it stopped. For a minute. Then it sounded like some critters were running a football play across the ceiling. That finally subsided as well. I called a local exterminator who said they'd be glad to come out but suggested I set some big traps out first. So I headed to the hardware store and bought four huge, rat traps and baited them with peanut butter. Over the course of a week I trapped eight "flying squirrels". They were truly annoying. Had never had that happen before. Extermintor verified they were flying squirrels and said it wasn't unusual up here for them to make a winter home in an attic to avoid the cold.
 
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Like others have said, "there are probably more".

A rodent in the house would freak out some people (like myself), other are more tolerant of nature.

Find out how he got in your house and do some sealing.
I would get a couple more traps and set them outside.

I catch mice under my front (outside) step all the time.
Mice are dumb.
 
I caught several flying squirrels over the past several years in a small Havahart trap. None recently.

A few mice in traps up on basement I-beam. Cat gets a few mice also.

Most annoying is the mice in our cars.
 
I caught several flying squirrels over the past several years in a small Havahart trap. None recently.

A few mice in traps up on basement I-beam. Cat gets a few also.
 
My latest rodent adventure involved a red Squirrel. The drier is located up stairs in the b'room. Easiest vent was straight up and out the roof. About a 12'run. I use 4" PVC sched 80. Its a workable system that gets improved every time I clean it. Suddenly, the drier is taking 2x as long to dry. I disassembled the vent and found a dried out red squirrel stuck in the elbow. Silly critter was freezing during the recent cold snap. And drier vent 3.0 is a good up date.

PS, the Victor Rat trap works on red sqs too. If a trap fails to catch the critter, bait it, but don't set it a few times. Then set it. Gotta go, I have 10 little Victors set in the attic to check on.
 
I HEARTILY RECOMMEND the book, "RATS" by Robert Sullivan.
I don't recommend a book unless I've read it. I've bought 3 copies as gifts so far.

Two points (of many):
Rats are neophobes (scared/suspicious on new/unfamiliar things) so sometimes they'll avoid a trap set with their favorite food for weeks.

Rat catchers/exterminators confess that laying in wait with a .22 rifle is often required. Do be careful should you go that route.
A .22 short will do. No need for the .458 Win. Mag.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
Rat catchers/exterminators confess that laying in wait with a .22 rifle is often required. Do be careful should you go that route. A .22 short will do. No need for the .458 Win. Mag.


When I was trucking long haul, I saw workers killing rats with rifles from the back of pickup trucks in Austin, Texas. Not sure what they use for ammunition.
 
When my daughter was in college in Virginia, her rented house had rats. Her landlord told her to set a can of Vienna sausages outside in the yard, and when a rat appeared, shoot it with a .22. It worked.
 
Had a couple of grey squirrels in a rental house and called a wild life exterminator. He set a have a heart trap on the roof and caught a whole neighborhood of squirrels-- the contract called for a per squirrel charge after a minimum. Next time I'll read it carefully. He used those orange circus peanut candies as bait.
 
Daughter had problems with roof rats in a rented house in Irvine, Ca. It was a neighborhood wide problem. They never saw them but heard them at night overhead. It's surprising the OP had a roof rat inside, they were told that rarely happens. They can get BIG.
 
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