The garage rat from (you know where)

[SmittysRV]

For the past 2 weeks I have been trying to catch a large rat in my garage. My wife has a bag of birdseed in the garage and the rat just loves the birdseed. We tried putting a plastic top on the birdseed bucket and the dang rat ate a hole in the bucket to get to the seeds! So I bought a huge rat trap and put some peanut butter on it with some sprinkles of his favorite birdseed. I've been doing this every night and the rat just eats the peanut butter and seeds and doesn't set off the trap! Last night I prepared the rats favorite meal once again and put one of sticky traps out hoping that if the trap doesn't get him, the sticky trap will. I also put an additional trap down the wall a ways. Well... He sprung the trap, ate the meal, and still got away!



OK, now I know the rat is messing with me!!! Upon his exit from his nightly meal, he actually stepped in the sticky goo on the other rat trap, but still got away, flipping the sticky trap over on top of one of my favorite electric screwdrivers. ARRRRRGGGGG!! RAT, Your are going down!!! If my father was here, he would be sitting in the corner of the garage, in the dark, with his Remington 22, waiting to get a bead on the varment.

[Mike S]

Wanna borrow my cat???

[rjcthree]

PB at end of a board that tips into a (tall) bucket with the rat's weight. Your choice, dry if you want him to live and be relocated, wet (water or oil) if you wish him to drown.

If you hinge it to the bucket, it 'resets' iteself once the first rat falls. 1x4 s4s pine works well, claws can't get purchase as the critter slides in. If you get more than one, there will be a cage match to the noisy death. Just sayin'.

Rick 90432

[aerhed]

Just talk to him. I've found some rats can be reasoned with.

[SmittysRV]

Oooh, I like the bucket idea!

As far as the cat goes, this rat would probably eat the cat!

[airguy]

Season the birdseed with a little Bidrin, works like a charm.

[Greg Arehart]

In my youth, we used a modification of the plastic bucket method. Coat hanger wire strung across the bucket through the center (axially) of an old coke can so that it can rotate. Slather the can with some peanut butter or other attractive goodies. Run a ramp up to the top of the bucket from the floor. Rat goes up ramp, jumps for the PB, which rotates, dumping him into the bottom of the bucket. Six inches of water in the bottom keeps him from being able to get any purchase to jump back out of the bucket (and they can jump a LOOOONG way up from a dry bottom). Come back in the morning, put on some Pink Floyd (the rat drowning song) with a cuppa or some other morning-enhancing stimulant, add another few inches of water to the bucket (if you are really sadistic, just enough that his back feet can almost touch the bottom), and you can observe as the rat drowns "satisfactorily."

cheers,
greg

[N713R]

Originally Posted by rjcthree

PB at end of a board that tips into a (tall) bucket with the rat's weight.

If you get a chance to ask him what he weighs, so you can build this thing, just trick him and catch him them. He'll never expect it!

Sorry, couldn't resist...

[diamond]

You really have to give us a daily update on this little predicament. I don't care how many PETA folks read this, in the end you MUST post a photo of the prize.

[petehowell]

Use some Nutella - it is stickier than peanut butter and the vermin really like it. We had less empty traps when we switched over to it. The Tomcat snap traps seem to work really well.