# Trapping an elusive rat?



## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

So! Long story short, a wild roof rat baby I had been raising got loose at my Dad's. This was around Christmas or Thanksgiving, I looked everywhere but couldn't find her, wasn't even sure where or when she escaped. I felt terrible, sure she was doomed, but there was nothing I could do.
Fast forward a few months later, my Dad has to put his cat to sleep and shortly after begins finding evidence of rat activity in his kitchen. I am 100% positive this is the rat I lost, and I need to catch her.

I have a small Hav-A-Hart trap that we've been setting up in various spots with various kinds bait for the past month. Nothing. I KNOW the rat is out there, because I've set out flour. She will go all around the cage but won't go inside. I have even tried using bedding from my pet roof rats (one of them is actually this ones sister), she just reached through the bars and pulled it out!

I have created another trap, using this one I ordered on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Mouse-T...F8&qid=1426025477&sr=8-2&keywords=mouse+hotel
It ended up being too small, so we modified it and attached it to the entrance of a large cage. Inside the cage I put a fabric carrier I let my rats tear up and build a nest inside as well as some food. Again, she pulled the bedding through the bars but wouldn't go inside.

My Dad is out of town for the next 10 days, and I have until then to catch her. After that he said he'll have no choice but to set out snap traps. I know he doesn't want to and will feel terrible, but his girlfriend hates rats and I can tell finding rat droppings and his sponges torn up is getting to him.

This rat is SMART. How can I be smarter? Is there another trap I could try? I bought a couple different ones but they all ended up being WAY too small, obviously meant for mice more than rats, so any recommendations would help. Any tricks, tips, or techniques? I've tried researching it, but everything is for kill traps and it's bumming me out to look through all that stuff.

If I don't catch her in the next couple days I'm going to hire a professional to try, but since they don't typically live trap them I'm not sure their expertise will be much help.

Any advice or ideas are appreciated. I will build, buy, and try anything! No one will be home at his house so I can set up whatever I need to.


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## Sabatea (Aug 23, 2014)

Could you try a sort of drop trap? Since she goes around the cage, maybe you could find a way to set up the trap as usual and then use the bedding to tie a sort of bin or something so that when she pulls it, it drops down on her? Of course, I understand not wanting to use this method, but it seems better to try this as a last resort... It may be difficult to find a way for it to work though. :I


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

^ You may be on to something with using pulling on the bedding to activate a trap.
A drop trap is something I hadn't really considered. I'm going to look into that. Thanks.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Roof rats are arboreal, so try setting your trap high up or even in the attic. I'd also look for ways the rat is getting into and out of the house... Roof rats are also outdoor/indoor rats and will come and go... you might just be able to lock it out.

Lastly up the anti on the bait you are using try your other roof rat's favorite foods. Peanut butter, candy bars etc. I don't know exactly what turns roof rats on, but it's likely something sweet and bad for them. If it knows you, you could always try calling it... oddly enough that's how I got my runaway brown rat back after 5 months.... I finally just sat down and called her up on hand and she came out and climbed up on me. She was way too fast and smart and vicious to catch her any other way.

Lastly there are the glue traps, I've used them to live catch mice, but I promise you it's going to get ugly getting her out of it, here's a hint... pull very slowly and be patient.

Best luck.


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

^ Thanks Rat Daddy! The good news is I know where in the house she hangs out (the kitchen) and I know at least one of her hiding spots (under the fridge). You're right about them being arboreal and most of her activity does seem to take place up high (on the counter, cabinet shelves, on top of the fridge) and that's where I've been putting the traps out.
I don't think she goes outside but I will check for entrances and exits just in case.

Lol @ "I don't know exactly what turns roof rats on, but it's likely something sweet and bad for them." ain't that the truth! I've tried some of my girls' favorite treats, stuff like live super worms and avocado, but have not tried a candy bar! That's a really good idea.

Unfortunately this rat was never tame so has no trust or affection for humans.

I might try glue traps as a very last resort. I've seen what they can do volunteering at a wildlife rescue. I actually just freed a lizard from one yesterday. They're not pretty but I guess it's better than a broken neck!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Some rats can be a little tweaky about going after foods they don't know, but once they learn what a snickers bar is, there's no safe way of detaching them from their prize. Also don't forget rats measure reward vs risk... the larger and tastier the reward the bigger the risk they will take to get it.

Lastly, my part wild brown rat would watch our faces or eyes from the shadows and didn't scurry across open areas until we looked away... so basically we never saw her, but our peripheral vision did pick up the movement... so we would get that creepy feeling like we were being watched or there was something in the room with us. It was spooky how she could jump off my desk and never apparently hit the ground... it was like she leapt off and evaporated into thin air. After she passed away we found a small hole in the bottom of each piece of furniture and box spring in the house she could just jump up into. She also discovered that there was a gap under the kitchen counters where your feet go when you wash dishes it leads up under the cabinets. I once watched her evaporate right in front of the kitchen sink and had to get down on my hands and knees to check it out... Once she disappeared into my bedroom for a whole night and day... the door was closed. I eventually found out she had burrowed into the box spring and was sleeping directly under my head. She would put her back against a file cabinet and run straight up a wall or shinny up a blind pull string or an extension cord. She could deflate and go almost completely flat and slide under doors like an envelope. My part wild rat lived outdoors and in other people's homes for 5 months, most likely she was even invading our home unseen. We finally recovered her on the second floor of my neighbor's house out of his walls when she moved indoors for the winter.

Our part wild rat was actually amazingly agile and clever. She could do things our domestic rats couldn't even dream of. She never made a sound when she moved about in the dark. Don't be surprised if your girl is inside the easy chair your dad is sitting on watching TV, popping in and out to scarf up the 'tater chip crumbs he drops when his favorite team scores.

Thankfully our girl was good at commands... I'd call her and she would just appear on my desk like magic, I really couldn't say where she came from. It was strange because she wasn't hiding from me, but skulking around, spying from high places and moving unseen just turned her on to no end. And when I called her, she didn't come to my feet like our normal rats do, she would always turn up as close to my face as possible, like she enjoyed the little jolt I'd get when she was sitting right in front of me on my desk when I turned my head back from the computer screen.

Lastly, if it helps, our part wild girl was very sound sensitive, certain quiet sounds attracted her curiosity, but crunching plastic bags or loud noises would make her disappear instantly. Our domestic rats are attracted by the sound of food bags being opened, the same sound sent her off in a panic.

Again best luck.


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

Don't know if this will be any help at all with a wild rat, but it's what helped me catch an elusive domestic rat. I set up his cage (a rat manor) with the top door open (with a string attached) and treats he liked on the bottom of the cage. I sat up reading all night quietly waiting. Eventually, the little bugger went into his cage for the treats. As soon as he reached the bottom, I pulled the string and closed the cage. Rats are very clever and a trap they escape is not likely to work again. If you resort to a glue trap, oil might help to get her out of the mess.


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

I'd like an update. Have you made any progress?


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## SaraLovesRats (Jan 11, 2015)

They sell these humane traps at a lot of stores that my dad has used for rats in my garage they draw the rats in but there aren't bars only holes so the rat couldn't pull anything out they have to go in to get it and then they get trapped in the box until you free the rat


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

Update!
So I have been using snickers bars and slowly building up a trail of them into the trap. Today when I checked on it the trap had gone off, but one of the bars was bent so it didn't close correctly and the rat escaped. So close! I'm hoping this doesn't put her off the trap completely, but we'll see. I set up a similar trail of bait into the other trap, so we'll see what happens.
I'm gonna peruse amazon for some other trap styles and maybe order some tomorrow just in case.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll keep y'all posted.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I worked for a tobacco company some years ago, and you might not be surprised to find out that candy bars are designed to be addictive, and yes tobacco companies often owned cookie and candy companies.... same business model...

And I've yet to meet a rat that wouldn't kill for a snickers or a Zero bar.


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## Medilia (Mar 18, 2015)

Okay, if you resort to using a glue trap I suggest warm water to help loosen the glue's grip.

Also my friend sent me this because I have a mouse problem in the kitchen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDgAuVK1Br0


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## Vegn (Jan 2, 2014)

Roof rats are small right? If so this works *so* well, we had a lot of mice up north, worked like a charm (caught 11 mice at once) there are plastic versions too that you can see inside but same concept. Mouse goes in on ramp, when they get to the main part, ramp lifts up again and blocks the entrance.http://www.amazon.com/Victor-Humane...id=1426982351&sr=8-7&keywords=live+mouse+trap


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

The Victor is a slight improvement off a similar patent that doesn't work. It works pretty well but isn't quite as good as the Have-A-Heart or teeter totter varieties... 

But as a rule mouse traps are too small for all but the smallest rat pups.


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## Vegn (Jan 2, 2014)

It works well for little mice, at least it always has for me, we've been using the same model for a while. Tried a Hav-A-Hart cause we thought we had a squirrel, found bait gone every day but the trap was never triggered, just a bunch of loud mice. But I have had one rat escape one time and she came for treats and had no inclination to really run off. There's a type of powder that you can put around bait and it sticks lightly to the feet of whatever goes through it so you can actually track where it goes, not just see it's been there. It's called Black Light Powder or Anti-Theft Powder or Glo Germ Powder. You need a black light and it's kinda on the pricier side but not outrageously so. I do NOT know how safe this is but if it's a last resort they do make a version for face painting kids that shouldn't be harmful (o http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=a9_asi_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ablack+light+powder&keywords=black+light+powder&ie=UTF8&qid=1426998824


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

The Victor humane trap I have just caught it's first couple of mice it's only slightly different from a prior incarnation made someone else that was truly worthless. Unlike the teeter totter traps it can be used on uneven surfaces. 

Hava-A-Heart makes or made a small plastic mouse humane trap this thing was truly awesome in that it vacuumed up mice like they were going out of style. It was only 3 parts and was simplicity itself. The various more complicated teeter totter traps work nearly as well.

Still black rats while being smaller than brown rats are too big for the various humane mouse traps.

I like the black light high tech tracking idea though, it's like CSI for rodents.


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

Yeah, I ordered this and this and they were both much too small.

The rat won't go too far into the Hav-a-hart after almost getting caught, definitely won't take the bait to set it off. I only have a few days left, and am now using glue traps. Hopefully these work. I have some experience getting animals out of glue traps so I'm not too worried about that part. A little worried about the stress of it and possible injury to the rat but at this point it's better than the alternative.

Thanks again for the advice, everyone.


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

I GOT HER!

Literally just happened. I decided to stay the night at my Dad's (he is out of town still) so that I could check on the trap in the night and free the rat if it was caught sooner.

Shortly after my last post, I heard a commotion in the kitchen and there she was! Stuck to the glue trap that I baited with a piece of snickers bar (thanks for that again, ratdaddy). She was screaming and crying but she wasn't in bad shape. I put her in a cage and poured olive oil over the trap and helped her get free. It was easier than I thought it would be (last thing I freed from glue trap was a tiny lizard, that was a mess!). I didn't even get bit!

She's in the cage on the back porch (not taking any chances of her getting loose in here again). I'm gonna give her some food and water and let her chill out. Not sure what I'll do with her. Probably release her in the woods, I guess. I feel kind of bad, I know she won't have a long life but I guess that's nature. I'm too soft-hearted! I wish I knew where other rats were so she wouldn't have to be alone. But I guess this is all preferable to getting caught in a kill trap.

Man, I'm so glad I caught her! Woo!


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## Wieju (Jan 25, 2015)

Awesome!! I'm really happy you got her


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

I am so very glad this worked out.


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

Thanks guys, I am too!
Honestly the glue trap was so effective, I would definitely recommend this method in the future. But I only felt comfortable because I knew I would be able to hear if she was caught and free her right away (seriously she was in the glue for under 5 minutes). I don't think it's as good an option if you can only check the trap once a day or something, but I understand sometimes situations call for less than ideal action. What I REALLY don't understand is anyone using it as if it was a kill trap? The instructions said to just throw it in the trash after you catch the creature! That's so horrible! Anyway, sorry, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir about this.

I've been giving some thought on what I'm going to do with her, and I think I'm going to release her in my Mom's shed in the backyard. I figured she can have a relatively safe shelter to live out the rest of her ratty days, or she can go venture off into the woods if she wants. We are building a rabbit aviary right next to it so I'll be out there all the time anyway, it won't be a big deal to keep food and water out for her. I know it's just me being a softy, but I feel a lot better about that than setting her free in the woods to live a probably short and probably scary life all alone. If this sounds like a bad idea for reasons I'm not seeing let me know!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

First of all, congrats on the great catch! I pretty much figured snickers and glue traps would do the trick. As to the olive oil getting the rat out of the glue... I've pulled many a mouse out of a glue trap alive and well, and olive oil might have made it a whole lot easier. I learned something new, so thanks. Just one footnote, I had a mouse I set free from a glue trap that jumped away, I never caught it again. It's a pretty traumatic experience and isn't likely to work twice with the same rat. And I'm really glad you didn't get bitten.

I'm generally loathe to recommend what I generally consider "marginal ideas" but there are marginal situations that require remedial thinking. And in many cases the difference between a really bad idea and a really good one is how well it's executed. And I think you did it very well. Most of my best true shoulder rat training methods were derived from ideas that were generally considered way out of the box or radical. But you have to take some chances when you need to solve a unique problem and the prepackaged solutions don't work.

First, black rats do make excellent pets, they become very tame and friendly and actually socialize to humans very well... Kucero had adult wild black rats he trapped riding around on his shoulder in practically no time after he caught them. Check out any thread on Wilder by Gotchea. Wilder was an actual true shoulder rat and now lives out in the barn, sneaking into the house at night to visit Gotchea while she sleeps; last I read....

Our part wild rat went native outdoors for a summer, oddly she never came when recalled, but she continued to patrol our yard and we recovered her on the second floor of our neighbor's house where she was stealing food from his dogs... she may have been raiding our house while we slept too. She was actually seen several blocks away from our house by another rat owner. She had a pretty large territory and didn't have any hangups with moving into and out of houses. Which brings up the risk of letting your rat go too close to home... If she can get into your mom's house you might find her in your snickers stash one fine evening. I might add that once our wild child came home she really was very good with commands. That was the only way to get her back, she could evaporate into thin air... sometimes she would disappear for a few hours at a time and we would wonder if maybe she was out in the yard or visiting the neighbors... She was a really great rat, but more than a little unusual to say the least.

I might also mention that Fuzzy Rat could find out house and walk right up to the front door from over half a mile away... I don't know how rats navigate but just know they can.

All that said, it's your call what to do. I'm sure you will do the right thing.

Best luck and congrats again.


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## MinorRobot (Aug 13, 2014)

Well, it's been a while but I thought I'd come back and update you guys on what happened.

Caught the rat, brought her to my mom's (where I stay), and was letting her chill out in the garage for a few days before releasing her.
That was the plan, anyway!

The damned rat ESCAPED!

The cage had 3 doors, and all three were secure- or so I thought. I had a sheet over the cage, which she pulled through the bars and by some insane stroke of luck was able to pull them in just the right way that it forced one of the doors open. Seriously I couldn't believe it.

So, she's living in the garage. I've been feeding her, and have seen her a few times.

I might try to trap her again, but I'm leaning towards just letting her stay. I know she might damage some stuff in there but I'm not too worried about it. A lot of it is junk or easily replaceable. It's not sealed, she can leave if she wants, but I don't think she will. She'll die eventually and probably smell and the thought of me one day finding her body in a box of pillows or something is upsetting but from the rat's perspective she's got a pretty nice living situation set up. She'll probably have a longer, less stressful life than if I put her out in the woods, anyway. Not gonna lie, I'm a little attached at this point. And jesus, she's gotten one over on me so many times I feel like she almost deserves it! My only worry is she'll go get pregnant and have babies in there, but I don't know how likely that is. I don't see her leaving the garage, and the woods are far enough away I doubt a boy rat (if there are any out there) is gonna make the trek.


Also on the positive side she's been eating the roaches that live in there (we don't have an infestation, we just live in Florida), which is gross but appreciated.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

I wouldn't have the heart to re-catch her, she'd just live in the garage if our rolls were reversed lol. You seem to have much of the same views that I do in the sense that "it's replaceable". When mine destroy something I'm never upset for more than a few minutes, it's replaceable after all and they are not


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## Millie & Daisy (Mar 7, 2015)

MinorRobot said:


> Also on the positive side she's been eating the roaches that live in there (we don't have an infestation, we just live in Florida), which is gross but appreciated.


I can attest to this! My family lived in central Florida for two years when I was a kid and those suckers are HUGE. I almost forgot how annoying cockroaches are. And those black racer snakes, oh! They would always go to breed and die in our air conditioner units and stink up the house like nothing I've ever smelled before or since.


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