How to Kill Rats Without Using Poison

If you’re dealing with rats in your residence, you face the prospect of the spread of disease and physical damage to your property. You likely find yourself searching for a safe, effective way in which you can kill rats that have infested your property without resorting to the use of poison. There are a number of strategies that you can employ to kill rats without poison which are presented here for your consideration

Wooden Snap Traps

In the final analysis, experts who professionally address rat infestations in homes, businesses, and other premises maintain that “old school” wooden snap traps remain the best way to kill rats without poison. There are a number of factors that you need to bear in mind when it comes to using wooden snap traps to take care of a rat infestation problem.

Many people spend an inordinate amount of time futzing around making sure that they have the “right bait” on a wooden snap trap to snare a rat. The reality is that the type of bait placed on a wooden snap trap isn’t as important as where you place the device.

Cheese, peanut butter, nearly any edible item that can be secured to a wooden rat trap will work. Indeed, some experts in the field of rat elimination note that these types of traps can be effective at snaring rats even without bait provided they are located in proper locations.

In order to enhance the prospect of wooden snap traps catching rats, they need to be placed in the pathways rats utilize to get from one place to another. Rats tend to utilize the same pathways to get from one location in your residence to another. These pathways typically can be identified through the presence of droppings.

By placing wooden snap traps in these pathways, the odds of snaring and eliminating rats are markedly increased. If you can identity rat nests, placing wooden snap traps at these locations can also prove effective at trapping and killing rats.

Despite the seeming brutality of a wooden snap trap, the reality is that the swiftness with which this type of trap works renders it likely the most  humane way to address a rat infestation.

Get a Cat

Felines can be effective at eliminating rats in certain circumstances in your home or business. Cats can only be effective at helping to eliminate rats if they can access the locations in a residence where rats are residing. For example, cats might be effective if rats are in your basement. Cats would be far less effective if rats are in your attic because you really will not want to set a cat free in your attic as a practical matter.

Keep in mind that when it comes to cats as rat eliminators, the key word being used here is “help.” A cat is apt to be able to help eliminate some rats. Odds are that a cat or cats will not able to completely eliminate rats from your home or business. A cat can be helpful in this manner, however you likely will need to incorporate another tactic to eliminate rats.

You definitely will not want to use poison if you’ve a cat, any other type of pet, or children in your home. The poison itself is hazardous. In addition, if a rat ingests the poison and a cat encounters the rat and bites into the rodent, the cat can face second hand contamination with the poison.

Electronic Rat Traps

Some people find the idea of a wooden snap trap to be harsh. Some individuals cannot stand the sight of a rat trapped in a wooden snap trap. An alternative to dispatch rats without poison is an electronic rat trap.

An electronic rat trap is a box-like contraption that delivers a deadly shock to a rat when it enters the device. One electronic trap can kill multiple rats.

You never have to view the dispatched rats. Rather, an indicator light on the outside of the device advises when it has activated and killed a rat or rats.

Cage Traps

Finally, a device you can utilize to attempt to eliminate rats from your home or business is a cage trap. Cage traps do not kill rats through their operation. Rather, they trap rats in a cage, which permits you the ability to remove them from your property and release them somewhere outside.

The theory is that a cage trap provides a more humane way of eliminating rats from your home. A reality associated with a cage trap is that when a rat is let loose “into the wheel,” the rodent is likely to die in a rather short period of time. This is particularly the case during the colder months of the year and if a rat has been living in your premises for any more than a minimal amount of time. Thus, an argument can be made that a slow death out of doors isn’t particularly humane.