Best Bait For Rats?

[GameBirdMeg 21]

Went down to do my horses this morning to find a bucket had an unwanted hole in it at the edge of the tub my garlic powder is kept in has been nibbled..... SO I WANT THE FECKERS DEAD!!! LOL. Have a couple of live traps which I'm going to set but what is the most irresitable bait to use? Was going to used some horse mix smothered in mollasses... What do you reckon???

[JPTfellterrier 65]

ive heard peanut butter and soy sauce are iresistable to rats but have never tested the theory

[GameBirdMeg 21]

ive heard peanut butter and soy sauce are iresistable to rats but have never tested the theory

 

I have tried that on fenn traps before and didn't have any joy...

[JPTfellterrier 65]

jam?

[Matt 160]

Search?

[Guest buster321c]

Cat food and cod liver oil luqidised , then you can put it in a pop top bottle , pour out what you want , and they cant run off with it as its luqid

[Malt 379]

I've always caught using plain old peanut butter.

[Guest ROUGH COATED]

Went down to do my horses this morning to find a bucket had an unwanted hole in it at the edge of the tub my garlic powder is kept in has been nibbled..... SO I WANT THE FECKERS DEAD!!! LOL. Have a couple of live traps which I'm going to set but what is the most irresitable bait to use? Was going to used some horse mix smothered in mollasses... What do you reckon???

 

 

White bread always works for me,Just make sure theres no other food source about

[GameBirdMeg 21]

Thanks guys

 

Tried my horse mix & mollasses with a bit of carrot for good measure last night and no joy... will give the others a try...

[Quixote 9]

What type of traps are you using? If Fenns, then don't bother baiting them as this won't increase their effectiveness..............you need to ensure the traps are placed in a area that the rats are frequenting nightly. Look for the areas along the edges of buildings that lead to where the activity's most evident, then place the traps with the trigger plate facing towards the wall. The traps will need to be placed in tunnels, but if you don't have any make certain they're covered with a piece of ply or similar..............something around 2 feet long will do. Don't be surprised if the Fenns pick up nothing for a few days! Rats are notoriously neophobic (i.e: they're pretty suspicious of anything new) & sometimes take a wee while to overcome their mistrust enough to investigate.

 

If you want an ongoing control programme, then I'd set up some baiting stations around the place using wax bait blocks containing Gen 2 anticoagulants such as bromadialone, difenacoum, flocumafen or brodifacoum (these last two can only be used indoors, incidentally) It really depends on the scale of your problem, to be honest. Give the Fenns a go first, & see if that reduces the population..............?

 

If you decide to bait though, use the wax blocks (you can get a bucket of blocks for around the £30 mark, & this should keep you going for a wee while. Place a few down any burrows you can find & cover them over with earth, wire a few more in different locations to a board (and make sure nothing else can get to it?) & monitor the bait takes............if you find all the bait's being eaten, then up the amount you place in any one spot & keep monitoring. Once the bait takes drop off you can be fairly sure it's having the desired effect. Keep an eye out for any dead ones & burn them or double bag & bin them.............the poison can still affect anything that finds & eats the carcasses. And make sure you use plenty of blocks! Also make sure the rats can't get to any alternative feed source or this will reduce the effectiveness also.

 

Best of luck!

Edited April 9, 2009 by Quixote

[pmatty77 26]

Went down to do my horses this morning to find a bucket had an unwanted hole in it at the edge of the tub my garlic powder is kept in has been nibbled..... SO I WANT THE FECKERS DEAD!!! LOL. Have a couple of live traps which I'm going to set but what is the most irresitable bait to use? Was going to used some horse mix smothered in mollasses... What do you reckon???

 

Mars bars apparently,ok for traps that kill as well as the toffee part is sticky and they cant just nick it...dont know if it works but have gone off mars bars!

[Guest darlolad]

mars bar work well for me but only in traps or try a dead rabbit or somr cooked ham

[comanche 2,909]

Something meaty is good . Quixote gives good advice but I'd say that it is worth baiting fenns for rats if it is safe to do so .Remember, once you bait a trap you are in danger of attracting non-targets that might not otherwise be interested in an unbaited tunnel.

 

One bait that has proved itself over and again for me -both for squirrels and rats is bird -feeder fat-balls. The rat in this picture was caught this afternoon and came to a Fenn tunnel barely an hour after it had been set on a shed shelf . I'd barely sat down at home for a cup of tea when the customer phoned to report the success. A few chunks of fat- ball as ground-bait and a sprinkling under the plate did the job as it so often does .

In cage taps it is often worth hanging the bait in a little freezer bag as small birds are not attracted to it and the rat or squirrel can't dig under to get it or reach through the bars . good luck

 

 

Ps If you are going to mess about with the Russian Roulette combination of traps and the inevitable rat urine use some decent marigolds at leat !

Edited April 11, 2009 by comanche

[badgeroy 3]

Peanut butter as well, been baiting with it on a brick (so they dont run off with it) and shooting them also 1 in a Little Nipper type trap baited with p.b on a peice of bread.