Electric rat traps sound ideal. You bait the trap with peanut butter or dry dog or cat food a rat enters and it gets a deadly shock delivered by batteries. There is no bloody mess afterwards and you won’t have to touch the rat carcass to get rid of it thanks to the open entrance end that allows you to pick up the trap and dump the rat into the trash.
The electric rat trap is reusable not disposable and once purchased the only upkeep is the batteries, which can kill supposedly 40 to 50 plus rats per battery change. The initial purchase price can be anywhere from 30 dollars on up usually around 40 to 50 dollars.
There are some people who love electric rat traps and feel they work as well or better than other products designed to eradicate a rat problem. Other people find electric rat traps a disappointment and not very effective in rat elimination.
To decide if electric rat traps are going to be an effective means in combating rats you will have to get a feel for the problems that come with setting one out.
Problem number one begins with determining the path of the rats. Once you’ve discovered where rats have been and are still going you can set the electric rat trap in their trail. This sounds simple but the electric rat trap is only open on one end leaving you guessing which direction to place it.
Problem number two occurs because the electric rat trap can only kill one rat at a time, unless small rats or baby rats can enter because of their size, leaving you with having to get the rats one at a time.
This leads us to problem number four which is there is nothing to keep the rat in the trap if it survives the shock.
Problem number five can leave you with a sticky mess if the peanut butter melts in the trap due to hot weather or household heat.
Problem number six is the sticky peanut butter or dry dog or cat food can attract ants.
Problem number seven is the potential to accidentally shock yourself while cleaning the sticky peanut butter off the trap or accidentally sticking your fingers inside the trap.
And problem number eight limits where the trap can be put because the trap is only meant for indoor use.
Finally, problem number nine suggests that electronics won’t last forever. The batteries could corrode or the trap could possibly rust.
In the long haul electric rat traps are no more effective than other rat elimination or removal methods. They are, however, a cleaner kill when working properly and they do spare you having to touch a rat or clean up a bloody mess.
