# Most Humane Way to Get Rid of Rats? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700 "2009-10-05T17:22:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/41 "2009-10-07T14:55:16Z")
Speaking hypothetically, one of the most humane (or rather least inhumane) ways to euthanize vertebrates is to use an inert gas such as such as argon or nitrogen (though not CO[sub]2[/sub]) to induce anoxia. Conceivably it would be possible to invent a trap that utilised this method. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/42 "2009-10-07T16:55:25Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > Be careful with poison though–not all will “go back to their dens” to die,\* and the smell of rotting rats in the walls is… less than pleasant. Also, should a cat find the dead rat and eat it, also no bueno. > > \*true story: one chose to do it wedged between a 200g display aquarium and the wall, so that his little rat paws pressed to the glass and rat face with this expression: :eek: was on prominent display as a backdrop to a gorgeous cichlid setup. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing that story. I got the whole mental picture - the eek smiley really helped! - and it’s pretty much made my day. Now I have the giggles. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/43 "2009-10-07T21:15:16Z")
If you have indoor cats then take the battle outdoors with something like [this](http://reviews.homedepot.com/1999/100400789/reviews.htm). Bait it with with peanut butter first with the trap off. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/44 "2009-10-08T17:51:57Z")
> [@Words\_on\_the\_Interweb](#): > > Which is why I suggested making sure the external entry points are closed up before using exterior bait boxes Uh huh, because rats are well known for a lack of stealth and canniness, and a serious ineptitude at ratting their way into places we humans don’t want them to go 😉 > [@johnpost](#): > > the anticoagulant baits cause them to get real thirsty and they go seek a source of water which is often outside a building. Or just as often inside a building, like with condensation on pipes, leaks, etc. Rats and mice (and cockroaches and ants and…) can and do live perfectly happy on the water sources inside the walls of a house. > [@johnpost](#): > > cats i’ve seen like hot meals. i suppose if starving they might resort to corpses. 😕 Where ever did you get this idea? On a purely absurd point, I have never in my life met anyone who nukes a can of 9-lives or bowl of Friskies before plopping it down. My cats eat corpses on a twice-daily basis–everything from frozen/thawed rodents and chicks to pork and beef and mackerel and lamb. Meat is meat. Cats are obligate carnivores and opportunists. Cats who were socialized to “manufactured” dry/canned food during the food-imprint stage as kittens often don’t recognize “dead animal” as equating to food without some purposeful resocialization, but I assure you any hunting cat worth its salt knows what a dead rat is and I’ve seen far more feral and farm cats than I can count eat all manner of dead stuff. They even routinely cache stuff they come across, like dead squirrels or crows, for later perusal. In any case, even a cat not well-socialized to hunting may very likely have its predatory instinct kicked on by a flailing, dying animal whose insides are being liquefied by rat poison. > [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing that story. I got the whole mental picture - the eek smiley really helped! - and it’s pretty much made my day. Now I have the giggles. 😃 We were fortunate to have discovered the unfortunate Mr. Rat before any customers did. Ten years later it still gives me fits of the giggles. Like now, in fact 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/45 "2009-10-08T18:01:20Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > cats i’ve seen like hot meals. …Hell, if I don’t protect it well enough, they’ll rob frozen ratcicles right out of the ziplock bag and water-filled sink. Your average cat is probably a lot more _motivated_ to go after a warm, moving meal, but the idea that a cat won’t eat a corpse is, frankly, absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/46 "2009-10-08T18:27:22Z")
Try “You’re very nice, but it’s not working out. I don’t feel a connection between us. It’s not you; it’s me. You deserve someone better.” ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/47 "2009-10-08T18:31:53Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > cats i’ve seen like hot meals. i suppose if starving they might resort to corpses. > [@NajaNivea](#): > > 😕 > Where ever did you get this idea? On a purely absurd point, I have never in my life met anyone who nukes a can of 9-lives or bowl of Friskies before plopping it down. My cats eat corpses on a twice-daily basis–everything from frozen/thawed rodents and chicks to pork and beef and mackerel and lamb. Meat is meat. > Cats are obligate carnivores and opportunists. Cats who were socialized to “manufactured” dry/canned food during the food-imprint stage as kittens often don’t recognize “dead animal” as equating to food without some purposeful resocialization, but I assure you any hunting cat worth its salt knows what a dead rat is and I’ve seen far more feral and farm cats than I can count eat all manner of dead stuff. They even routinely cache stuff they come across, like dead squirrels or crows, for later perusal. In any case, even a cat not well-socialized to hunting may very likely have its predatory instinct kicked on by a flailing, dying animal whose insides are being liquefied by rat poison. > [@NajaNivea](#): > > …Hell, if I don’t protect it well enough, they’ll rob frozen ratcicles right out of the ziplock bag and water-filled sink. > Your average cat is probably a lot more _motivated_ to go after a warm, moving meal, but the idea that a cat won’t eat a corpse is, frankly, absurd. i was speaking to the eating of live animals and not to the temperature of store bought cat food. cats i’ve seen don’t seem to show an interest in eating corpses. these cats feed on store bought food and are mousers (birds, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, voles, moles) but turn away from cold corpses. maybe they weren’t hungry enough at the times i’ve seen them. maybe the number of individuals i’ve seen hasn’t been large enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/48 "2009-10-08T19:07:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > When you look up “TMI” in the dictionary, you find this post. > > 🙂 I live to please. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/49 "2009-10-08T19:57:46Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the anticoagulant baits i’ve seen are peanut based so grain loving animals are attracted to it. cats and dogs seem to show no interest in it, though instructions caution against using it in the open with pets and little kids about. though these baits can be used in bait stations (enclosures with holes just big enough for the target animal), these also keep the animal from stealing the bait chunks and caching them, they have to eat their fill (a fatal dose). Dogs will eat anything and judging by the number of dogs we see that have eaten rat poison I’d say they like peanut flavored stuff just fine. A lot of people even use peanut butter as a dog treat. You can buy peanut butter flavored dog biscuits. Dogs will most definitely eat peanut flavored things. I have had dogs that we made throw up the peanut flavored rat poison try to eat it again if we didn’t get it away from them fast enough so not only do they like peanut flavors, they also don’t mind vomit flavored peanutty stuff. Never assume that your pet won’t eat something. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/50 "2009-10-08T21:12:25Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > i was speaking to the eating of live animals and not to the temperature of store bought cat food. Then, clearly, it’s not a “temperature” issue, but more likely a “chasing moving prey” issue. > [@](#): > > cats i’ve seen don’t seem to show an interest in eating corpses. these cats feed on store bought food and are mousers (birds, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, voles, moles) but turn away from cold corpses. maybe they weren’t hungry enough at the times i’ve seen them. maybe the number of individuals i’ve seen hasn’t been large enough. I would strongly suggest either or both of these to be the case ;). It doesn’t surprise me that a well-fed house cat may hunt opportunistically just for the fun of killing stuff without being terribly interested in the remains as “food”, but that certainly doesn’t mean they “won’t”, just that those ones didn’t, right at that moment. I assure you, most carnivores, including cats, absolutely do eat carrion. Meat is meat, and to a hungry predator, meat you don’t have to expend energy to kill is even better. Maybe a particular pet cat is well-fed and low-drive enough to ignore the poisoned rats, and maybe not… with carnivorous pets around, I personally wouldn’t take the risk. I like **JThunder** ’s suggestion best: hire a couple bullsnakes to hang around under the house ;). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/51 "2009-10-08T21:15:47Z")
Peanut butter is a treat for Mrs. Plant’s dogs. I have second hand experience; frozen mice were given to a cat as a treat; as I recall, she batted them about until the reached room temperature and then ate them. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/52 "2009-10-08T21:29:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Peanut butter is a treat for Mrs. Plant’s dogs I have too much respect for myself and affection for you to make dirty jokes here, but they’re coming as surely as they would if you were Hal Briston talking about lamb chops. I advise you to simply nuke from orbit the first person who succumbs to temptation. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/53 "2009-10-08T22:27:08Z")
> [@simster](#): > > They’re usually cheap enough that you dont even have to re-use them. One has to be pretty hardcore to reuse a rat trap. The times I’ve used them, the thought of touching the rat’s neck in the process of dislodging its mangled corpse from under the bar is just too repulsive. God forbid it turns out it’s not quite dead. And even if it is, then what; putting a trap back into your pantry after it’s had a dead rat sprawled across it for however long does not seem sanitary. Heck, I came into this thread to _joke_ about reusing a trap. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/54 "2009-10-08T23:22:07Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > One has to be pretty hardcore to reuse a rat trap. I put the Deer mouse I killed with a rat trap in a plastic bag and trashed it, but I’ve reused mouse traps. Open it and drop him into the trash, take out the trash. Rarely are they only Mostly Dead after having their back broken. The Deer mouse had her skull crushed. Skald, I’m missing something here. I’ve got the football codes hooked up to the satellite dish because I respect your judgment on this sort of thing, but I’m missing something here. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/55 "2009-10-09T01:25:27Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > One has to be pretty hardcore to reuse a rat trap. The times I’ve used them, the thought of touching the rat’s neck in the process of dislodging its mangled corpse from under the bar is just too repulsive. God forbid it turns out it’s not quite dead. And even if it is, then what; putting a trap back into your pantry after it’s had a dead rat sprawled across it for however long does not seem sanitary. > > Heck, I came into this thread to _joke_ about reusing a trap. Usually there is very little gore, in fact, usually there is none at all - just a dead rat/mouse where the live one(s) used to roam. If you’re minding the trap(s), there shouldnt be a great amount of time between capture/death and when you find it. Hell, I’ve caught mice in the traps within minutes of setting them… put the trap down, close the door, hear the snap, think ‘dang, gotta go reset it’ - open door, find dead mouse - rinse and repeat until you leave the traps setting for days with no captures. Like stated above - sanitary? for who, you or the mouse? use rubber gloves if you’re squeamish about it, the mouse surely doesnt care, and if your putting the traps out around food that could be comprimised by the rodents, then you re-need to think which part of the equation needs to be worked on. (hint - if you find the sprung trap with a body, and the bait is gone, one of his buddies ate it with the corpse there - they really dont have any queasiness about them). Lastly - unloading them should be as easy as lifting the little brass bar and letting the body fall into the trash. There is _very_ little chance of coming across a still live one (I have once) and yeah, for that one, he got the special treatment and the whole thing went away. Replace the trap when it can no longer be reliably set. The last thing you want to do when your fighting off the rodent hoards is run out of traps - they send in the scouts, the 4 pack you bought is all used up - then they send in the ground troops - re-use the ammo till they run out of scouts! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/56 "2009-10-09T01:39:06Z")
> [@simster](#): > > (hint - if you find the sprung trap with a body, and the bait is gone, one of his buddies ate it with the corpse there - they really dont have any queasiness about them). I’ve seen the cute little feeder mice at a pet store eat the body of one of their pals. I especially recall one of them scampering off with a portion of the body. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/57 "2009-10-16T13:08:31Z")
Okay, we have some hard core vermin in our house that might actually be smarter than us. We’ve been setting traps out for over a week and caught nothing. Two days ago we put out new traps thinking the others were broken or something and this morning we woke to find 3 mouse traps licked completely clean of peanut butter without any of them being tripped. WTF? How the hell can we catch them if they can evade the traps? ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/58 "2009-10-16T13:26:00Z")
Sounds like it’s time to hire a couple terriers, to me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/59 "2009-10-16T13:36:05Z")
We found out this year that the FL Keys is a beautiful paradise but it’s also a farking jungle. The stuff we have come across down here…don’t get me started. Earlier this year we found some boxes chewed on in the cupboard and assumed mice. No biggie, I grew up in the country; I don’t have a big issue with mice. I set traps (the exact ones that the OP said he/she set) and waited. They weren’t mice, which I figured out after trying for a few days, seeing the traps empty but not sprung. They were just too big to really fit in the trap, apparently. As a matter of fact, one of the round traps went missing entirely- I found it later wedged in a hole under a cupboard- I’m fairly sure they were bringing it home to use as a coffee table. I broke out the big guns and it worked like a dream- snap style rat traps- the wooden ones with the metal bar. I had already emptied the cupboards and moved all food (and sealed it all in plastic), so I put the traps inside the cupboards baited, then I sealed the doors well so that the dogs didn’t paw them open and get in trouble. I’m here to tell you that it worked. My friend that does pest control said that’s all they do anyway; they just come and check the traps, empty them and reload and keep coming back until there are no kills for a few days. So I did it myself and sure enough, within a few days there were no more and I’ve not had to use them again. Luckily I have a terrier dog- he alerts like mad if there’s anything crittery around and he’s a great early warning system. So in short, lose the plastic and get some cheap o wood/metal bar traps. Put them inside a cupboard so that the cats can’t get at them (believe you me, the mice/rats WILL figure out how to get at the PB you bait it with) and seal up the cupboard. You will catch critters. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700/60 "2009-10-16T13:42:20Z")
> [@BoBettie](#): > > So in short, lose the plastic and get some cheap o wood/metal bar traps. Put them inside a cupboard so that the cats can’t get at them (believe you me, the mice/rats WILL figure out how to get at the PB you bait it with) and seal up the cupboard. You will catch critters. We set out 3 different types of traps: the plastic snap traps, the round traps that they walk into and get food from, and the wood/metal bar traps. The wood/metal bar rat trap we had set itself off and broke before it caught any critters but we were hoping this was a smaller rodent. Now I’m worried a family of foxes or ferrets or something have taken up residence under our fridge. I will buy more of the big rat traps today. Stupid rats. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-get-rid-of-rats/512700.md?page=4)