Rat trap

“ First tie a string around them and swab them around the rat-holes, then drag them on the ground near the wall, to the place where the rat-trap is and rub the rags well over it, then put them in. Have some nice tempting bait in the trap, either carrots, meat, broiled bacon, or cheese—anything fresh will do—but be careful to put in enough of it. If the trap is placed as we have above directed the rat will get in and not try to escape. Make the trap as much unlike a trap and as much like a natural hiding-place as possible. ”

“ I must not omit to tell my readers to always trap Rats in the night, and to go very quietly about it, for if you make much noise they will give over feeding. You must not go about with too big a light whilst trapping. You should stay at the building from dark until midnight, and every time a Rat is caught in the trap you should go with a bull’s eye lamp, take it out of the trap or kill it, and then set the trap again, as you have the chance of another Rat in the same trap. ”

“ Therefore I think the best place you could select to set up the trap would be somewhere where there is no kind of cover, no grass, nor anything, where it is quite bare and open, and where the rat would run along quickly and never think of any danger. And he would be sure to run much faster and not stay to look under his feet in crossing such places, lest Pan should see him and give chase, or your papa should come round the corner with a gun. Now I know there is one such place the rat passes every evening ”

“ An ordinary rat had been caught and killed in a steel trap, and upon the body of the rat was perched a little black creature, which proved on examination to be a water-shrew, which was trying to make a meal upon the rat. ”

“ Get a trap, no matter of what shape, material or brand—but by all means get one that doesn't let the rat out again after he has been once caught. Bait it with anything nice and tempting, and put it near the rat-hole, just where they come out, any time before you go to bed. In the morning you probably find you have caught a rat—maybe a big, grizzled old fellow with a scabby tail, or else a young one, half frightened to death—anyway it is a [Pg 52] rat, and a real live one at that, and you can forthwith proceed to kill him. ”

“ It is better to cover the trap than to leave it exposed. A short board should be laid on the trap and an old cloth or bag or a bunch of hay or straw thrown carelessly over the top. Often the trap may be placed with the entrance opposite a rat hole and fitting it so closely that rats can not pass through without entering the trap. If a single rat is caught it may be left in the trap as a decoy to others.
Notwithstanding the fact that sometimes a large number of rats may be taken at a time in cage traps, a few good guillotine traps intelligently used will prove more effective in the long run. ”

“ No trap or poison bait can do pussy’s work, because rats are very wise and cunning, and after a few are caught they avoid coming near a trap. As for poisons, it isn’t very pleasant to have a poisoned rat die in or near a house. ”

“ IN the morning we went up to the village and bought a wire rat-trap and fetched it down, and unstopped the best rat-hole, and in about an hour we had fifteen of the bulliest kind of ones; and then we took it and put it in a safe place under Aunt Sally’s bed. But while we was gone for spiders little Thomas Franklin Benjamin Jefferson Elexander Phelps found it there, and opened the door of it to see if the rats would come out, and they did; ”

“ He does not altogether ignore the argument of the friends of the rat—for even the rat has found friends among naturalists, ready to argue in his favor, and in print, too—that these vermin destroy, in the sewers, much matter that would otherwise give out poisonous gases. Sewer rats, he admits, are not the very worst of the race, but even they should be slain wherever they may be caught. But the rats of the cellar, the warehouse, the barn, the rick-yard, the granary, and the corn-field, are the grand destroyers against whom war to the terrier, the trap, and the ferret is proclaimed. ”

“ Of all wild animals, rats do the greatest number of "impossible" things. We have matched our wits against rat cunning until a madhouse yawned before us. Twice in my life all my traps and poisons have utterly failed, and left me faintly asking: Are rats possessed of occult powers? Once the answer to that was furnished by an old he-one who left his tail in my steel trap, but a little later caught himself in a trap-like space in the back of the family aeolian, and ignominiously died there,—a victim of his own error in judging distances without a tape line. ”

“ When you find where a rat is working slightly in many places along a bank and you do not know just where to place your trap, dig a little place in the bank at the water's edge and up above it and set your trap in the entrance under the water a half inch. This will attract the rat and you will most likely get him. It helps to pin down a rat's leg or other small portion of the carcass in the excavation just mentioned. Rats will not eat the meat, but it is sure to draw them into the trap; and then by baiting with rat flesh you will often get a mink. ”

“ A rat, caught in an old-fashioned trap, had occasioned the noise by its efforts to escape, in which it was able to raise the trap-door of its prison to a certain height, but was then obliged to drop it. ”

“ By the persistent use of traps, occasional resort to poison, and the exercise of forethought in the construction of farm buildings so as to minimize the opportunities for harborage, farmers and others may prevent the greater part of the loss and annoyance they now experience from rat depredations. The same statement applies in great measure to city and village conditions. Hence cooperation in the warfare on rats is particularly important and can not be too strongly urged. ”

“ A common mistake in trapping for rats and mice is to use only one or two traps when dozens are needed. For a large establishment hundreds of traps may be used to advantage, and a dozen is none too many for an ordinary barn or dwelling infested with rats. House mice are less suspicious than rats and are much more easily trapped. [Pg 13] Small guillotine traps baited with oatmeal will soon rid an ordinary dwelling of the smaller pests.
Fig. 7.—Guillotine trap with wooden base and trigger plate.
Cage trap.—When rats are abundant, the large French wire cage traps may be used to advantage. ”

“ I drew Henri close up to me, and tucked in the blankets and tried to sleep. Unluckily, the water-drops fell thick, and the rats were so bold and fierce that I was afraid. Assuredly, they lacked no courage, for during my brief lapses into slumber they stole out of my coat pocket a bit of cheese, a biscuit, and a roll of twine. Once the baby set up such a yell that the thief, who stayed on guard, lit a candle, and then we saw that a rat had bitten the little fellow's finger. ”

“ I was once of that opinion myself, but am now better convinced; indeed when there are but four or five left behind in the trap, they are apt to be very violent and outrageous, you may then shake them out to your dog. There is a wide difference in the temper and disposition of these animals; for some are so savage and untamed, that they will set up their backs, looking very fiercely and crying out, if you do but look at them ”

“ When a man discovers that a public building full of men, women, and children is infested with rats and that these vicious rodents have undermined its foundations and honeycombed its structure, it becomes his duty, first, to warn the occupants of the presence of the rats, next, to show them the damage that has been wrought and how the rats can be trapped and killed—and then he may take a hand in the rat-hunt himself. ”

“ It should be kept in mind that so long as good shelter and plenty of food are available rats will thrive and increase. Under such conditions trapping alone will be ineffective, since unless otherwise controlled the supply of rats will be inexhaustible. Use concrete, wire netting, and sheet metal to rat-proof buildings, and keep food and foodstuffs within rat-proof containers (or buildings) , and the number of rats will naturally diminish. Then by means of traps or poison the survivors can be readily eliminated from the premises. ”

“ Fig. 1.—Method of baiting guillotine trap.
Wire cage traps (French) also are useful for catching rats, but in the long run the kinds recommended above are much more effective. While trapping, all other food should be removed and the trap bait should be changed often. Rats are very suspicious, and baits and traps should be handled as little as possible. Increased success may be secured both in trapping and poisoning if the rats are fed for a night or two with the kinds of food to be used for bait. ”

“ But what made the battle such a bloody one was that wharf rats are braver than house rats and will fight to the death when attacked. Being large, and having long, sharp teeth, more often than not they get the better of ordinary cats and dogs that are sicked on them. In less than fifteen minutes hundreds of rats had been killed, for Buster was a noted rat killer. All he did was to open his jaws, grab a rat in the middle of its back, give his head a shake and the rat's back was broken. ”

“ Up above, in the open air, they are to be seen in swarms sharing our watchfulness. This gun-shaken valley is honeycombed with their little round funk-holes, into which they flash at any sudden noise. It is merely going downstairs where we are all at home.
The social instincts of the rat are less highly developed. His visible visits to the mess are rarer, but we overhear his conversation in his tunnels that open on our shelves, the patter of his pink feet across the canvas overhead, and the muscular squirming of his body in some tight place about the sandbag wainscot. ”

“ This is the best time to catch them, as they are all under the floor of the building, and are very easy to catch in the night with the traps.
As a rule the Black or Drain Rats feed only in the night, very rarely in the day, as they are of a dirty nature, and prefer being in the drains. In my opinion the Black Rat is more vicious than the Brown. ”

“ Observe the night that you set your traps going, to lay food that they cannot carry away, and put but a little on the bridge, and on each side, that you may be sure of catching what comes to feed; and if in going round to your traps two or three times, you observe one of them that has not struck, strike it yourself; for sometimes they will not go down easily, if they stand long, but set hard, then the Rats will eat the food out, and not strike the trap. ”

“ If properly "set" the animal, on emerging from the burrow, will become entangled, and by his efforts to disengage himself will only tighten the loop and thus render escape impossible. For rats, the noose should be attached to a nail, and the wire similarly arranged over the hole.
The slipping-noose thus simply adapted becomes a most effective trap, and is always sure to hold its victim when once within its grasp, as every struggle only tends to draw the noose tighter. They are quick in their action, and produce death without much pain, and for this reason are to be commended. ”

“ When you have discovered their haunt, you must put a trap, hereafter to be described, as near the place as possible; put a small piece of stick across under each end of the trap, near the standard, to prevent it from falling down or striking, and it will remain in the same position as set, and the Rats have free liberty to go in and out at pleasure, in order to embolden them, before you set your traps in earnest to take them ”

“ In slaughter-houses, they become so unconscious after having gorged themselves with a hearty dinner of hot blood and other warm offal, that hundreds of them could be picked up and massacred with but very faint resistance on the otherwise cautious rat's part.
In old markets, rats yet do valuable service as sanitary inspectors, by demolishing the amount of refuse and garbage; but in other channels they are the very demons of destruction. They are especially fond of cheese; and in the cheese-dealers' stalls they go at their work of procuring this in a highly artistic way. ”

“ Many have been killed by traps, dogs, and cats, but the survivors profit by the lesson, and occasionally shift their quarters, or refuse to be captured. After receiving several last February, with two or three of the subspecies Mus alexandrinus, the supply suddenly ceased at a certain grocer's stores, and the Brown Rat (M. decumanus) made its appearance. The Black Rats had apparently fled, and were swarming in a neighbouring dwelling. ”

“ To destroy all the rats that were in the hold of that ship would be a serious undertaking, if not an impossibility, and I no longer thought of such a thing. The best plan, therefore, would be that which I had now hit upon: to stop up the main aperture, and also every other through which a rat could possibly squeeze his body, and thus be at once secured against either their intrusion or their attacks.
Without further delay, I “plugged” up the crevice with my jacket ”

“ They use ointment which they rub on their hands and with this same composition they cover their arms, which is very distasteful to the rats, who will not bite at any human flesh that is anointed with this preparation. These men wear large slouch hats, and pursue their calling in all seasons, to make a living. Often they have terrible battles with the enraged colonies of rats, and not a few of the rat-catchers have been over- [Pg 633] powered in the sewers when attacked, and their bones whiten many of the brick beds and slimy crevices of these dark and dismal underground passages. ”