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Best rat traps?

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    #32
    ?Cee?view
    Registered Users Posts: 2,838 ✭✭✭?Cee?view


    CJhaughey wrote: »
    I have one of those A24 for a long time now, the Baits have changed over the years, they used to be a plastic bottle full of long life peanut butter, the new baits are self dispensing with a chemical propellant that forces the chocolatish bait out.
    The Cartridges are Co2 with a 5g dose of silicone oil in them, I haven't found them available with the threaded neck anywhere apart from Goodnature.
    Airsoft cylinders are available with silicone oil but are not threaded DAMHIK.
    I tend to alternate between one genuine and one plain Co2 and my trap is still working.
    Its killed plenty of rats and there is no risk to other wildlife like you have with secondary poisoning which is where another animal eats a poisoned rat and dies.
    I have the optional counter on mine because I often found the cylinder empty but no bodies due to scavenging and wanted an accurate count of shots fired.
    In NZ they have released a new part called Chirp which is a bluetooth linked cap and that gives a lot more information back to your phone of events and times and areas for multiple traps.

    Hi, I'm always concerned about gadgets such as these. They lure you in with an initial price which you can manage but then screw you on consumables. That said, the Co2 cartridges seems reasonable to me. One for £4.20 or 10 for £40, or am I missing something?


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    #33
    cpb
    Registered Users Posts: 403 ✭✭cpb


    Look for the CO2 cylinders that cyclists use to reinflate tyres, they are threaded and much cheaper than prices quoted above. I think Aldi and Lidl do them now and again.


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    #34
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,906 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    ?Cee?view wrote: »
    Hi, I'm always concerned about gadgets such as these. They lure you in with an initial price which you can manage but then screw you on consumables. That said, the Co2 cartridges seems reasonable to me. One for £4.20 or 10 for £40, or am I missing something?

    The consumables are expensive but there aren't many direct competitors in this market.
    It all depends on what you want, if you want a trap that can fire 24 times and reset itself and keep working without having to be rebaited then its worth it.

    These were designed to be fitted in wild areas for months at a time without having to be reset and checked which is the time consuming aspect of trapping.
    The bait cartridges are fairly long lasting as well so all in all I felt it was a decent trap and given its advantages worth paying for.

    That said I have used many other forms of trap as well such as live traps, Fenn traps and others but for simplicity and ease of use the A24 is hard to beat for a lot of people.
    I know holiday home owners have installed them for peace of mind when they are away for extended periods.


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    #35
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,906 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    gozunda wrote: »
    Btw what kills the rats in that device?

    The horizontal part has a gas piston in it, its triggered by a thin wire trigger that is just above the part, the piston moves across the vertical tube and impacts a rubber buffer on the other side of the tube
    The rat/mouse is caught between the piston and the rubber buffer and in my experience usually ends up with a headstrike which is lights out immediately.

    These won't draw rats, if the rats are there they will be there for other reasons but these traps will usually eliminate them if present.


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    #36
    peasant
    Registered Users Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    CJhaughey wrote: »
    That said I have used many other forms of trap as well such as live traps, Fenn traps and others but for simplicity and ease of use the A24 is hard to beat for a lot of people.

    There's another aspect to this:
    Rats are extremely weary and circumspect of new things in their territory, sometimes it takes them weeks to finally muster up the trust/courage to investigate, especially the wise old residents.

    With other traps you might have to go and check that nothing else triggered it/ freshen the bait every so often ...every time you do so you leave your scent and the weariness period starts afresh.

    The A24 you can just place and forget and it will still reliably get the rat weeks later when they finally stick their head in to have a looksee.


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    #37
    MicktheMan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,827 ✭✭✭MicktheMan


    With the A24 is there a danger that other animals could be injured? I thinking cats possibly.


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    #38
    peasant
    Registered Users Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    MicktheMan wrote: »
    With the A24 is there a danger that other animals could be injured? I thinking cats possibly.
    The cat could *potentially* stick its paw into the trap. But the entrance into the trap is at such an angle that the cat would basically have to back up to the trap, bend the paw backwards and then stick it in to get in far enough to trigger it.

    So no, no danger really :D

    We've always had cats (and rats) and the cats have never even shown an interest in the trap.

    Other animals:

    The animal has to be small enough to actually fit into the trap but also a bit of a climber to reach the bait & trigger, so that rules out birds and also anything bigger than a rat.
    I have found a dead mouse at the trap once...t'was a big one.


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    #39
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,547 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    We've a good few grey squirrels visiting. I reckon they'd be victims, not sure how I feel about this. We've no reds unfortunately.


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    #40
    MicktheMan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,827 ✭✭✭MicktheMan


    John_Rambo wrote: »
    We've a good few grey squirrels visiting. I reckon they'd be victims, not sure how I feel about this. We've no reds unfortunately.
    I would put greys in the same category as rats.


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    #41
    peasant
    Registered Users Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    John_Rambo wrote: »
    We've a good few grey squirrels visiting. I reckon they'd be victims, not sure how I feel about this. We've no reds unfortunately.
    As rats are pretty territorial, you'd have to find a spot where the rats are and the squirrels aren't.

    So not near the bird feeder (or whatever else the common ground is) but on the rat run towards it.


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    #42
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,906 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    A24 isn't strong enough for Squirrels. There is an A18 designed for Mink and Grey Squirrel.


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    #43
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,547 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    peasant wrote: »
    As rats are pretty territorial, you'd have to find a spot where the rats are and the squirrels aren't.

    So not near the bird feeder (or whatever else the common ground is) but on the rat run towards it.

    Yeah, I gotcha. The squirrels tend to avoid the tunnel like runs the rats use. We had a monster crop of sunflowers and the squirrels went nuts after the seeds, it was like a comedy show with their antics.

    Can't really see a red revival on the East coast unless pine matins hear the news and start moving in on the greys.


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