Rats are one of the most unwanted animals in the home and the battle between them and humans have existed for a long time.
But when the rats are smart, what can you do to eliminate them?
What makes a smart rat?
Basically, when a rat finds another rat in a trap dead or consuming any toxic substance, it will serve as an example. Additionally, if the rat wasn’t caught by the trap, they will learn. This is based on the fact that rats are naturally suspicious creatures and usually stay off dangerous places.
Although, they will forget the scenario within a short time in most cases. It requires a period of time for rats to grasp that their food routes is dangerous to them. It just infers that they are smart but you can do better.
Rats are smart creatures and the way they move from one point to another is much delicate. They are neophibia or suspicious to learn new things. They are smart and fast learners and they can watch their friends getting trapped or poisoned.
For you to catch them, you need the correct bait and they can learn through a close encounter with the rat trap and they also share information with their friends.
Rats have highly cognitive learning prowess in comparison to a human being and they understand new concepts quickly especially new objects. These creatures reason far easily, the same as their thought process.
How rats behave
If you can find time to grasp how rats behave, you should know the kind of rat you are dealing with in your home. Roof rats are often found in the attics, roofs and trees. They have long tails and wide ears in comparison to their whole body. Their favorite food are nuts, dried fruit and grains. Roof rats are somewhat big eaters.
While Norway or Sewer rats, you will find them at the basement or ground level area. They have a quite shorter tail compared to other parts of their body which is brown. Norway or Sewer rats often ingest virtually every kind of food including nuts, fish, vegetables, raw meat and dried fruits.
Rats are similar to mice as they can carry their body seamlessly along walls & edges. You will hardly see a rat moving around in an open room and the danger of having one or a pack of these creatures in your home is that they can be embarrassing and frustrating.
They happen to be notorious and intelligent rodents that are quite difficult to catch and can traverse across anything you own such as wood, plastic, clothes, food and even paper. It can take several years before you find a rat has been ramaging your home and eventually catch them.
It is difficult to chase rats out of your home as they cannot be caught with the regular baits. They are very smart animals with a heightened sense of sound, touch, sense and smell and quickly learn the new tricks of survival as they go.
Their fear of new things has assisted them with surviving in their habitat than many creatures in the World. Understanding their surroundings allow them get away as quick as possible using the shortest route they can find. So if you’re often finding it hard to trap them, it is due to this behaviour.
Rats will never go out into an open space or an area with trap or food like mice would do. They will detect if something new has been set in a familiar spot. So when you set a trap there, these rodents become suspicious and do not come close to it.
How to catch a Smart rat
To trap rats successfully, you have to understand that it will be difficult, so you need to try new ways:
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Select the appropriate place for your trap
Rats basically employ fences & walls as guides and what often happens is that the worst place you can set a trap is either under a light setting or at the center of a room. This is what you should not do so you can get the rats successfully and easily.
In that case, traps are highly effective when set at normal routes and in places with little light. When you use traps to counter high rodent attacks, try setting many of them. To better increase your chances, set them beneath furniture or inside cabinets or closets etc.
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Allow the rats time to get accustomed
Rats are not the same as mice and do not get trapped easily like them. They are very curious about many things that suddenly appear in their vicinity and they will end up playing the traps and staying away from them. You have to understand the trick of catching rats mostly the smart ones by constructing safe traps.
You ought to be know how to make them become accustomed to the new trap you designed by placing the trap in such a way that it will draw in the rat. You can set multiple traps in spots where you think they can be found as well.
Position them along walls too, put the food on the trap and beside it and see if the traps are not armed. Give space to those consuming the meal set for the 1st and 2nd night before you then set the trap.
Allowing these creatures get used to the trap is often a brilliant trick mostly with the unarmed trap within a day or 2. Following these, you can now set the armed trap. When the rat sees a new meal, they will first look through it and make a little test by extending their neck across it.
They will go back to the unarmed trap and see the meal once more if the new food doesn’t cause them any harm. A pack of these rodents might also provide a first chance to a frantic and small rat who wants to taste the meal.
If the naive and young rats are okay, the older & smarter rats will believe the new item is harmless.
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Choose the appropriate bait for your trap
Finding the best location for your trap is not adequate, you have to consider the bait very carefully too. The right bait for a rat trap will be based on the kind of rodent you want to eradicate.
Black rats are herbivorous and brown rats are omnivorous which clearly indicates that you can catch every specie using just one bait. If it is black rats you want to eradicate, peanut butter is their favorite. Meanwhile, brown rats fall for cheese and some other remarkable baits includes chocolate bars, nuts, stinky cheese, shrimp and more.
Cheese
It is conventional but dependable. Cheese with strong aroma invites rat, so add in a cracker with a little butter on top and it will work tremendously. Do not apply this in the case of roof rats as they choose vegetable in place of cheese.
Fresh Veggies
If there is a roof rat in your home, it is most advisable you feed them fresh fruits and vegetables and set them at appropriate spots like the roof, attic and crawl areas. If the vegetables have poisoned powder, a steel trap or bait mixed with them, that’s okay too.
Meat
Fish, a slice of Chicken Salami or any preserved meat can serve as an effective bait to catch a sewer rat or at times, even a roof rat. Continue using it as bait for 2 days prior getting hold of the rodent. Leftover from dinners are also okay and can be used as meat for rat bait.
Meals with attractive aroma usually attracts rats irrespective of the specie and the majority find it seductive when they perceive strong aroma.
Maple syrup, chocolate or any sweet item
Rodents have a sweet set of teeth so they get attracted to sweet syrups, chocolates, smells, jams, candies as well as sugary foods. Just like peanut butter, sweets and syrups can be conveniently added to formerly existing rat poisons and baits.
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Take out every source of Water & Food
Rodents do not venture into an unknown area when they have enough food & water within their reach. If you remove food from where they normally find them, they will be forced to move to a different area.
As mice don’t need an open body of water, rats do. When you set the trap close to the sink pipe, it becomes very effective. So get the liquid bait prepared for the smart rat in your vicinity.
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Employ tracking powders
Track down the rodent. Prior using any bait, its best to carry out a surveillance of the animal’s activity. Tracking powders can be purchased easily at stores and are labeled to be used for rat monitoring.
Spray it over burrow openings or suspected areas to effectively track your frustrating partner’s damaging activity. The time required to catch a smart rat may be longer than expected, but be patient and keep doing all you can.
