I really hope this works

[rabernet]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Victor-Mic...-1-pk/12166947

Stinking rat pup took a suicide dive out of the breeder tub last Sunday. We played chase for about 1/2 an hour, then I lost him and just figured - what the hell, I'll just let the cats catch him.

No rat poop around the apartment, but no tell-tale smell of dead rodent.

Today, I'm in the kitchen, and I see a rat tail, go to grab him and he runs up under the cabinets.

I was talking to Ed earlier this afternoon and told him I didn't want to use a snap trap, because I was worried about curious kitty paws getting caught in the trap - so we'll see if THIS works!

He's still about the size of a large mouse.

[broadude]

I HATE when that happens. If you could have gotten close, I have found that a Shop Vac works well for catching them (sucks them right up against the tube and they can't escape ...if you get them sideways...otherwise they may go down the tube if they are small enough).

[kc261]

Robin, if that doesn't work, you might see if your Walmart or other local store has something called "Mice Cube":
http://www.amazon.com/Mice-Cube-Pk-R.../dp/B000WB13QC

They are a very simple little plastic box with one side hinged on the top so the mice can push their way in, but it drops down behind them and they can't push out. You can use whatever bait you want, so if one thing isn't working, just try another. The bait that worked best for me was a tiny bit of peanut butter. I used these quite a lot when I moved in to a house that had a problem with wild mice, and was able to completely eliminate them just using this one kind of trap.

One word of warning...the air holes are barely adequate, and the entire inside of the trap will soon become covered in condensation. I have found mice dead inside the trap, and my best guess as to why was that the condensation became bad enough to block the air holes. So I recommend that you check the traps as frequently as possible.

[Jay_Bunny]

Glad I found this thread! I just had a mouse escape this morning. Now I know what to go get to catch the darn thing.

Good luck catching the rat. They are slippery little devils!

[het.pied]

use peanut butter as bait! they loves it!

[rabernet]

Well....the traps didn't work. But for $3 each, what can you expect?

This morning I'm getting ready for work, and I hear a ruckus in the kitchen and the familiar squeek of a rat.

Princess Lexi - my huntress - had caught the rat. Well, actually, when I went into the kitchen to investigate, she goes running by me, and I think "dag nabbit - it got away AGAIN!".

I come back into the living room and it's sitting in the middle of the floor with two cats crouched in front of it going "move - I dare you!"

Threw him into an empty tub I had as I was on my way to work, and I'll figure out what do to with him when I get home. I don't have any pesticides in the house because of the other critters, and he was in reasonably good condition, though smaller than the rest of his litter (that got fed off on Sunday, ironically).

[journeyoftheanimals]

Nice to know you caught him.....or rather the cats did.

[Greez1986]

Nothing better then a cat who know how to hunt mice

[angllady2]

Back when I bred pet birds, we had an infestation of field mice in the room we stored their seed in, big surprise.

What we did to catch numbers of them easily was to get an empty, clean 5 gallon bucket with a lid. Cut a small hole in the center of the lid. We took a small strip of wire mesh from the floor to the bucket lid. Toss a handful of food into the bottom of the bucket. Smear a tiny amount of peanut butter across the lid from the wire to the hole. It's best if you can just barely see the peanut butter on the lid. Place in a corner where activity is known to take place and wait.

We caught more than 20 wild mice that way. They can climb the wire easily, and are quick to lick the peanut butter off the lid. By now they are hungry, so it's not much of a stretch for them to jump down to the food. Trouble is, they can't get back out.

Gale