How To Catch Rats

So rats got inside your house and chewed pipes, wires or damaged walls. Here’s the plan you likely have to get rid of them: 1. Drive to the hardware store and buy a rat trap. 2. Put cheese on the trap 3. Set the trap in your kitchen. Take it from a very experienced professional, that is a TERRIBLE PLAN! Actually every part of that plan is a bad idea. Let’s see how to catch rats with a better plan.

#1 Best Plan To Catch Rats

Here are three tips our pro technicians use to catch rats in homes, businesses, and warehouses.

Don’t buy a cheap rat trap at a hardware store.
The only rodent ever caught with cheese was in a cartoon.
Setting a rat trap where kids and pets can find it is an insanely bad idea.

Choose The Right Rat Trap

Why not buy a rat trap at the hardware store? Two good reasons!

First, you don’t need a rat trap. What you really need if you actually want more than needle-in-a-haystack odds of catching that rat is 10 rat traps MINIMUM. We usually set at least 24 traps for all our professional trapping jobs. If you only have one trap set, you have about 1/100 chances of making a catch. Set out 10 traps and your odds of success increase exponentially.

The second reason not to buy rat traps at the hardware store is that the traps sold at most hardware stores are cheap homeowner grade equipment. They range from completely ineffective traps where you’d have better luck at winning the lottery than catching a rat, to cool gadgets designed to pique your curiosity (not the curiosity or an actual rodent).

Moving up from hardware store options to the PRO-grade traps with expanded trigger plates, sensitivity settings and rust-resistant hardware that doesn’t blow up in a hot attic will cost you like $2 more a trap. Would you seriously drive a Ford Taurus if a BMW only costs $2 more?!? There is literally a huge quality difference in the effectiveness of PRO grade rat traps, so don’t waste your time on the relatively “cheap” hardware store options.

Cheese Doesn’t Work

After all those episodes of Tom and Jerry who would dare dispute the effectiveness of using cheese to lure a wiley rat into a rat trap. Only anyone who has actually ever tried to trap a rat I suspect. Most people just assume cheddar is the fix-all but let’s explore some better options.

In our search for how to catch rats and the best rat lure, we have tried cheese, bread, candy, chocolate, peanut butter, apples, bananas, cat food and about everything else you can think of. Let’s be truthful, a hungry lil bugger just might react to any of these items–but it’s a long shot. Our techs put their heads together and we did massive testing with all sorts of goodies mixed together. We used a trail camera to verify the results and in the end, we invented a crazy rat catch’n blend for rodents. We called it Rodent Magnet Trap Bait and it’s what our techs use almost exclusively now.

All it takes is a pea-sized portion placed on the trap and rats are going to literally go nuts to get at this stuff. Don’t waste your time with cheese. Believe us the pros don’t try to catch rats using cheese.

Use Caution When Setting Rat Traps Around Kids & Pets

While a mousetrap might cause a temporary sting, a rat trap can inflict permanent damage to children and pets. We suggest only setting rat traps in enclosed areas (like attics or crawl spaces), up high (like on top of kitchen cabinets or electric water heaters) or inside protective boxes like the one pictured below.

If you don’t have access to tamper-resistant bait stations like the one pictured, you can even use a heavy cardboard box with a small hole cut in the side and a heavy item on top to hold it in place. Ultimately, you know your children and pets and if you think they might be clever enough to access traps, don’t take chances.

How To Catch Rats Summary

The right traps and bait really matter. Trying to save a few bucks on equipment can lead to lots of frustrations as rats run loose in your house destroying everything they touch. Most importantly, don’t take chances with the safety of your pets and children when setting rat traps.

If you get stuck on how to catch rats or just want to see how much we’d charge to take care of the lil’ buggers just call or text us.