I set a few traps in my backyard. I butt up against a creek / jogging trail.  
 

im pest free mostly except when my tomatoes ripen on the vine.  They show up then.  Right now I’m living a Tom/Jerry life and using cheddar.  Talk about cliche.   I don’t have any Snickers Bar.    
 

I let my snap traps get weathered and human scent free.  
 

what’s you bait. ?  

What kind of trap ? Out in the yard, I’m assuming cage trap 

 

Snap traps I put a dab of peanut butter and stick either a few kernels of black oil sunflower seed or a piece of dry dog food in the peanut butter. I was mostly trapping them in neighborhoods where they were robbing pet food or bird seed so I gave them what they were after. Setting a snap trap in a backyard can get risky, maybe not 100% legal haha. Could also get gone if a raccoon finds it 

32 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

What kind of trap ? Out in the yard, I’m assuming cage trap 

 

Snap traps I put a dab of peanut butter and stick either a few kernels of black oil sunflower seed or a piece of dry dog food in the peanut butter. I was mostly trapping them in neighborhoods where they were robbing pet food or bird seed so I gave them what they were after. Setting a snap trap in a backyard can get risky, maybe not 100% legal haha. Could also get gone if a raccoon finds it 

Great point.  Yes snap traps.  I put them in rat friendly spots.  Like inside a smaller broken clay pot.  Or behind a shed. A larger critter can’t get to it.  Not at least yet.  

I wouldn’t worry much about the human scent, a rat would gladly eat you if you stopped moving. I’ve seen them eat their family member’s carcass off all my snap traps 

 

so you say they are eating your tomatoes? 

I think they are.  Suspect #1 for sure.  I’m tempted to dust around the plants later and check the paw prints. 

Tomato may make good bait in that case. Do the tomatoes completely disappear or just have one bite taken out and discarded ?

3 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

im pest free mostly except when my tomatoes ripen on the vine.  

 

A couple of years ago, I saw a squirrel take a whole ripe tomato off of a plant at the community garden.  

24 minutes ago, BASS302 said:

 

A couple of years ago, I saw a squirrel take a whole ripe tomato off of a plant at the community garden.  

That’s why I was asking about if they ate it all or just took a bite . Squirrels take them off the vine, bite it once or twice, then leave the rest laying there. Rat wastes nothing 

Half eaten.  The crime is always at night.   I’m using fertilizer the pot growers use.  I hope to eat some tomatoes.  A few.  

They can be berry twicky ~

A-Jay

I like those Victor traps with the big yellow pad for mice. I haven't had the need to use the rat size yet.

 

For mice, I use peanut butter. I would think that the same would be good for rats as well.

On 6/30/2025 at 8:04 PM, A-Jay said:

They can be berry twicky ~

A-Jay

Safety first.

I tie a piece of raw  bacon to the trip and rub a little peanut butter on it. Rat and mouse traps.

I've been drowning a bunch of chipmunks the past couple years with those "walk the plank" traps that mount on a 5 gallon bucket. They're very effective and reset themselves.  I'm sure they'd work well on rats too. 

 I use black oil sunflower seeds for bait. 

A biscuit.
He’s not as chonky as this makes him look. But he’s not svelt.

On 7/12/2025 at 9:27 AM, VolFan said:

A biscuit.
He’s not as chonky as this makes him look. But he’s not svelt.

You said svelt - what’s a TN boy using a big word like that. Us Alabamians don’t know what that means… 😂😂

I use Bar Bait where and when needed.

 

https://kbchorsesupplies.com/just-one-bite-rat-bait-bar-1lb/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22543228686&gclid=Cj0KCQjwss3DBhC3ARIsALdgYxO3kxcWj8OO1YERHcz-Xr-LkGTGdpnv1gB1o_y4ufltkZ4sMpRHlBMaAhxgEALw_wcB

5 hours ago, Smirak said:

You said svelt - what’s a TN boy using a big word like that. Us Alabamians don’t know what that means… 😂😂

@TnRiver46 has been doing the same thing lately. Seems we has us some edgimicated hillbillies round here. I never went in for that fancy book lernin stuff myself. 😂

Too much head knowledge. I ain’t got the room. Mine’s filled with useless crap. My kids have always called me the uncrowned jeopardy champion..

Best mouse traps I've ever used is these live traps.

Caught 15 mice in 15 nights using them until I figured out where they were coming in.

Wife said I was catching the same mouse. 😂

The mice up here just walk right through glue traps and carry off the Victor traps. Would have to be skinny rats though. 😁

Great. Now when I watch the movie MouseHunt, I’ll be thinking about this thread and @TnRiver46 🤣😂🤣

2 hours ago, Bird said:

Best mouse traps I've ever used is these live traps.

Caught 15 mice in 15 nights using them until I figured out where they were coming in.

Wife said I was catching the same mouse. 😂

The mice up here just walk right through glue traps and carry off the Victor traps. Would have to be skinny rats though. 😁

What do you do with the live ones? Shoot them with a tiny miniature pistol ? 😂 

9 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

What do you do with the live ones? Shoot them with a tiny miniature pistol ? 😂 

parlor gun and birdshot loads!

12 hours ago, Bird said:

Best mouse traps I've ever used is these live traps.

Caught 15 mice in 15 nights using them until I figured out where they were coming in.

Wife said I was catching the same mouse. 😂

The mice up here just walk right through glue traps and carry off the Victor traps. Would have to be skinny rats though. 😁

 

We get a lot of mice when it gets cold as well.  Our basement is unfinished and the house was empty for 2 years when it was foreclosed and flipped.  So the mouse found a place to be safe and you can see the runs where they come through the insulation to onto the concrete foundation.  There is a 3" lip that they can run the entire perimeter of the basement on top of the foundation but in front of the base plate.  I started setting a standard victor trap there in the winter, but I'd have too many snap the trap and crawl crawl off with it after it hits the ground.  I tied a piece of fishing line to a hook I had in a rafter and then to the trap.  Now when they snap it, they go for a little ride and the whole thing hangs in the air.  Much easier for me to see when there is one there when I pop down the basement.

 

On a side note, I caught 15 in 18 days this past winter when I started setting them.  I finished with 23 or 24 this winter.  This trap is going on 4 years now and the plastic lip that holds the set arm is now worn out.  Fast side, slow side, doesn't matter.  I can't get it to hold a set anymore.

10 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

What do you do with the live ones? Shoot them with a tiny miniature pistol ? 😂 

Catch and release.

I was tired of seeing eyeballs and guts on the basement floor with those snap traps.

24 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

parlor gun and birdshot loads!

 

We get a lot of mice when it gets cold as well.  Our basement is unfinished and the house was empty for 2 years when it was foreclosed and flipped.  So the mouse found a place to be safe and you can see the runs where they come through the insulation to onto the concrete foundation.  There is a 3" lip that they can run the entire perimeter of the basement on top of the foundation but in front of the base plate.  I started setting a standard victor trap there in the winter, but I'd have too many snap the trap and crawl crawl off with it after it hits the ground.  I tied a piece of fishing line to a hook I had in a rafter and then to the trap.  Now when they snap it, they go for a little ride and the whole thing hangs in the air.  Much easier for me to see when there is one there when I pop down the basement.

 

On a side note, I caught 15 in 18 days this past winter when I started setting them.  I finished with 23 or 24 this winter.  This trap is going on 4 years now and the plastic lip that holds the set arm is now worn out.  Fast side, slow side, doesn't matter.  I can't get it to hold a set anymore.

Have not caught a single mouse in over a year since finding their access point.

They chewed through the screen in window well so I replaced it with a heavy duty wire mesh screen.

Those live traps require a look every morning because given enough time, they chew their way out.

I once read that if you give a mouse a cookie….

 

I you have kids/grandkids, you know.