How to Trap Live Rats
There are several species of rats; however, most have the same living and eating habits. Rats are omnivores and will eat a wide variety of foods, making them pests when they eat household or livestock food. They tend to repeat their travel patterns, which make them easy prey to trap. Catching rats alive can be accomplished by using the smaller sizes of wire, live catch traps that can be purchased at many hardware stores or ordered on-line from trapping and hardware supply outlets. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Purchase a live trap in the rat or rodent size which is generally 18 inches long and 5- by 5-inches square.
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Locate where rats are moving in a house or outside buildings such as sheds and garages. Rat feces are the most common evidence found of their travel routes. Along the inside of walls and holes going in and out of buildings are likely places to find rats traveling.
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Set the trap by lifting the door panel reaching in and lifting the floor panel trigger. Hook the tip of the rod running down the outside of the cage under the extended rod of the floor pan that sticks out of the side of the trap. The trap is set.
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Place bait in the back end of the trap so the rat will have to step on the trigger pan to reach the bait. The pan will drop releasing the rod and dropping the door trapping the rat inside the cage.
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Position the trap so it is parallel and flush up against a wall or has the open end facing a hole that rats are accessing the building through.
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Check the trap every day to remove any trapped animals.
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Tips & Warnings
Rats will eat almost anything; however, for the purposes of trapping them, fresh meat is the greater attractor, raw bacon in particular.
The trap does not need to be camouflaged, as rats are not wary of traps.
Rats and the fleas they carry are disease carriers. Wear gloves when handling the cage with a rat in it or that has had rats in it. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling.
Do not attempt to touch a rat as they are capable of delivering vicious bites that will infect easily. They are also known carriers of rabies.
References
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