In almost 4 months of using this trap, I’ve trapped at least 13 pack rats, a couple mice, and a couple squirrels. Pack rats are prolific in our part of rural northern New Mexico. I really dislike being the grim reaper to the rats. However, I value my sanity. If you've ever had your sleep disrupted for weeks / months on end by a pack rat, you know how insufferably nocturnal and almost admirably persistent they are. I’m talking competitive breeding, territory skirmishes, squeak crying, scampering, and dragging and rolling things. Night after night beating on the rafters with a wooden mallet and yelling at the rats like a lunatic, only for them to get active and noisy just as I almost fall asleep, repeat cycle, ad infinitum, led to some internet searching. A ridiculous amount of steel wool has gone into plugging up holes to no effect- too many holes, can’t find every one, rats are still getting in. Glue traps haven't worked- find them scattered about with fur patches, leaves or sticks attached. For whatever reason, the old fashioned wire snap traps seem to create more garter and bull snake casualties than rat captures. Our live trap has been minimally successful, and then, the waste of gas and time to drive rodents elsewhere making them someone else's problem. I’m absolutely opposed to poison given the tragedies of secondary poisoning to valued mammal and bird predators. And setting fire to the entire building in a fit of insanity would adversely affect me more than the rats. Had to suck it up and kill the rats. Effectively. A note: the electronic rat trap instructions specifically say for indoor use only. However, that wasn’t possible. The problem: rats in the attic crawl space which is inaccessible and not serviceable by the human residents. The realization: the pack rat entry / exit area on the porch roof. The relief: the first night the electronic rat trap went on the porch roof, I caught the primary pack rat. Within 5 nights, I caught 2 additional pack rats vying for territory. Finally, a full night’s sleep and the path to feeling human again. Since then, the trap zaps the occasional interloper. Every day, I check it at least once. Logistically speaking, it’s not ideal using an electronic rat trap outside, but in my instance, it’s worked great. I keep it on the flat porch roof under the eave of the adjacent higher pitched roof, where the rat excrement builds up. That’s their scent highway. Being in the desert Southwest, the arid environment gives allowances for using the trap outdoors. There is the exception of the thunder showers. As much as possible I pull the trap off the roof during rain storms, but sometimes rain comes on fast. Rain can get in the trap from wind blowing it sideways. I’ve found little puddles in the floor of the trap, but it’s never been placed where standing water could occur. If wet, I dry as soon as possible. Of course, turn the trap off and remove lid before handling. Safety first. Periodically, I need to clean up rain splattered dirt or leaves that blow in, to keep the metal plates and contacts clean and dry. Despite being large for mice, the rat trap will kill mice, which I’ve trapped from down on the porch while trying to trap the the squirrels that have taken over the shed. And the rat trap has zapped two of the adolescent rock/ground squirrels. Since the squirrels don’t cruise the roof where the rats go, I can target which critter by location and day vs. night. The rock squirrels are a bit large. They’ll get in the trap and quickly zapped, but unlike the pack rats and mice, they won’t easily slide out after- have to remove the lid to get them out. The raccoons get on the roof and have pulled a killed rat out of the trap to snack on at night, but they haven’t gone after the peanut butter or caused any harm to the trap. Birds haven’t gone near the trap and we have tons of birds. Not a single bird casualty. The trap is still on the same C batteries initially loaded into it almost 4 months ago. It’s been fairly consistently used. I clean it with hydrogen peroxide, per instructions, as needed if there's any dried rat "juice". I'll remove the lid, squirt some hydrogen peroxide, let it sit a minute, bubble and dissolve the residue, pour it on the ground, and add some more, use paper towels to polish and air dry before reassembling. I have a gallon ziplock cleaning kit bag with designated Hyrdorgen Peroxide, nitrile gloves, paper towels and Q-tips. Just a dab of peanut butter in the bait door does the trick. After a week or two, the peanut butter dries out, so I’ll swab it out with Q-tips and replace. The same peanut butter works over and over. The rats aren’t able to eat it before the zap. Sometimes they jolt forward and there’s a tiny bit on their head, but not much, so I just reuse the same peanut butter until I can’t smell it from the outside or it’s crusty. As for rodent disposal, I leave them where coyotes, raccoons, or bobcat will eat them. At first I was throwing them on the shed roof, but then the hawks, owls and vultures moved elsewhere (hopefully not poisoned). That got awful, awful smelly. So now I take them to the far edge of the property. Double bagged, then tossed in the trash would work if you can take your trash out pretty quick, before they decompose. Some smells never leave the trash bin. At one point, I left the trap turned off on the porch, with the bait door open after cleaning it, and mice or a squirrel ate the peanut butter and nibbled down the bait door closing nub a smidge. There hasn’t been a problem with any critters stealing the peanut from the outside when the trap is set / on, but I’ve starting using electrical tape to secure it closed just in case. If the door is greasy, a little rubbing alcohol cleans it so the tape sticks. There’s an excellent review with video on Mousetrap Monday for the mouse version of this trap. Highly recommend that resource. As noted there, once the rat is zapped, the trap has to be reset before it's ready for another. It's a highly effective and a one-at-a-time trap. The only down side of this trap is that I now associate the smell of peanut butter with dead rats, making it less appetizing. Totally worth it, though, for a good night's sleep!
