Most Urban Ark groups trap rats using a Victor Pro rat trap in a wooden box, which keeps out little fingers, curious pets and non-target animals.
For a more general look at setting traps, check out this video. These are new traps so bare hands are fine, but once in the field you should always wear gloves to avoid rodent-borne diseases.
Basic rat trapping tips
- Always wear gloves when handling your trap or catches. Gloves are important for hygiene and they also avoid transferring human smells, which can deter rats.
- Before opening the box give it a shake to fire and disable the trap inside.
- Only hold the trap from the back (the part with the big red V).
- Bait your trap before you set it.
- Peanut butter is the most common lure. We’ve listed several alternatives below.
- Use your thumbs to pull back the kill-bar to avoid accidents.
- Set your trap/box combo on level ground. Rats are put off by unstable boxes which wobble.
- If you have to use unstable ground, set your trap to “firm (F)” rather than “sensitive (S)”.
- When putting your trap into the box, place it in bait-end first.
- Slide in the trap until it’s just inside the box.
- Your lure is likely to be stolen by slugs or insects after a few days. Refresh every few days!
- To remove a rat from the trap, hold the trap over a bag or bin and pull up the kill bar so the pest drops out. See below for disposal.
For trap maintenance guidelines see Predator Free NZ’s Looking after your traps and Forest & Bird’s Maintaining your Victror rat trap.
For sophisticated techniques, see our advanced rat trapping tips.
What’s the best lure?
Choosing the best lure is a toughie! It all depends. And what works one day possibly won’t the next. As they say “tools used too often go blunt”.
- Peanut butter A long-standing favourite and the mainstay of hundreds of reserve trapping groups and backyard trappers. Some say premium brands (such as Pic’s) work better than your cheapo brands with added non-peanut oils. Try mixing in some oats for a change. Peanut butter can often be taken by insects, sometimes overnight, but using ‘chunky’ helps ensure some is left for catching rats. Re-apply every few days.
- Mayonnaise Some claim better success with mayonnaise than peanut butter.
- Nutella These rats get fed better than we do!
- Chocolate White chocolate buttons apparently gets the tick from your average rat.
- Cheese The old mousetrap favourite. Quickly goes off in the heat.
What do I do with a dead rat?
Firstly, make sure you’re wearing gloves. Apart from the yuck factor, dead rats (and other animals) transmit leptospirosis, a bacterial disease you don’t want to get.
- If you can face it, smear the dead rat around the inside of the trap box, or leave the dead animal nearby. Rats are attracted by other dead rats.
- When you’re finished with it, pop the dead rat in your bin. Think of them as meat scraps. Make sure you put your bin out for the next collection
- Alternatively drop you dead rat in your compost bin and cover it with organis material. It will quickly break down.