How to Make a Rat Trap

How to Make a Rat Trap. Rodents live all around us. Rodents help our ecosystem by removing harmful insects and other smaller critters that affect our food production. Rats in particular, do not harm anyone unless they are threatened. They are trainable and work nicely as great pets that are very low maintenance. The feed is cheap, the cages are cheap and they simply are just easy to take care of. Not everyone is a mean person and wants to see harm come to the rodent. Kill traps are very inhumane, snapping the neck, usually failing miserably so that the animal suffers unmentionable pain. There are many no kill rat traps on the market but thy can be quite expensive, messy and just an annoyance to set up. Rats are also incredibly smart animals and can avoid getting caught in the traps. Make a no kill rat trap that is easy to make with things sitting around your house, easy to setup, cheap to build and is reusable.

Things Needed

• Empty toilet paper tube
• Tall sided bucket
• Cracker
• Peanut butter, crunchy
• Counter or table

Step 1

Locate an empty toilet paper tube.

Step 2

Take a dollop of peanut butter and place it on a piece of cracker.

Step 3

Place the cracker, complete with peanut butter, inside of the empty toilet paper tube.

Step 4

Crease one end of the empty toilet paper tube.

Step 5

Tilt the tube toward the creased end so that the cracker slides all the way to it.

Step 6

Place the tube onto the edge of a counter or table top so that the creased end is partially hanging over the edge.

Step 7

Line up the bucket so that the tube hanging off the edge of the counter or table is centered with the opening of the bucket. The rodent will smell the peanut butter and have a need to explore the tunnel where the smell is coming from. While he is nibbling on the cracker the tube is teetering on the side of the table falling into the bucket.

Warnings

• Use crunchy peanut butter because rodents love to chew and gnaw on things. The motion of chewing also helps the trap work better.
• An empty paper towel tube will also work very well.
• Rodents love to crawl inside of tubes. The tighter the space the better.
• Rodents are nocturnal creatures so creasing an end of a tube helps in keeping the rat inside the tube, protects them from getting hurt and entices them by giving them a dark tunnel with a light at the end.
• If you feel that safety of the animal is not ensure you can shred up old newspaper and put in the bucket as a cushion.
• If you are going away and leave the trap setup you can leave some rodent food and a bowl of water if you are concerned about your pets well being.
• If you do not have a tall enough bucket you can use a smaller one and spray down the sides with vegetable oil. It will not harm the rodent but will disallow them from sinking their claws to deeply into the sides.

Warnings

• Rodents can carry a wide array of disease so never handle a wild rodent with your bare hands. Always use work gloves.
• Cheese does not work to catch rats. Peanut butter is a strong smell that is sweet and loaded with nutrients they want and it attracts them to things.